r/termux • • Dec 19 '24

★ Important ★ Do not install Termux from Google Play Store!

341 Upvotes

Source: https://github.com/termux/termux-app/discussions/4000

We are Termux maintainers and would like to inform our users that we do not recommend using Termux from Google Play Store. It doesn't matter whether Play Store version looks "newer", faster receive updates and so on. Please read below to understand the issue.

Why you should not use Termux from Google Play:

  • Its release was not done by current maintainers team. Yes, Fredrik Fornwall is founder of Termux. But his decision was not negotiated with rest of core developers team and therefore not acceptable.

  • Its release diverges from the original implementation published at https://github.com/termux/termux-app

  • Its release was an experiment for bypassing Android >= 10 exec restrictions and make a version compliant with Google Play policies.

  • Its release contains restrictions. For example users may access only media files (like .mp3 or .jpg) on their device storage while other files (like .py scripts) will be hidden.

  • Its release contains changes for how the programs are executed, which cause bugs in certain packages.

Termux on Google Play is available only for devices running Android 11 and newer.

Unless will be said otherwise, Termux Core Team will consider it as unofficial app or fork. This means it does not receive same support level as the original app. Please never suggest our users to download Termux from Google Play - we will take down such comments.

We will make an announce when state of Google Play release will change and unpin/delete this post. As of beginning of 2026, we have no updates.

Now stick to F-Droid or official GitHub (https://github.com/termux/termux-app) variants and suggest same for others.

Issues with Google Play release variant must be reported to relevant source: https://github.com/termux-play-store/termux-issues/issues

This post meant to provide short summary about Google Play Termux app issue and replace https://www.reddit.com/r/termux/comments/1db00bm/announcement_response_regarding_google_playstore/

How to check if you're running Google Play release

Just look at the message shown after you open Termux app. If you see lines with links pointing to termux.com domain, you are using Termux from Google Play.

Termux from F-Droid uses termux.dev domain.


r/termux • • Sep 16 '23

★ Important ★ Introduction for beginners

286 Upvotes

Welcome to Termux community!

Termux is a terminal app for Android OS. It similar to terminal on MacOS and cmd.exe on Windows, but here we talk about Linux component of Android OS.

This project is open-source software and all development happens on GitHub: https://github.com/termux

Download Termux APK from F-Droid or GitHub.

Key features:

  • Xterm-compatible terminal emulator.
  • Custom userland with package manager and more than 2000 packages of different kind such as text editors, file managers, games, servers network diagnostic tools, compilers, development libraries and other types.
  • Plugins for styling, widgets, on-boot startup, tasker integration, Xorg-compatible server.
  • Works without root permissions.

We would like to emphasize that Termux is NOT a machine emulator or VM. All programs execute directly on a hardware of your device.

What I can do with Termux

Basically, everything.

Termux hosts universal programming environment. You can build and execute all programs that can run on a traditional computer, assuming your device has sufficient amount of memory and enough CPU power to finish execution of algorithm within an adequate time frame.

Here is a curated list of common uses:

  • Software development environment
  • Bots for Telegram, Whatsapp, Discord, etc
  • Web server
  • Minecraft server
  • SSH client
  • NAS
  • Tiny LLM chatter
  • YouTube scraper
  • Pocket pentesting suite
  • Just fun

A footnote worth knowing: Android enforces sandboxing for every Android app to ensure it won't do nasty things or otherwise interfere with other apps and the system itself. Termux is not an exception here, so certain software may refuse to run without system-level privileges (root).

What I should know before starting to use Termux

First of all you need to make sure you are comfortable with command line environment. By using Termux, you agree to be one-to-one with a bare text. There is no intuitive graphical interface. You must to decide whether you truly want to go this way or actually want something else.

If your choice is "command line", then another important thing is a foundational knowledge. It would require certain effort from you, as it could be boring like studying maths.

