Breadstick Linux

Keith I Myers

In-app purchases

About this app

Breadstick Linux puts a genuine Debian system on your Android device. No root, no PC, no flashing. Install it like any other app and you have real desktop Linux running on your own hardware.

YOUR OWN FILES, OPENED BY REAL LINUX PROGRAMS

This is what Breadstick is for. Your Downloads, Documents, Pictures and Music appear directly in your Linux home directory, and your device's storage is available at /mnt/android. Open a spreadsheet in LibreOffice, edit a project in VS Code, run git over a source tree, organise a folder in the file manager: ordinary Linux software, working on the files you already have.

This needs Android's All files access permission, because Linux programs open files by path. It is off until you turn it on, Breadstick asks for it on the home screen, and you can revoke it at any time in Android Settings.

A COMPLETE LINUX DESKTOP

Breadstick has a desktop of its own: a shelf, an app launcher, a file manager, a notification center and a settings panel, designed for this environment rather than borrowed from one. Run it full screen on your tablet, or on a monitor through Samsung DeX. It is somewhere to work, not a demonstration.

LINUX APPS AS ANDROID WINDOWS

In Floating mode each Linux application opens as its own Android window, beside the apps you already use. Edit code in VS Code while a video call runs in an Android app. Keep a terminal next to your email. One device, both systems, no switching between them.

AND A TERMINAL

A straight command line with bash, git, python, ssh and tmux, with tabs, for the times a window would only get in the way.

REAL DEBIAN, NOT A TOY

- A genuine Debian system with the full arm64 apt catalog
- One tap installs for VS Code (from Microsoft's own repository), Firefox, Chromium, LibreOffice, GIMP and more
- Your Downloads, Documents, Pictures and Camera folders appear in your Linux home directory
- Shared clipboard, sound, and live battery and network status inside Linux
- SSH and VNC, so you can reach it from a laptop
- Back up and restore your whole environment to a file you keep
- The Linux side updates itself through apt, so new features arrive without waiting for an app update

WHAT IT RUNS ON

Linux runs on your device's own processor, so what your device has is what Linux gets. Breadstick is free to install, and running it on your own hardware is the only reliable way to find out how it performs there. Please do that before buying anything.

- Memory decides the ceiling. A current tablet with 12 GB or more will hold a desktop, a browser and an editor at once. A budget or older device with 4 GB runs a terminal, an editor or a couple of applications well, but not all of that at the same time.
- A physical keyboard is worth having. It is not required, and the on-screen keyboard works throughout, but desktop Linux software assumes typing and keyboard shortcuts.
- Samsung DeX or an Android desktop mode gives the best experience, and matters most for Floating apps. Without one, Desktop mode and the Terminal work exactly as intended.

FREE, AND PRO

Breadstick is free, and the free version is the whole distribution rather than a trial: all of Debian, apt, and Desktop mode with as many windows as you like. It runs two floating apps and two terminal tabs at a time.

Try it properly first. One payment, never a subscription, lifts those limits and adds the camera, plus Android notifications and calendar inside the Linux desktop. Your device also has a limit of its own that no app can raise: Samsung DeX allows about five floating windows at once.

GOOD TO KNOW

- Requires a 64-bit arm64 device
- Graphics are drawn in software. Desktop applications yes, 3D games no
- No VPN clients, USB devices or hardware security keys inside Linux, and no Docker or virtual machines. Breadstick runs completely unprivileged and never touches your Android system
- No ads, no accounts, no tracking. The app collects no data

What’s new

• Screen sharing in any web browser on your network, no VNC app needed
• Copy and paste images, formatted text and files between Android and Linux
• Floating windows take clicks everywhere, and Back no longer closes a Linux app
• Apps open at the right size at the default display scale
• Stop fully stops Linux, SSH and screen sharing
• A warning before Android's process limit closes the desktop
• Terminal text lines up on every device
• Less battery use when Linux is idle