Software packages on Android, which use the APK format, are generally distributed through proprietary application stores like Google Play Store, Amazon Appstore (including for Windows 11), Samsung Galaxy Store, Huawei AppGallery, Cafe Bazaar, and GetJar, or open source platforms like Aptoide or F-Droid.Īndroid has been the best-selling OS worldwide on smartphones since 2011 and on tablets since 2013.
Some well known derivatives include Android TV for televisions and Wear OS for wearables, both developed by Google.
The source code has been used to develop variants of Android on a range of other electronics, such as game consoles, digital cameras, portable media players, PCs, each with a specialized user interface. However the "Android" name and logo are trademarks of Google which imposes standards to restrict the use of Android branding by "uncertified" devices outside their ecosystem. Competing Android ecosystems and forks include Fire OS (developed by Amazon) or LineageOS.
Over 70 percent of Android smartphones run Google's ecosystem some with vendor-customized user interface and software suite, such as TouchWiz and later One UI by Samsung, and HTC Sense. Most Android devices ship with additional proprietary software pre-installed, most notably Google Mobile Services (GMS) which includes core apps such as Google Chrome, the digital distribution platform Google Play, and associated Google Play Services development platform. When Android is actually installed on devices, ability to modify the otherwise FOSS software is usually restricted, either by not providing the corresponding source code or preventing reinstallation through technical measures, rendering the installed version proprietary. The Android Open Source Project (AOSP), which is free and open-source software primarily licensed under the Apache License. Most versions of Android are proprietary. It was unveiled in November 2007, with the first commercial Android device, the HTC Dream, being launched in September 2008. Android is developed by a consortium of developers known as the Open Handset Alliance and commercially sponsored by Google. GNU GPL v2 for the Linux kernel modifications Īndroid is a mobile operating system based on a modified version of the Linux kernel and other open source software, designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.Apache License 2.0 for userspace software.Still, it’s a start - and it shows that the end of x86 Macs won’t necessarily shut down your OS options. This is far from the dream of simply dual-booting Linux on an M1 Mac, and you might be better off using Parallels or other virtual machines (when they’re ready) to run other operating systems. Suffice it to say you won’t want to try this if you absolutely depend on your Mac for work. You can repeat the process, but you’ll need at least a 16GB USB drive and more than a little comfort with command line interfaces and recovery modes. Corellium not only had to create a pre-load “wrapper,” but find an alternative just to attach USB peripherals to the machine. While the M1 is a 64-bit ARM chip, the solution was anything but straightforward and will require some extra steps if you want to try it yourself.Īpple processors have a unique kernel boot, multi-core addressing and interrupt controller, among other non-standard tech that Linux doesn’t normally support. As AppleInsider noted, the team at Corellium has outlined how it ported Ubuntu Linux to the M1 chip. Yes, you can natively run operating systems beyond macOS on Apple’s M1 Macs - if you’re willing to put in some extra work.