Android apps on Debian

[John Hasler]

Is there a simple way to run Android apps under Debian such as an
emulator? My Starlink terminal is arriving next week and it would be
convenient to be able to run the Starlink app. However, I do not have
either an IOS or an Android device.
--
John Hasler
jo...@sugarbit.com
Elmwood, WI USA

[didier gaumet]

Le samedi 29 janvier 2022 à 12:29 -0600, John Hasler a écrit :
> Is there a simple way to run Android apps under Debian such as an
> emulator?  My Starlink terminal is arriving next week and it would be
> convenient to be able to run the Starlink app.  However, I do not
> have
> either an IOS or an Android device.

I don't use it but I know of Anbox:
https://linuxconfig.org/how-to-install-anbox-and-run-android-apps-in-linux

[local10]

Jan 29, 2022, 18:29 by jo...@sugarbit.com:

> Is there a simple way to run Android apps under Debian such as an
> emulator? My Starlink terminal is arriving next week and it would be
> convenient to be able to run the Starlink app. However, I do not have
> either an IOS or an Android device.
>

Maybe this can help you:

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/run-android-apps-games-linux/

Regards,

[John Hasler]

Thank you both. Now to get a copy of the ("free") app without opening a Google
Play account...

[Alexis Grigoriou]

On Sat, 2022-01-29 at 13:07 -0600, John Hasler wrote:
> Thank you both. Now to get a copy of the ("free") app without
> opening a Google
> Play account...

Everything nowadays "needs" an app... I hate it.

[local10]

Jan 29, 2022, 19:07 by jo...@sugarbit.com:

> Thank you both. Now to get a copy of the ("free") app without opening a Google
> Play account...
>

First, identify the app you want to install, then download it from apkpure ( https://apkpure.com/ ) or similar sites. That, of course, leads to some security risks so exercise due caution.

Regards,

[John Hasler]

local10 writes:
> First, identify the app you want to install, then download it from
> apkpure ( https://apkpure.com/ ) or similar sites.

Apkpure has the Starlink app but as I had never heard of them (No reason
to, not having an Android phone) I didn't download it immediately. Are
they reliable?

[Andrei POPESCU]

On Sb, 29 ian 22, 14:38:50, John Hasler wrote:
> local10 writes:
> > First, identify the app you want to install, then download it from
> > apkpure ( https://apkpure.com/ ) or similar sites.
>
> Apkpure has the Starlink app but as I had never heard of them (No reason
> to, not having an Android phone) I didn't download it immediately. Are
> they reliable?

The only source I trust is f-droid.org, but I have used apkmirror.com
for one app that I really needed and couldn't find a FLOSS replacement
for.

So far I didn't notice anything bad going on, but that doesn't really
prove anything ;)

Kind regards,
Andrei
--
http://wiki.debian.org/FAQsFromDebianUser

[local10]

Jan 29, 2022, 20:38 by jo...@sugarbit.com:

> Apkpure has the Starlink app but as I had never heard of them (No reason
> to, not having an Android phone) I didn't download it immediately. Are
> they reliable?
>

apkpure has been around for several years, draw any conclusion you want from that. Google Play also isn't particular reliable, they've hosted and continue to host plenty of mal/spy/crap/ad/-ware aps, so just because an app is hosted on google play doesn't guarantee that it's safe.

I've downloaded a few apps from apkpure and similar sites over the years and so far haven't seen a negative affect. YMMV though.

Check out F-droid for the apps as well: https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/

Regards,

[local10]

Jan 29, 2022, 21:33 by loc...@tutanota.com:

> apkpure has been around for several years, draw any conclusion you want from that. Google Play also isn't particularly reliable, they've hosted and continue to host plenty of mal/spy/crap/ad/-ware aps, so just because an app is hosted on google play doesn't guarantee that it's safe.
>
> I've downloaded a few apps from apkpure and similar sites over the years and so far haven't seen a negative effect. YMMV though.

>
> Check out F-droid for the apps as well: > https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/
>

Also, maybe it will be worth for you to consider creating a virtual machine or a jail of some kind to run your Android apps.

Regards,

[John Hasler]

I never intend to install any app other than the Starlink one. I'm
willing to trust it as long as what I get is in fact exactly what SpaceX
distributes: if they are going to spy on me they will have better
opportunities than that. I guess I'm asking if Apkpure can be trusted
to send me exactly what I would have gotten from directly from Google.

I'll be running it in anbox or similar as I don't have and don't want an
Android "device".

[Bijan Soleymani]

On 2022-01-29 15:38, John Hasler wrote:
> local10 writes:
>> First, identify the app you want to install, then download it from
>> apkpure ( https://apkpure.com/ ) or similar sites.
>
> Apkpure has the Starlink app but as I had never heard of them (No reason
> to, not having an Android phone) I didn't download it immediately. Are
> they reliable?