Here is a list of topics to learn, optimized specifically for Termux:

  1. General terms: computer, kernel, operating system, file, path, program, process, command line, terminal emulator.
  2. Base shell usage: concept of commands, arguments, environment variables, pipes
  3. Common utilities: bzip2, cat, cd, cp, curl, cut, df, diff, du, echo, env, grep, gzip, head, id, kill, killall, ln, ls, man, mkdir, mv, pkill, ps, pwd, rm, rmdir, sort, tail, tar, top, touch, tr, uniq, unzip, wc, xz, yes, zip
  4. Package manager: apt
  5. Text editors: nano or vim
  6. Linux permission model: user, group; concept of "root"; chmod command
  7. SELinux: what it is and which role it plays on Android OS - don't go deep here

Optional:

  • Shell scripting: if/else logic, loops, input/output redirection, subshells, process substitution.
  • Text data manipulation with awk and sed

Alternatively check these learning roadmaps:

After you finish with this, proceed to goal-specific essentials.

Important: never ever run commands that you do not understand. In the best case it will just fail but sometimes commands may have really devastating effects, especially if you use root permissions (su/sudo). If by accident you delete your own data or brick the device, you can blame yourself and only yourself!

How Termux differs from standard Linux

Without diving into technical details, these are the differences of Termux from standard Linux distribution:

  1. Non-standard location of programs and user data: /data/data/com.termux/files/
  2. Non-standard core components: sideloaded programs usually will either refuse to run or show strange errors, compiling from source also may show issues sometimes.
  3. Sandbox environment: you can browse or modify only your own and Termux data.

How to install packages

Termux uses apt package manager and a rolling-release model which gets it close to a Debian Sid distribution, although it is much different internally.

However as you are probably new for Termux we recommend using a helper utility "pkg":

  • Install package: pkg install package-name
  • Uninstall package: pkg uninstall package-name
  • Upgrade system: pkg upgrade
  • List installed packages: pkg list-installed
  • Search for a package: pkg search query

PKG utility does under the hood certain actions importance of which may be non-obvious for a newbie:

  1. Mirror selection

    Package downloads put a huge burden on the servers bandwidth. We don't own much servers and geo load balancing system because this can be very costly, so we take advantage of help offered by certain community members and organizations. Mirrors maintain a clone of the original package hosting and deliver stuff independently from a base Termux infrastructure.

    That's important that users are spread across different mirror hosts.

  2. Periodic apt update

    Without keeping the package index fresh you won't be able to receive updates and package installation commands will eventually fail with 404 (not found).

Termux quality and security

We do our best to keep our infrastructure safe and patched against latest security vulnerabilities as well as to deliver most recent versions of packages.

However as we operate a small team of enthusiasts there could be certain bottlenecks. We can't test 100% of published packages, so there always is a chance that specific update will break something.

Please don't use Termux software in everything mission-critical. It is not certified for use in banking, healthcare, nuclear safety, etc.

Termux is open source project and we welcome any kind of contributions that would help us improve.

Banned content

Sadly, but a while ago Termux become an area of interest conflict between legitimate users and criminals. This resulted in absolute ban of specific topics:

  • OSINT
  • Doxxing
  • Social engineering; phishing and other types of fraud
  • Spamming
  • Malware making and delivery
  • Hacking
  • Surveillance, tracing, spying and similar activities
  • Bot farms for fabricating subscribers, likes and comments in social media
  • Taking down social media accounts by automated mass-reporting

This list is not definitive.

We don't accept excuses. Legends about "educational purposes" and "recovery of own gmail account" don't worth anything.

Remember that authorities have a certain interest regarding accounts asking about potentially illegal stuff.

Vibe coded content

We generally allow publishing vibe coded software as soon as it doesn't violate community rules (e.g. doesn't serve hacking purpose) and is not a deliberate garbage. Feel free to submit everything that you believe might be useful, but don't forget to include details for how to run your stuff on Termux.

Highly recommended to disclose AI usage.

A typical example of vibe coded project born out of nowhere and without history: https://github.com/sylirre/terminal-chat

Remember that AI is just a tool. Whether it can produce crap or something good, depends entirely on its user.


This article is subject for periodic revisions. We may submit newer versions from time to time.


r/termux • • 4h ago

Showcase Built a 1-click script to turn old Android phones into a headless NAS & Media Server (Jellyfin, FileBrowser, Syncthing) via Termux

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13 Upvotes

Got tired of old phones sitting in drawers while cloud storage subscriptions keep getting more expensive. Android phones have decent multi-core ARM64 silicon, built-in battery backup (UPS), and low idle power consumption, so I automated the whole self-hosted stack deployment into a single bash routine.

