Plug your Android phone into your Windows PC, Mac or Linux machine and a real desktop opens on your screen, with a taskbar, an app drawer, and windows you can drag, resize and snap side by side
Unplug it and your phone goes back to being a phone
Or install Open Android DeX directly on your phone and use it without a PC. Run the launcher on the phone itself, on a compatible external monitor, or access it through the built-in Web viewer in a browser.
Free. Open source. No account. No subscription. No root
- Your phone becomes a computer when you plug it into your PC or Mac
- Open apps side by side and move or resize them, just like on a laptop
- Use any phone app on your computer, like WhatsApp, without opening the whole desktop
- Get your messages and calls on your computer, and reply or answer without picking up your phone
- Copy and paste between your phone and computer, and drag files onto your phone
- Use your phone as a touchpad to move the mouse and click
- Pull out the cable and keep working over Wi-Fi
- Works without a computer too, right on your phone or on a monitor
- Run Ubuntu Linux on your phone with Firefox and VS Code, plus Docker
- Open your phone's desktop in a web browser on any computer, with nothing to install
- Make it yours with themes, wallpapers, nine languages and a Windows 11 look
- Works on almost any Android phone with Android 8 or newer, not just Samsung
- Your phone goes back to normal when you are done
- Free and open source, with no account, no subscription and no root
- Download the app for Windows, Mac or Linux and install it
- Turn on USB debugging on your phone. Go to Settings, then About phone, tap Build number seven times, go back, open Developer options and switch on USB debugging
- Plug the phone in and tap Allow when it asks
The desktop opens on its own and the app gets out of your way. The desktop app installs the phone-side launcher for you. Everything it needs comes inside the download.
The PC setup works with Android 8 or newer. You do not need a Samsung, a special cable, a monitor, or root.
- Download
OpenAndroidDeX-Launcher-v<version>.apkfrom the latest release using your phone's browser - Open the APK and install it. If Android asks, allow your browser or file manager to install unknown apps
- Launch Open Android DeX from your phone's app list. You can use it on the phone's screen, or connect a compatible monitor and open it there, including inside Samsung DeX
The standalone launcher includes the app drawer, widgets, settings, Ubuntu, Docker and the Web viewer. No PC, USB debugging or root is needed. You can also choose it as your default home app when prompted, so the phone's Home button or gesture returns to Open Android DeX.
To keep the dock or taskbar visible over other apps, allow Display over other apps for Open Android DeX in Android settings. Tap the notification bell to enable notification access if you want notifications in the launcher. Enable the Open Android DeX accessibility service for the Mouse touchpad or browser control. The Web viewer asks for permission to share the screen when you start it.
Window support depends on your phone. On a monitor, standalone mode uses the phone's own desktop mode and window controls, such as Samsung DeX. An external monitor needs compatible video output and an adapter. On the phone's screen, apps may open fullscreen if Android does not support freeform windows. Open Android DeX's custom title bars require the PC app and Android 14 or newer.
For Ubuntu alone, install LinuxOnDroid-v<version>.apk instead. See
the Linux section below
for details.
This is not a copy of your phone screen stretched out. It is a desktop, running at your monitor's size, sitting next to your other windows.
- A taskbar along the bottom with your open apps, a clock and calendar, a battery indicator, and quick switches for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, mobile data, airplane mode, torch and rotation, plus one that turns the phone's own screen off while the desktop keeps running
- Your phone's notifications, on the desktop. They pop up in the bottom corner as they arrive, the way your computer's own do, and stay in a bell at the far right of the taskbar with a count on it. Each one carries the same buttons the phone would give you — reply, mark as read, whatever the app offers. A call comes in and a banner drops down across the top with Answer and Decline, so you never have to go and find the handset
- Volume and what's playing in the quick settings panel. Sliders for media and ringer, and play, pause and skip for whatever the phone is playing
- Your phone as a touchpad. While the desktop is open, a notification on the phone turns its screen into a touchpad for it: slide a finger to move the pointer, tap to click, two fingers to scroll or right-click, and three-finger swipes for the gestures you have chosen — show what is open, clear to the desktop, step through your windows. It is under Touchpad in quick settings too
- Proper windows. Every app gets a title bar with close, minimise, maximise and snap left or right. Drag them where you want. Resize them from a corner. Put two apps side by side and get something done
- Windows stay where you put them. Move an app or resize it, and that is where it opens next time. Every app remembers its own spot
- An app drawer you can search, and a desktop you can drop shortcuts onto
- Your home screen widgets, the real ones, live and working, on the desktop. Your calendar, your music, your weather. Click inside one and the app opens in a window instead of taking over the screen
- Drag files from your computer onto the phone. App files install themselves
- Two looks. A DeX style desktop, or a Windows 11 style one with a Start button. Switch between them in one click
Open the app drawer and the five built in tools sit at the top, above everything else you have installed. One of them, File transfer, shows your computer's files next to your phone's so you can copy between them.
