Sia Linux VM

About

Sia Linux VM is an independent Android app for creating, running, monitoring, and recovering ARM64 Linux virtual machines directly on a phone, tablet, or foldable. It includes a verified QEMU runtime, guides you through VM setup, and lets you operate the guest from a built-in xterm-compatible serial console. Built with Kotlin, Jetpack Compose, Material 3, Room, DataStore, WorkManager, and a foreground service, it works without a Sia Makerlab account or developer-operated VM server.

The app bundles QEMU, but no Linux operating system image. QEMU is included as a GPL v2 runtime and runs as a separate local process on your device. Linux disk images, installer ISOs, additional disks, and any guest software are supplied by you from publishers or sources you choose. The app does not mirror, host, or redistribute Linux images, Docker Engine, or distribution packages.

The mobile-specific work is handled in the app: guided setup, device-aware CPU/RAM presets, resumable downloads and Storage Access Framework imports, SHA-256 and boot metadata checks, safe image attachment and deletion rules, local port forwarding, QEMU Guest Agent status, stable error codes, recovery steps, and recent CPU, memory, disk, network, battery, charging, and thermal monitoring. Diagnostic export is created only when you request it and removes guest console content, names, URLs, addresses, secrets, and internal paths before sharing through Android Sharesheet.

Independence & licensing: Sia Linux VM is an independent application and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the QEMU project, Canonical (Ubuntu), the Debian project, the Fedora project, Docker, Inc., Red Hat, Inc., or any other vendor. "Linux" is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds, and QEMU, Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, Docker, and other names are trademarks of their respective owners, used here only descriptively. You are responsible for complying with the licenses and terms of the Linux images, installers, disks, and guest software you use. QEMU is provided under GPL v2; the QEMU integration layer is published separately under GPL v2.

Features

• Verified bundled ARM64 QEMU runtime with firmware integrity checks and automatic registration
• Import Linux disk images, installer ISOs, ZIP archives, and SAF-selected folders into app-managed storage while preserving the original files
• Inspect raw/img, ISO9660/El Torito, and qcow2 images for format, boot evidence, corruption, and unsupported features
• General-purpose resumable downloads and imports with task recovery after app restart
• VM creation with device-aware CPU, RAM, storage, boot-mode, and performance preset checks
• Start, graceful stop, pause, resume, reboot, and force-stop flows with QMP/QGA-backed state validation
• Built-in raw xterm-compatible serial console with mobile modifier keys, navigation keys, F1-F12, bracketed paste, and TUI-friendly output handling
• Localhost-only TCP port forwarding for services you run inside the guest
• Mobile-aware monitoring for app/QEMU CPU, QEMU memory, disk I/O, app+QEMU network traffic, storage, battery, charging, and thermal state
• QEMU Guest Agent read-only guest status where available; Docker commands, container control, and Docker binary distribution are not included
• Optional user-requested diagnostic ZIP with privacy scrubbing and Android Sharesheet export
• English and Korean, no account, no cloud sync, App Open ads, and an optional repeatable donation that removes ads for the current app installation after the first confirmed donation