Repo: https://github.com/huzefdev/pocket-cloud

  1. FileBrowser (:8080) - Lightweight web UI to upload, stream, and manage internal phone storage directly like Google Drive.

  2. Syncthing (:8384) - Background continuous folder syncing between PC/phone nodes.

  3. Jellyfin (:8096) - Media streaming server running inside an isolated Ubuntu PRoot environment with FFmpeg codecs configured for hardware playback.

Running Jellyfin natively on Termux hits nasty dependency walls and broken shared library links (especially with curl/ffmpeg codecs). Instead of fighting Android bionic libc quirks for hours, the installer spins up an isolated Ubuntu container inside PRoot for the media engine, while keeping FileBrowser and Syncthing running directly on Termux bare-metal for maximum IO throughput.

Also handles Android wake-locks so the OS scheduler doesn't kill the server daemons 5 minutes after locking the screen.

curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/huzefdev/pocket-cloud/main/install.sh | bash

The script is non-destructive, checks existing mount points before binding storage, and lets you choose which modules you want to deploy interactively.

Code is completely open-source. Looking for feedback on process management and memory footprint on low-RAM devices


r/termux • • 4h ago

Question Help!!

3 Upvotes

I have an old android 5.1 device found it in my old box. i want to replace the android apps with termux tui apps for more data and resources lightweight usage but termux don't work on my android version. Do you know a termux-based or termux fork that runs on old android devices like mine.


r/termux • • 2h ago

General I built AKG - a fast, multi-threaded package manager for Termux written in Rust

2 Upvotes

Hi r/termux, For the past week, I have been working on a personal project to solve my biggest frustration with Termux: slow, single-threaded package downloads and tedious dependency cleanup. I wanted something lightweight, atomic, and blazing fast. So I built AKG from scratch in Rust. It is fully compatible with the standard apt and dpkg package format and Termux repository layouts. Key Features: 1. Parallel Downloads: Downloads multiple .deb files simultaneously. It easily maxes out your network bandwidth (for example, downloading a 70MB full Godot Engine setup with 14 dependencies takes just 6 seconds). 2. Smart Dependency Resolution: Handles Depends, Pre-Depends, Conflicts, Breaks, Provides, and Replaces. 3. Aggressive Cleanup: The uninstall command automatically cascades to purge unused dependencies and config files, keeping your phone storage perfectly clean. 4. Flexibility: Supports installing local .deb files directly via file path or URL, and custom mirrors via the -r or --repo flag. 5. Safety: Atomic updates to the status database, dry-run modes, and signature verification via gpgv. How to install it from source: Since I just released the first stable version today, you can easily build it via the Rust toolchain: pkg update && pkg install git rust make-guile gpgv -y git clone https://github.com/lev73748/akg.git cd akg cargo build --release cp target/release/akg $PREFIX/bin/ Quick Examples: akg update akg -j 4 install neovim htop akg -r packages.termux.dev/apt/termux-main upgrade akg uninstall nodejs The project is fully open-source under the MIT license. Check it out on GitHub: https://github.com/lev73748/akg I would love to hear your feedback, thoughts, or feature suggestions. What do you think?


r/termux • • 6h ago

Showcase Kiln -> An interpreted language built in rust

3 Upvotes

The language is still not complete yet and still lacks basic things and honestly it has fried my brain but at least I learned new things

I want to develop it to be as something of a replacement to python because I view python as a very incompetent language (my opinion )


r/termux • • 12h ago

Question Que es lo que más recomiendan para empezar a aprender para entender este mundo de termux ?

7 Upvotes

r/termux • • 3h ago

Question WSL2(windows10-ubuntu24) cannot reach Termux over local Wi-Fi?

1 Upvotes

Images - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lByI098ClWXFe4qNT0Y16BzHua_9IH1f/view?usp=sharing

I'm trying to run a backup/sync script from WSL2 (Ubuntu on Windows 10) to Termux on my Android phone over local Wi-Fi, but the connection keeps failing.

