DistroHopper • Linux desktop

Robin Jacobs

About this app

Are you a Linux/open-source enthusiast? Whether you are or not, if it seems cool to be able to have the Linux desktop on your Android device, then this app is what you're looking for. Currently there is a choice between the Unity desktop, elementary OS' Pantheon desktop, and Gnome. Missing your desktop of choice? Get in touch and if there's enough interest I might just add it 😉

Features include a couple of different themes, a search feature which allows you to search from a multitude of different search sources (both local and remote), and customisation options.

An optional gesture lets you swipe to open your notification tray. If you choose to enable this feature, DistroHopper uses an Android Accessibility Service to open the tray for you — the only way a home screen app can do so. The Accessibility Service is only used to open the notification tray. It doesn't read any screen content or perform any other actions.

If you have any suggestions or feedback, feel free to get in touch. The project is open-source with the source code publicly available at https://github.com/RobinJ1995/DistroHopper. If you're less technically-inclined but would still like to contribute, you can join the project's translation team over at https://www.transifex.com/distrohopper/.

elementary is a registered trademark of elementary LLC. Gnome is a registered trademark of the Gnome Foundation.

Ratings and reviews

The August 2026 update is absolutely amazing!! Love that it supports widgets now, and the look is even better than it already was! Thank you!! 💚

Best launcher so far! Despite the missing date and time, icons over lapping the bottom navigation 3 button bar unless the menu is moved from the bottom of the screen to anywhere else, sides or top. This is the best launcher I have tried so far. Easy to find what you are looking for quickly, especially by setting all icon sizes to the smallest as possible.

New update sucks, give us back the mint theme!

What’s new

- Fix certain non-US English locales being shown US English translations instead of British English.
- Fix high CPU and memory usage
- Fix crash when widget exceeds desktop boundaries
- Fix crash when selected icon pack is uninstalled/unavailable
- Fix crash on specific OEM Android versions that fail to return an Android profile glyph