Winedroid is an Android userspace compatibility layer that aims to run Android apps anywhere: Linux, macOS, Windows, or even the web. Instead of booting a full Android system image or running a virtual machine, it translates Android framework calls into host-native equivalents on-the-fly. An APK runs on the host platform without knowing it is inside Winedroid.
This is not a VM, an emulator, or a container. There is no Android system running underneath — just a runtime that gives an APK what it needs to launch and behave correctly.
I wanted to run Android apps without needing a full Android OS or a virtual machine. Winedroid is my attempt to remove that dependency, with the goal of making Android apps runnable anywhere.
Winedroid is an open-source project, and everyone is welcome to contribute. You can report bugs, share app compatibility results on the AppDB, or contribute code on GitHub.
This project uses AI heavily — for writing code, automating tests, and for the docs and this website.
Contributors can obviously use AI too. But "hey Cursor, add xyz and open a PR" is not a contribution. If you send a PR, you own it: read the code, test it, and check that the AI actually did what you asked.
If you dump a 3,000-line PR you never read, and thirty other people do the same, I can't review any of it. That wastes your time, my time, and the tokens. Take responsibility for what you submit.
The Winedroid AppDB rates app compatibility using the following scale. Ratings reflect the experience on the most recently tested Winedroid version.
| Rating | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Installs and runs out of the box; indistinguishable from native. | |
| Fully usable, but needs a workaround or has cosmetic glitches. | |
| Main use case works reliably; some secondary features broken or slightly degraded. | |
| Core task is possible, but severe lag, glitches, or mostly broken features make everyday use frustrating. | |
| Won't install, won't launch, crashes immediately, or opens but is effectively unusable. |
Winedroid is free and open-source software, licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0. See the GitHub repository for details.