For many devices, you can expect to see a custom ROM that has an integrated su binary (or a means to install it easily, such as a custom recovery) but not all devices have one. While Android can technically run Linux binaries, doing so requires superuser privileges that Android does not provide by default. They may be occasionally coupled with OBB files). (Software development on Android is also nothing like Linux development as apps are compiled into architecture-specific APKs via Java which, like IPA files on iOS, are specially designed Zip files. Unfortunately, the similarities end there as Android uses an entirely different toolset from standard Linux distributions and no support is given for running it on PCs.

While other mobile operating systems had been made throughout the years, none have emerged in terms of market share nearly as much as Android.Īndroid is like a Linux distribution in that it uses the Linux kernel to facilitate communication with the hardware and manage processes on the system. It was originally developed in secret before launching in 2008 as a competitor against Apple's iPhone. AndroidĪndroid is a mobile operating system developed by Google and the Open Handset Alliance. For the inverse, see Emulators on Android OS. This page is about emulating Android on other computers, like desktops.

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