Sometimes you only want WhatsApp or your calendar on the big screen, not a whole desktop. Open the Apps tab on your computer and you will see the apps on your phone, with their real names and icons. Click one and it opens in its own window, right next to your other programs. It is usually there in under half a second.
- They behave like your computer's own windows. Move them, resize them, snap them side by side, minimise them. Each app gets its own button on the taskbar
- Pin an app and it opens from there, like any other. Click it on your taskbar or in your Dock, even after a restart, even with Open Android DeX closed: it starts by itself and you get just that app's window. If your phone takes a moment to connect, Open Android DeX shows you what it is waiting for. Pins keep working when you move the portable version or swap it for a newer one: run the new copy once and they follow it
- Phone or tablet, you choose. A window opens the shape of a phone, and the app looks the way it does on your phone. Make the window bigger and an app that has a tablet look can change to it, with more room for what you are doing. Many apps change, some at their own sizes, and some never do. ☰ → Tablet size makes the window a tablet's size in one click, and ☰ → Phone size goes back. Each app opens at the size you last left it, or as big as fits if your screen is smaller. Your phone's own screen is not changed
- Use your mouse and keyboard. Click, scroll and type, in your own keyboard layout. Copy something on your computer and paste it into the phone app, or the other way round
- One clipboard, both ways. What you copy on your computer is on your phone the moment you copy it, so it is in your phone keyboard's clipboard history too, and what you copy in a phone app is in your computer's (Win+V on Windows). A password your password manager copies stays on your computer, unless you paste it into the app yourself
- Choose where the sound plays. The speaker in each window's title bar sends it to your computer, to your computer and your phone, or keeps it on your phone — its speaker or your earbuds, where the phone lets us choose — just like the sound menu on the desktop
- Drop files on a window to put them in your phone's Downloads folder, or
drop an app's APK to install it. A file is never overwritten: a second
report.pdfarrives asreport (2).pdf - Full screen when you want it. The ☰ button next to Back has Full screen (F11 on Windows). Move the mouse to the top of the screen and a small bar comes down with Back, the way out of full screen, and close. Press Esc to get your window back
- Your phone as the touchpad. ☰ → Use phone as touchpad turns your phone's screen into a touchpad for these windows: slide a finger to move your computer's pointer, tap to click, hold or tap with two fingers to right-click, two fingers to scroll, ◁ for Back. It works in your phone's windows only — it never clicks anything else on your computer. If your phone already lets Open Android DeX show notifications, it is in its notification shade too while a window is open
- Close the window and the app closes on your phone too, as if you had swiped it away from your recent apps, instead of staying open there. The window asks first, in case the ✕ was a slip. Whatever was on your phone's screen stays there. On a Mac, closing the window gives the app back to your phone, right where you left it
- Unplug and carry on. If your phone is on the same Wi‑Fi as your computer (Android 11 and newer), pulling the cable doesn't close anything: each window keeps going over Wi‑Fi, and moves back to the cable when you plug it in again. The title bar says which one it's using. The first time on a network, your phone asks whether to allow wireless debugging there: tap Allow, and tick “Always allow on this network” so it doesn't ask again. On a Xiaomi phone, turn Wireless debugging on yourself, in Developer options. It also needs “Always allow from this computer” ticked when you first plugged the phone in. With no way back at all, the window waits half a minute for your phone before giving the app back to it
- It is light. Only the app you are looking at gets sent, and an app that is sitting still costs next to nothing. Your phone does not have to run a desktop at all
- Your Linux apps are there too, if you have set up Linux on the phone. Closing one of their windows closes it, as on a Linux computer, and the app may ask you to save first
If that is all you ever want, tick Open my apps here when my phone connects, and the Apps tab opens instead of the desktop when you plug the phone in. The desktop is still one click away.