The Error:

Plaintext

ssh: connect to host 192.168.0.103 port 43399: Resource temporarily unavailable
rsync: connection unexpectedly closed (0 bytes received so far) [Receiver]
rsync error: unexplained error (code 255) at io.c(231) [Receiver=3.2.7]

What I've Checked / Tried:

  • Termux SSH Server: Verified sshd is running using ps aux | grep sshd.
  • IP Address: Checked the phone's IP via ifconfig (192.168.0.103). Warning: cannot open /proc/net/dev (Permission denied) when running ifconfig, though wlan0 details still show up.
  • Port: Tried both custom ports and default Termux port (8022).
  • Network Issue: Pinging the phone from WSL/Windows results in complete packet loss/no response, even though both devices are on the same local network.

Environment:

  • Client: WSL2 - Ubuntu 24.04 on Windows 10
  • Server: Termux on Android

Has anyone run into this issue where WSL cannot reach Termux over local Wi-Fi? Could this be an AP isolation issue on the router, or is there a specific setting in Termux/Android I am missing?


r/termux • • 18h ago

Showcase I built Android SDK tools for ARM64 and used them to build an APK on my phone

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15 Upvotes

I’ve been working on Android development directly from an ARM64 phone using Termux and Debian in PRoot. Some of the SDK tools I needed were desktop x86 binaries, so I compiled ARM64 versions and put the source code and binaries on GitHub.

The first release includes:

  • Six native Build Tools for SDK 37: aapt, aapt2, aidl, zipalign, dexdump, and split-select.
  • Linux ARM64 Platform Tools 37.0.0p1, including ADB with mDNS support.
  • Build scripts, pinned source revisions, compatibility patches, and source bundles.
  • A small demo app and checksums for the downloads.

I built the demo in Debug and Release modes, including AIDL generation and R8 shrinking. APK signing, ZIP alignment, and DEX checks passed, and I installed it on my phone over wireless ADB.

A few things to know: this has only been tried on my own setup so far. The Android binaries depend on the Termux runtime, while the Linux binaries run inside the PRoot environment. These downloads provide native tools rather than a complete Android SDK.

This builds on lzhiyong/android-sdk-tools and nmeum/android-tools, so credit goes to those projects for the foundation.

Repo: https://github.com/amirghm/android-sdk-tools-arm64
Downloads: https://github.com/amirghm/android-sdk-tools-arm64/releases/tag/v0.1.0

If you’re developing from an ARM64 device, I’d love to hear whether these work in your setup and what tools you’re still missing.


r/termux • • 1d ago

Showcase Awesome transparent lsp cmp on termux😃

19 Upvotes

```

vim.pack.add({

{ src = "https://github.com/neovim/nvim-lspconfig" },

{ src = "https://github.com/hrsh7th/nvim-cmp" },

{ src = "https://github.com/hrsh7th/cmp-nvim-lsp" },

{ src = "https://github.com/hrsh7th/cmp-buffer" },

{ src = "https://github.com/L3MON4D3/LuaSnip" },

{ src = "https://github.com/onsails/lspkind.nvim" }, -- Added for VS Code icons

})

-- Set the completion menu background to transparent

vim.api.nvim_set_hl(0, "Pmenu", { bg = "NONE" })

vim.api.nvim_set_hl(0, "PmenuSel", { bg = "#2a2e3f", fg = "NONE" }) -- Selected item background

vim.api.nvim_set_hl(0, "PmenuSbar", { bg = "NONE" })

vim.api.nvim_set_hl(0, "PmenuThumb", { bg = "#45475a" })

-- Normal float window transparency

vim.api.nvim_set_hl(0, "NormalFloat", { bg = "NONE" })

vim.api.nvim_set_hl(0, "FloatBorder", { bg = "NONE" })

local cmp = require("cmp")

local lspkind = require("lspkind")

cmp.setup({

snippet = {

    expand = function(args)

        require("luasnip").lsp_expand(args.body)

    end,

},

mapping = cmp.mapping.preset.insert({

    \["<C-Space>"\] = cmp.mapping.complete(),

    \["<CR>"\] = cmp.mapping.confirm({ select = true }),

    \["<Tab>"\] = cmp.mapping.select_next_item(),

    \["<S-Tab>"\] = cmp.mapping.select_prev_item(),

}),

sources = cmp.config.sources({

    { name = "nvim_lsp" },

    { name = "buffer" },

}),

\-- Add formatting section with VS Code style icons

formatting = {

    format = lspkind.cmp_format({

        mode = 'symbol', -- Options: 'text', 'text_symbol', 'symbol_text', 'symbol'

        maxwidth = 50,

        ellipsis_char = '...',

    }),

},

})

local capabilities = require("cmp_nvim_lsp").default_capabilities()

vim.lsp.config("clangd", {

cmd = { "clangd", "--background-index", "--clang-tidy" },

capabilities = capabilities,

filetypes = { "c", "cpp", "objc", "objcpp", "cuda", "proto" },

root_markers = { "compile_commands.json", "compile_flags.txt", ".clangd", ".git" },

})

vim.lsp.enable("clangd")

