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Comment by WD-42 | Hacker News Reader

Every time I see this I think "cool! I can run some cool Android app that doesn't have a Linux counterpart" and every time I fail to think of anything. Are there any must have Android apps out there?

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Organic Maps and OSMAnd. They are better than open source desktop map software I could find.

Organic Maps has a desktop linux version but it's far from having feature parity.

Although it might change with this grant [1] aiming to build a nice desktop UI for Organic Maps.

[1] https://nlnet.nl/project/OrganicMaps-ConvergentUI/

I love FairEmail, the mail client. Crazy to say this but it may be better than all the desktop mail clients I have used.

I tried them all (also anything on Linux) and now I just use Roundcube on a local install, which runs in any browser.

The main thing for me would be stuff like banking which require app-based authentication. Of course, solutions like this unfortunately don't work on something like Waydroid because the app knows it's in a container and thus blocks functionality.

I mostly see this recommended for people who want to play mobile games on a Steam Deck.

But are there still mobile games worth playing when you have access to steam?

Somewhat weirdly, if you want to play Minecraft Bedrock (not the classic Java version, but the one developed for handhelds, consoles, and Windows) on the SteamDeck this appears to be the most solid path. I've played it and it works.

TFT from Riot Games would be a good example. Protected by Vanguard so you can not use wine. However you need an arm device, since they do not publish apks for x86.

Couldn't you use qemu-user (and binfmt_misc) to run ARM binaries under emulation on x86? I suppose you might also need ARM-specific system libraries installed - these can easily coexist with their x86-64 versions on a standard Linux install (see "multiarch") but I'm not sure if Android allows the same.

Since this needs 3d acceleration I would guess this does not work? Waydroid is insanely good with this (when it is running).

Why wouldn't 3d acceleration work? It's not like the ARM code includes custom 3d drivers, it's going to rely on the same 3d support as everything else.

I use it for this; found out about it when I installed Bazzite on my ROG Ally and it came with Waydroid.

The other useful feature for me is using the Android apps for media subscriptions that only enable offline downloads in the app and not in the browser so I can use them on the go.

Ahhh, that actually makes a lot of sense. I didn't even think of games. Maybe I'll use it to play Candy Crush.

Isn't there already a PC version of that? It always seems to be pinned to the Start menu of new Windows installations, but maybe that's also via some sort of Android compatibility layer

I have a "smart guitar" that needs the app to change settings. It's the only thing keeping me on a "smart" phone.

By 'smart guitar', do you mean that the guitar has an amplifier or effect pedal built-in?

Screen record apps, that are protected in a normal phone.

For me it seems useful for the opposite reason. There's a lot of garbage that you have to use where something could be a website but they want you to install some Android app. If I could run those Android apps on my PC, maybe it could be a slightly less terrible experience. Perhaps various dating apps as well, idk.

Exactly the same for me. I now just use and old android phone with a broken screen and run scrcpy

I use Waydroid to run my banking apps on my laptop. Much more convenient than going through many layers of authentication each time on internet banking.

Lots of mapping apps have no equivalent, especially with an interface optimized to work on a phone

Minecraft Bedrock?

Realcalc?

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