On a Mac the apps open in proper Mac windows too, with a Back button at the top (⌘[ works as well) and the speaker at the other end, and ⌘C and ⌘V copy and paste as you would expect. A Mac keeps windows under the app they belong to, so the phone's apps sit under this app's icon in the Dock: ☰ → Keep in Dock gives one an icon of its own there. On a Linux computer an Android app opens in a simpler window, which your dock shows by the app's own name and icon and lets you pin. Linux apps are not offered there.
When a message arrives on your phone, it comes up on your computer as one of its own notifications. On Windows it comes from the app itself, with its name and icon, just like an app installed there.
- Reply without picking up your phone. A message has a reply box right in the notification, and the app's own buttons — mark as read, archive, whatever it offers
- Click it and the conversation opens in a window of its own on your computer, right at that conversation. With the phone's desktop running, it opens there instead
- Calls ring here too, with Answer and Decline
- Read it on your phone and it goes from your computer as well
- It knows when to stay quiet. No pop-up for the app whose window you are using (it waits quietly in the notification center), nothing your phone would have kept quiet itself (Do Not Disturb, an app you set to silent), and nothing while the phone's desktop is in front, which shows its own
- The bell at the top of the window turns it on and off. It is also where you choose whether notifications say what they say or only which app has something, whether calls ring here, and which apps come through: each has its own switch. Send a test shows you one arriving. On Windows you can also right-click a notification to turn its app off
Nothing is installed or changed on your phone for this: the part that reads its notifications runs only while the phone is attached and notifications are on. They come to Windows and Mac computers; on Linux the phone's desktop shows them. How it works: doc/phone-notifications.md.
This is Ubuntu 24.04 with a full desktop, running on the phone itself, in a window on your screen. Not a terminal.
Before it starts downloading it asks what you want in it: Firefox, Chromium, VS Code, git, Node.js, GIMP and IntelliJ IDEA. The first four are ticked, so you can just press Install and get the lot — untick the ones you will not use and save the download, or tick the extras: Node.js (the current LTS, npm included), GIMP, or IntelliJ IDEA Community. There is a shared folder so files move between Android and Linux without any fuss. No root, and no long setup guide to follow.
Linux apps as windows of their own. Every app in Linux's menu is also in the desktop's app drawer, next to your Android apps, with a small Linux mark on its icon. Open one — the terminal, the file manager, VS Code, GIMP — and it comes up in a window of its own, with the same title bar, taskbar button and window controls as an Android app, instead of inside the Linux desktop. Menus, dialogs, copy and paste, and typing in any language work as they do in Linux. How it works: doc/linux-windows.md.
You can also get just the Linux part on its own. On the releases page there is a separate download called LinuxOnDroid. It is about 1 MB, you install it on the phone by itself, and that is all you need. No computer, no cable, no desktop app. Tap the icon and Ubuntu opens on your phone. Keep about 3 GB free for it.
Your phone's Ubuntu can also be a machine you SSH into, from a laptop or desktop anywhere — the same Wi-Fi, a different one, or with the phone on mobile data in your bag. Nothing to open on a router, no account, no server to run.
- On the phone: Linux → Remote access → Turn on → Add a computer.
- On the computer: Open Android DeX → the Linux tab → type the code. With the phone plugged in there is no code at all.
- Then, in any terminal:
ssh galaxy-s25-ultra(or whatever your phone is called). VS Code's Remote-SSH, scp, rsync and git find it by name too. - Or the whole desktop: Linux → Open desktop opens the phone's XFCE in a window. The desktop takes the window's size and follows it when you resize it; F11 makes it fullscreen. It is started for you if it is not running, and its password is handed over, so there is nothing to type.