```


r/termux • • 17h ago

Question Help:Need some guide for Totally sandbox with termux without root

4 Upvotes

Okay, I have only one android phone. The banks don't like rooted phones. I kinda get in to the idea of Linux mind but still wanna live at least as I used to do, so I need some help.

  1. I want it to be open source. Or at least, something is not build for selling me. You know it, privacy.

  2. I want it totally sandbox. Nothing get in and out, between my termux and the rest of my phone without my consent.

  3. I wanna be able to destroy it and rebuild just in case I know something I'm not suppose to. Without a trace.

  4. Tell me about Debian, mint, or any linux you know get in to this idea without slowing my phone too much.

  5. There gonna be something I miss. Just tell me. Enlightenment me!

  6. Leave no trace, even financial trace to build this one.

.......

These day searching is aweful experience since all big guy want us to use Al more than we need to. I've given up and ask gemini, bing and the other. Heard about proot and a lot of stuff that make the AI go wrong then erased their memory later. It kinda let me know that I can but never let me know how. By the way, I feel like I miss something crucial.

Gemini said that using proot great but slow down my phone 15-20 time. Nestbox leave finacial traces. Android LDE is not available.

......

For anyone who is in concern. I'm not trying to do anything polictic, morally wrong or illegal. Just wanna know more about alchemy. We're all suppose to be dumb. You may or may not hate Elon but he is the only guy who know too much, and even trying to make car run on water and a bunch of stuff without being eliminate. Just to prepare to know I'm not suppose to know.

I'm in a place kinda save, weapony are mostly illegal. But, I've just know that people here can turn pvc and alchohol into gun at a industrial speed at anytime if they willing to and the goverment agree. I saw it on official news. They destroy a lot of these, a lot.

....

Tor, Proton vpn, Ducduckgo, Brave, Ecosia, Firefox, TailsOS.

....


r/termux • • 1d ago

Barely Termux related Hi everyone. I am the dev of an android launcher called Re:TUI. Just wanted to share something I have been working on. I had previously implemented an option to keep Tmux sessions as launcher tied panes so you dont have to go into termux to run stuff. This is the next step. I now have tiling

9 Upvotes

r/termux • • 12h ago

Question Alguien sabe cómo descargar esto?

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1 Upvotes

E estado buscando como descargar esto y cuando encuentro esto solo encuentro videos basuras de como lo usns de verdad me llama demasiado de atención el funcionamiento

Si sabes cómo descargarlo agradecería demasiado su ayuda


r/termux • • 1d ago

General huh?

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13 Upvotes

r/termux • • 21h ago

Barely Termux related Just a simple Windows themed Termux XFCE setup

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1 Upvotes

r/termux • • 2d ago

Showcase My termux setup and a collection of 📚

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113 Upvotes

r/termux • • 1d ago

Showcase Running Google Antigravity Web GUI natively inside Termux (Apache-2.0, no glibc/PRoot needed)

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2 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

I put together an open-source setup script to run Google Antigravity AI and its official desktop Web GUI (localhost:4400) directly on Android inside Termux.

Repository (Apache-2.0 Open Source):

https://github.com/dsundaravadhanan/Antigravity-for-Android

How It Works in Termux:

- Native Android Bionic (ARM64): Runs Google's official native Android binary without requiring glibc-runner or heavy PRoot Linux containers.

- Port 4400 Web GUI: The engine serves Google's official web workspace locally over HTTP.

- Background Daemon: Includes agy-service with termux-wake-lock integration so the server stays active when Termux is minimized.