I don't know if they modify the apks they host but as far as I know the
original apk (from the play store) will be signed by the app
publisher/writer. So if they haven't removed that you can just verify
the signature is from the publisher, etc.

Bijan

[John Hasler]

Bijan writes:
> I don't know if they modify the apks they host but as far as I know
> the original apk (from the play store) will be signed by the app
> publisher/writer. So if they haven't removed that you can just verify
> the signature is from the publisher, etc.

Apkpure says that apps downloaded from their site only work with their
app. That's right out so I'll have to figure out something else. At
least I now know how to run the thing under Debian if I can get a copy.
There may also be a way to get by without it.

Thanks.

[Bijan Soleymani]

Just as a follow up, I downloaded the Starlink xapk file from apkpure,
unzipped it and ran:
apksigner verify --verbose --print-certs "com.starlink.mobile.apk"

This gives:
Verifies
Verified using v1 scheme (JAR signing): true
Verified using v2 scheme (APK Signature Scheme v2): true
Verified using v3 scheme (APK Signature Scheme v3): true
Number of signers: 1
Signer #1 certificate DN: CN=Android, OU=Android, O=Google Inc.,
L=Mountain View, ST=California, C=US
Signer #1 certificate SHA-256 digest:
cdfba780576f7a4800e2a609726f83f053b51bae6a239003abc16b7f75e9f588
Signer #1 certificate SHA-1 digest: c2b34a5ac1267e5d377eef89d0eb96fcddc1c9f1
Signer #1 certificate MD5 digest: eb2004799f4685bb04e49de3d8ed3f39
Signer #1 key algorithm: RSA
Signer #1 key size (bits): 4096
Signer #1 public key SHA-256 digest:
a5fd4be5d047beae966c4a68cfa06951a8700e610d84f28b68ab1620a7eca434
Signer #1 public key SHA-1 digest: 324a6a9aa7e418d33bd98a0f81a0ae946d0dde71
Signer #1 public key MD5 digest: a30fdb38ff1050c59800bf83a94a4eb5

With a few files in the META-INF directory not being signed or not
verifying.

I think the reason it is signed by Google is that the app uses Play app
signing, where google signs the app on their servers on your behalf.
That way if you lose your private key, you can change it on your end,
without breaking app upgrades.

Also the main 64 bit binary apk:
config.arm64_v8a.apk checks out as does the English language config:
config.en.apk

The only files that won't be signed will be those files from the
META-INF directory as well as the manifest.json from the top level xapk
file.

Bijan

[Bijan Soleymani]

First their xapk file contains the original app apk (as well the
original sub apks required by that apk).

Second you can install without any app:
https://www.quora.com/How-can-I-install-Xapk-files-on-an-Android

"
Method 2: Download .XAPK file using File Manager:

Download the .XAPK file on your Android device.
Open file manager and discover the .XAPK file. Rename the
extension to .zip format.
Extract the .zip file.
Now, find the .obb file (usually named as “com.xxxxx.obb”)
within the file and copy it into the location:
/sdcard/storage/emulated/0/Android/obb/.
Lastly, install the .apk file. Within a few minutes, you would
be able to run the file successfully
"

Bijan

[Bijan Soleymani]

On 2022-01-29 17:57, Bijan Soleymani wrote:
>         Now, find the .obb file (usually named as “com.xxxxx.obb”)
> within the file and copy it into the location:
> /sdcard/storage/emulated/0/Android/obb/.
>         Lastly, install the .apk file. Within a few minutes, you would
> be able to run the file successfully

Just a small correction, I believe in this case you would need to copy
the sub apks:
config.*.apk

into:
/sdcard/storage/emulated/0/Android/obb/com.starlink.mobile/

Then install:
com.starlink.mobile.apk

from the android emulator file manager.

(Adapter from
https://techbeasts.com/how-to-manually-install-xapk-files-on-android/ )

Bijan

[Bijan Soleymani]

On 2022-01-29 13:29, John Hasler wrote:
> Is there a simple way to run Android apps under Debian such as an
> emulator? My Starlink terminal is arriving next week and it would be
> convenient to be able to run the Starlink app. However, I do not have
> either an IOS or an Android device.

Just to go in another direction and answer the original question:

1. Seems the Starlink router has a web interface:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Starlink/comments/of6wab/what_if_you_dont_have_a_cell_phone/

2. You can get an android phone tablet that can run the app between $45
and $100 (and that's new, you can probably get a used one for
practically free). Given that I think the Starlink terminal costs $499
and the service is $99 a month, that may be a better way to go.