Only computers you pair can get in, each with a key of its own, and the
connection is end-to-end encrypted. It goes straight between the two devices
whenever the networks allow it and through a relay — which cannot read it —
when they do not. No desktop app on that computer? The dexremote command does
the same job, the desktop included (dexremote desktop, in a browser tab). How
it works, and what was ruled out on the way:
doc/remote-access.md.
A control strip sits along the top wherever Linux is running, on the phone or in a window. It holds the pointer, the keyboard, the screen and zoom. Tap the pointer and you pick how touch should behave: point where you look, use the screen as a touchscreen, or use it as a trackpad. Each one spells out what taps, drags and two finger gestures do.
Open the Web viewer, press Start, and the phone shows you a web address.
Type that address into a browser on your laptop, a work computer, or anyone else's machine, enter the six digit code the phone shows you, and the whole desktop appears in the browser tab. Click things. Type. Browse the phone's files and download them. Drag files onto the page to send them over.
Nothing gets installed on the other machine. No extension, no app, no account, no sign up. Just a browser.
On your home Wi-Fi it works with no setup at all. If you want to reach your phone from anywhere in the world, including over mobile data, it can do that too without you opening a single port on your router.
A working Docker engine, on a normal phone, with no root.
docker pull, docker run and docker compose all work. You get your
containers and images listed in a window, plus a terminal. It is not fast,
because it is a phone, but it is the real thing.
There is a proper Settings app inside the desktop. Ten sections, around forty things you can change, and every change shows up straight away. No Apply button and no restart.
- Themes. Dark, light, and a warm paper theme
- Wallpapers. Eleven of them, plus a dimmer slider
- Languages. Nine, including Hindi, Gujarati, Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, French, German and Portuguese, or just follow whatever your phone is set to
- Mouse pointers. Pick a shape, a colour, an outline and a size
- Trackpad gestures. Five three finger gestures, and you choose what each one does — on your laptop's touchpad and on your phone's
- Picture quality. Resolution, frame rate, sharpness and sound, so you can trade smoothness for battery life on an older phone
- Display size. Make everything on the desktop bigger or smaller, from five sizes or to the exact dpi. A live preview shows the result first, and whether most apps are likely to use their phone or tablet layout
- Window behaviour and clipboard sharing, among others
Start over USB, switch to Wi-Fi, then pull the cable out. Your phone gets remembered, so next time it connects on its own. If the connection drops it comes back by itself.
You can also connect wirelessly from the start by scanning a QR code the app puts on your screen.
Everything it changes gets put back when you are done, automatically. That happens even if you yank the cable out mid session, because the phone tidies up after itself a short while later. Nothing keeps running and nothing stays switched on behind your back. Display size only ever changes the desktop, never your phone's own screen.
| Open Android DeX | Samsung DeX | Android 16 desktop mode | scrcpy | Vysor / AirDroid | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Works on any Android phone | ✅ Android 8+ | ❌ Samsung only | ❌ recent Pixels and tablets | ✅ | ✅ |
| Needs a monitor or special cable | ❌ uses your PC or phone screen | ✅ required | ✅ required on phones | ❌ | ❌ |
| Needs root | ❌ never | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Resizable windows with title bars | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ one mirror window | ❌ one mirror window |
| Live home screen widgets on the desktop | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Phone notifications, and answering calls | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | |
| Full Ubuntu desktop included | ✅ | ❌ dropped in 2019 | ❌ | ❌ | |
| Docker | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Free and open source | ✅ GPL 3.0 | ❌ | part of the OS | ✅ Apache 2.0 | ❌ |
| Account or subscription | ❌ none | ❌ none | ❌ none | ❌ none | ✅ required |
Put together from each project's public documentation in August 2026. If something here is wrong, tell us and we will fix it.
