Android 16 lets the Linux Terminal use your cellphone's total storage

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TL;DR

The Terminal app on Pixel telephones permits customers to run Linux apps by way of a Debian digital machine. The Android 16 Beta 4, and subsequently the steady Android 16 launch, eliminated the earlier 16GB storage cap for the Linux VM. In Android 16 QPR1, handbook storage resizing has been changed with dynamic storage ballooning, permitting the VM to regulate its storage wants mechanically.

Replace 1, August 6, 2025 (02:24 PM ET): With the discharge of Android 16 QPR1 Beta 3, Google has launched storage ballooning help to the Linux Terminal app. This characteristic permits the Terminal to dynamically modify the space for storing accessible to the Debian VM. Consequently, the disk resize slider has been eliminated as it's not needed.

Unique article, April 19, 2025 (09:30 AM ET): Pixel telephones are taking a step in the direction of changing into highly effective moveable PCs with the introduction of the Linux Terminal app within the March 2025 replace. This app lets suitable Android gadgets run a full-fledged occasion of the favored Debian distro in a digital machine, opening the door to working in style Linux desktop applications alongside Android apps. Nonetheless, the characteristic isn’t fairly prepared for on a regular basis skilled use, at the moment missing help for vital options like graphical apps and audio output, and till just lately, it was restricted to only 16GB of space for storing, limiting the Linux VM’s capability for apps and recordsdata. Fortunately, Google simply lifted that storage limitation, permitting the Linux Terminal to make use of as a lot of your cellphone’s storage as wanted.

With the discharge of the fourth Android 16 beta, Google has uncapped the disk resize slider within the Linux Terminal app’s settings. In earlier releases, the disk dimension was capped at 16GB. In Android 16 Beta 4, nevertheless, the disk will be resized to occupy many of the host machine’s remaining storage, leaving 1GB free to forestall the digital machine from consuming all accessible house.

I examined this characteristic on a Google Pixel 9 Professional working Android 16 Beta 4, efficiently resizing the Linux disk to 42.3GB. The method took just a few seconds, and after restarting the VM, the elevated storage was instantly accessible. In accordance with Android’s storage settings, the overall dimension consumed by the Linux Terminal app (together with the bottom app and the resized VM disk) grew to roughly 45.52GB.

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In a future launch, Google plans to take away the disk resize slider totally from the Linux Terminal app. As an alternative, the app will make use of storage ballooning to dynamically modify the space for storing accessible to the Debian VM. This characteristic permits the visitor VM’s storage to “inflate” to make use of accessible house and “deflate” when the host system must reclaim it. This strategy presents two key advantages: the storage allotted to Debian doesn’t should be fastened upfront, and it protects the host from working out of house by mechanically shrinking the visitor’s accessible storage when needed.

Google is quickly enhancing the Linux Terminal app, recognizing its key function within the firm’s plans to transition Chrome OS to an Android base. Though the app theoretically permits for working full-fledged Linux desktop environments, Google says the Terminal’s major function is to allow working Linux apps alongside Android apps, to not substitute Android’s native desktop mode. Nonetheless, Google’s efforts will unlock some thrilling use circumstances, and it’ll be fascinating to see the modern ways in which customers leverage the Linux Terminal on their Pixels because the app matures.

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