Bijan

[John Hasler]

I downloaded it from apkmirror.com and got the same numbers you did
plus "Verified using v4 scheme (APK Signature Scheme v4): false",
"Verified for SourceStamp: true", some "Source Stamp Signer" results,
and the same META-INF warnings.

Looks ok, I guess.

[Ash Joubert]

On 30/01/2022 11:39, Bijan Soleymani wrote:
> I think the reason it is signed by Google is that the app uses Play app
> signing, where google signs the app on their servers on your behalf.
> That way if you lose your private key, you can change it on your end,
> without breaking app upgrades.

Play App Signing does have this benefit for app developers, but its main
purpose is to deliver app downloads optimised for the user's device and
therefore smaller. For example, if you are using an arm64-a8v device,
Play Store will deliver a package with only native libraries for your
arm64-a8v device. In comparison, old-style packages would typically
include both armeabi-v7a and arm64-a8v native libraries, and some even
x86 or x86_64 native libraries. Downloads can also be optimised for
screen resolution and language.

Kind regards,

--
Ash Joubert <a...@transient.nz>
Director
Transient Software Limited <https://transient.nz/>
New Zealand

[John Hasler]

Bijan writes:
> Seems the Starlink router has a web interface:

I know that. It evidently does not do everything the app does.

[Curt]

On 2022-01-29, John Hasler <jo...@sugarbit.com> wrote:
> I never intend to install any app other than the Starlink one. I'm
> willing to trust it as long as what I get is in fact exactly what SpaceX
> distributes: if they are going to spy on me they will have better
> opportunities than that. I guess I'm asking if Apkpure can be trusted
> to send me exactly what I would have gotten from directly from Google.

An alternative would be to try installing the playstore on Anbox:

https://github.com/geeks-r-us/anbox-playstore-installer

(I'm reading elsewhere these dependencies are required: wget curl lzip tar
unzip squashfs-tools.)

[Bijan Soleymani]

On 2022-01-29 13:29, John Hasler wrote:

> Is there a simple way to run Android apps under Debian such as an
> emulator? My Starlink terminal is arriving next week and it would be
> convenient to be able to run the Starlink app. However, I do not have
> either an IOS or an Android device.

Hi, don't know how far you got with anbox,

but the android sdk emulator / avd manager / android studio let's you
create emualtor/AVD images with support for play store built in.

When you create an AVD image there's a column with play store icon for
the versions that support play store. Looks like there's all pixel
images up to version 4 support play store.

Steps are easy.
1. Download android studio
2. run android studio
3. open avd manager from tools menu
4. create pixel 4 x86 avd image
5. run the image in the emulator (click the play button next to the
image name).

This will launch the emulator and you can open the play store and log in.

(I just now wanted to run an android lap on my desktop and laptop, so
ran into the same issue).

Bijan

[John Hasler]

Bijan writes:
> Hi, don't know how far you got with anbox,

I don't have it running yet due to a dbus problem. That should clear
out as soon as I reboot but I'm not ready to do that because I'm in the
midst of a project with a couple of dozen documents and tabs open.

> This will launch the emulator and you can open the play store and log
> in.

I have a copy of the app. I'm not going to open a Google Play account.

[Bijan Soleymani]

On 2022-01-30 21:54, John Hasler wrote:
> I have a copy of the app. I'm not going to open a Google Play account.

Oh ok, you can run the emulator without app store or without signing in
and use adb install the apk to the emulator, in case anbox doesn't work.

Bijan

[Bijan Soleymani]

On 2022-01-30 21:54, John Hasler wrote:

> I have a copy of the app. I'm not going to open a Google Play account.

Keep in mind the xapk/apk I saw online only had the arm64 shared
libraries. So you'll either need to get an apk with the x86/x86_64/amd64
shared libraries or add arm64 support to anbox. (there are some pages
online that describe how to get that to work)

I managed to get the x86 apk since I have installed an x86 emulator. I
could probably create an x86_64/amd64 image and get the x86_64 apk. I
don't know which anbox would need or could use.

Bijan

[John Hasler]

Bijan writes:
> Keep in mind the xapk/apk I saw online only had the arm64 shared
> libraries.

The one I have has x86 and x86_64 libraries as well as the arm ones.

[황병희]

John Hasler <jo...@sugarbit.com> writes:

> Is there a simple way to run Android apps under Debian such as an
> emulator? My Starlink terminal is arriving next week and it would be
> convenient to be able to run the Starlink app. However, I do not have
> either an IOS or an Android device.

Another way is +money. It means to buy chromebook. Chromebook itself
have android app store inside machine. Recent chromebook also support
linux app officially -- default value is Debian.

Personally i have two chromebooks. Birch(arm) and Alex(x86).

Sincerely, Linux fan Byung-Hee