Samsung DeX only works on Samsung phones and needs a monitor. Google's desktop mode needs a recent phone and a monitor as well. scrcpy is excellent software, but it mirrors your phone rather than giving it a desktop. The commercial mirroring apps put your phone in a window and then charge you every month for the useful half of it. Open Android DeX runs on almost any phone, using the screen already in front of you, for nothing.
| Your computer | Optional. For the PC app: Windows 10 or 11, a Mac (Intel or Apple Silicon), or a 64-bit Linux desktop |
| Your phone | Any Android 8.0 or newer |
| A cable | None for the phone alone. For the PC app: a USB data cable or Wi-Fi. For a monitor: compatible video output and an adapter |
| Root | No |
| An account | No |
| Money | No |
Which download?
| Your machine | File |
|---|---|
| Windows | ..._windows_x64-setup.exe (installer) or ..._windows_x64_portable.zip |
| Mac, Apple Silicon (M1 or newer) | ..._macos_apple-silicon.dmg |
| Mac, Intel | ..._macos_intel.dmg |
| Linux — Ubuntu, Debian, Mint | ..._linux_amd64.deb |
| Linux — Fedora, openSUSE | ..._linux_x86_64.rpm |
| Any other Linux | ..._linux_amd64.AppImage |
| Android — standalone launcher (phone screen, compatible monitor or Samsung DeX) | OpenAndroidDeX-Launcher-v<version>.apk |
| Just Ubuntu, phone only | LinuxOnDroid-v<version>.apk |
Do I need to root my phone?
No. Nothing here needs root or Shizuku. The PC app connects through Android's USB or wireless debugging. The standalone Android apps do not need debugging enabled.
Does this change my phone permanently?
The PC app switches a few display settings on while the desktop is running and puts them all back afterwards, including when you unplug without closing the app. In standalone mode, making Open Android DeX your default home app is optional, and you can switch back in Android's default-app settings.
Why does it want to read my notifications?
Because that is the only way Android lets an app show them. It is the same permission your smartwatch asks for. It powers three things: the cards that pop up in the corner, the bell in the taskbar, and the play and pause buttons in quick settings.
Nothing is sent anywhere. The notifications are read on the phone and drawn on the phone, and what you see on your monitor is the same video the rest of the desktop arrives in. When you press Answer, the desktop presses the button your dialler already put on the notification — the app itself holds no permission to make, answer or end a call.
Plug in with a cable and the desktop app turns this on for you and turns it back off when you finish. Without a cable, tap the bell in the taskbar and it will show you the phone screen that switches it on. Either way you can turn it off for good in Settings → Notifications, and the bell disappears with it.
Will it work on my phone?
The PC setup works with Android 8 or newer and does not need Samsung hardware, DisplayPort, a dock or an adapter. The standalone launcher also runs on the phone's screen; using it on an external monitor requires compatible video output, and resizable windows depend on the phone's desktop support. A few phones with unusual software handle windows differently, so if yours misbehaves please open an issue.
My Mac says the app is damaged or will not open it.
That is macOS being careful about apps that have not paid Apple's notarisation fee. Open Terminal and paste this once:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine "/Applications/Open Android DeX.app"Then open it normally. macOS may also ask for Local Network permission, which is for Wi-Fi connections, and Accessibility, which is only used for full screen (the button, and the F11 and Esc keys). USB needs neither.
Can I use the Ubuntu part without a computer?
Yes. That is what the separate LinuxOnDroid download on the releases page is for. About 1 MB, installed on the phone, and you tap the icon to get Ubuntu fullscreen. No cable and no desktop app.
If you install both, they keep their own separate copies of Ubuntu, because Android does not let one app read another's files. That means two downloads.
The Ubuntu install stops halfway on my Xiaomi, Samsung or Huawei.
Those phones are aggressive about killing apps that run for a long time with the screen off, and the first Ubuntu setup takes a while. Turn off battery optimisation for the app before you start the install. If you are using it through the desktop app this is handled for you.
Is my screen going through someone else's server?
No. Over USB or your own Wi-Fi nothing leaves your network. If you set up remote access from anywhere, you point it at a server you run yourself, and even then only a small amount of connection setup passes through it. Your screen and your access code never do.
Something went wrong. What do I send you?