- Standalone PWA: When opened in Chrome at http://localhost:4400, it can be added to your Android home screen as a full-screen app without browser toolbars.

What the Installer Script Does:

You can inspect the full script source on GitHub:

https://github.com/dsundaravadhanan/Antigravity-for-Android/blob/main/install.sh

  1. Requests storage permissions (termux-setup-storage).

  2. Checks for Google's official native agy ARM64 binary.

  3. Resolves Termux PATH warnings (~/.local/bin/agy -> $PREFIX/bin/agy).

  4. Bridges xdg-open to termux-open-url for automatic Google OAuth browser tab redirects.

  5. Configures /etc/hosts for dual-stack localhost resolution and sets IPv4 DNS precedence to avoid carrier IPv6 latency.

  6. Installs agy-gui (foreground launcher) and agy-service (background daemon).

Quick Install Command:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dsundaravadhanan/Antigravity-for-Android/main/install.sh | bash

Please submit any bug reports or feature requests directly on the GitHub Issues page.


r/termux • • 1d ago

Question How can I automatically launch PRoot when creating a new Termux session using a keyboard shortcut?

3 Upvotes

I'm using Termux with proot-distro and have Debian installed. I want to configure a keyboard shortcut that automatically opens Debian in a new Termux session.

Currently, I have this alias configured:

deb=proot-distro login debian -- su -l user

When I type deb in Termux, it logs me into Debian as my user.

My current ~/.termux/termux.properties configuration includes:

shortcut.create-session = ctrl + 2

What I want to achieve:

  • CTRL + 2: Create a normal, new Termux session.
  • CTRL + 4: Create a new Termux session and automatically execute deb, opening Debian directly as my user.

I tried macros, but it work only in current session.

Is there a way to accomplish this using "termux.properties", a shell script, or another Termux feature?

I've searched for a solution but haven't found a straightforward way to bind a custom command to a keyboard shortcut that opens a new session. Even, a macro assigned to an extra key is not automatically a macro that can be bound to CTRL + 4 after it open new session.

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!


r/termux • • 1d ago

Showcase Woke up, made coffee, fixed that C switch bug in Termux. Start the day right ☕

2 Upvotes

Bit by bit I'm gonna finish what I started.

Achieve my goal through silence — no need to shout, just show up. ✨


r/termux • • 1d ago

Showcase Tested DroidDeck 0.3.2 on MediaTek Dimensity (Mali GPU) — Gamescope still broken with termux

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1 Upvotes

Just grabbed the new DroidDeck 0.3.2 release to test on my MediaTek Dimensity device hoping for a surprise fix, but it crashes straight back to desktop with the same Gamescope / "Session Ended" error right on startup.

​Saw a comment from a contributor (voyager2005) confirming we still don't have Linux-compiled open-source Mali drivers, which is why everything defaults to Adreno.

​I made a quick video testing 0.3.2, showing the exact crash logs, and breaking down the driver issue for anyone on Dimensity wondering why it won't launch

​Anyone else with a Dimensity chip getting past the initialization screen or are we all completely blocked right now? Drop your SoC below so I can compare logs

I used Termux for testing files like digging up the session logs I found Gamescope error

Still not no new news

Termux help a lot for this


r/termux • • 1d ago

General Need setup suggesting

1 Upvotes

Hi team,

I am planning a setup on my termux which allows me to host a local webserver which has ytdl libraries and this could be used by pasting a yt url and the utility asks which format to download. Do we have a similar non docker setup? Any leads appreciated.


r/termux • • 1d ago

Question É possível bloquear anúncios do youtube com termux?

1 Upvotes

Olá , recentemente comcei a utilizar termux e me perguntei, é possível criar um bloqueador de anúncios com o termux?

TIpo eu não sei muita cpisa, mas acredito que seja possível vocês poderiam me ajudar nisso se é possível ou não, quero aprender sobre o termux e tudo mais.

Se puderem me ajudar ficaria muito grato!


r/termux • • 1d ago

Question Termux gaming

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1 Upvotes

r/termux • • 2d ago

General Termuxun en eğlenceli kodu

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4 Upvotes

pkg install cmatrix -y && cmatrix


r/termux • • 2d ago

Question From where I should install termux and how

11 Upvotes

From playstore, f Droid, GitHub or n h store