Open the ? menu at the top right of the app and choose Create a diagnostics report. It writes one file with everything needed to work out what happened, so attach that to an issue.
The plain log lives here if you want to read it yourself:
Windows %LOCALAPPDATA%\com.ccrstech.openandroiddex\logs\open-android-dex.log
macOS ~/Library/Logs/com.ccrstech.openandroiddex/open-android-dex.log
Linux ~/.local/share/com.ccrstech.openandroiddex/logs/open-android-dex.log
Building it yourself, and how the project is laid out
You will need: Node 20 or newer, Rust (stable), JDK 17 or newer, and the
Android SDK (platforms android-35 and android-36, build tools with d8),
with ANDROID_HOME and JAVA_HOME set. Windows also needs VS Build Tools with
the C++ workload. macOS needs the Xcode command line tools.
cd open-android-dex-tauri
npm install
npm run tauri devnpm run tauri dev is the way to run this. It rebuilds both phone side
payloads, deploys them, and applies permissions in the order that matters.
Hand launching scrcpy or sideloading the APK skips all of that.
npm run tauri build # Windows -> bundle/nsis/ ; macOS -> bundle/{macos,dmg}/
npm run apk # phone side payloads only
cargo test # from src-tauri/
# The two phone apps on their own, from openandroiddex-launcher/
./gradlew :app:assembleDebug # the launcher, sideloadable
./gradlew :linuxapp:assembleDebug # LinuxOnDroid
# The Play builds of the same two. Needs the release key — see
# openandroiddex-launcher/release-signing.gradle for the four variables, and
# .github/workflows/android.yml for the workflow that does this in CI.
./gradlew :app:bundleRelease :linuxapp:bundleRelease
# Frontend only work, no JDK or Android SDK needed:
SKIP_LAUNCHER_APK=1 SKIP_WMD_DEX=1 npm run tauri dev
# Raise the log level (default: debug)
OADX_LOG=trace npm run tauri devA fresh clone has an empty src-tauri/resources/bin/. Unpack the matching
scrcpy release into it, flattened, for a local bundle. Rebuilding the native
prebuilts is rarely needed and requires Docker:
bash openandroiddex-linux/proot/build.sh # libproot.so, libloader*.so
bash openandroiddex-docker/qemu/build.sh # libqemu.soReleasing. One dispatch versions everything, builds it and cuts the release:
gh workflow run desktop.yml -f bump=patch # or -f version=0.4.0, or -f dry_run=trueTesting a branch on Windows. Tick "Windows portable only" (or pass the flag) for a quick build of just the portable zip, downloadable from the run's page for two weeks — no installer, no macOS or Linux, no version bump, no release:
gh workflow run desktop.yml --ref <branch> -f windows_portable_only=trueWhere things live
| Path | What it is |
|---|---|
| open-android-dex-tauri/ | The PC app. Tauri v2 (Rust) plus React 19, TypeScript, Vite and Tailwind v4 |
| openandroiddex-launcher/ | The desktop shell that runs on the phone. Everything you see |
| openandroiddex-wmd/ | The small window daemon that moves and resizes app windows |
| openandroiddex-linux/ | Ubuntu provisioning and runtime scripts |
| openandroiddex-remote/ | Remote access: SSH into the phone's Linux, or open its desktop, from any network. Rust, both ends — the phone's daemon and the computer's side |
| openandroiddex-docker/ | The Alpine VM scripts and QEMU build |
| openandroiddex-signal/ | Optional relay for reaching a phone from anywhere. One Node file with no dependencies |
| test/ | End to end checks that run without a phone |
| doc/ | Design records explaining why things are built the way they are. Read these before changing window management |
| .agents/AGENTS.md | Rules for AI coding agents and contributors |
Contributions are welcome. Please read the relevant record in doc/ first, because several decisions there look arbitrary until you see what was measured.
Copyright © 2026
Open Android DeX is free software under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later. See LICENSE. It ships alongside independent third party software that keeps its own licences, including scrcpy, adb, QEMU, proot and FFmpeg. See COPYRIGHT and THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.md.
If this is useful to you, a ⭐ helps other people find it.