Google finally sheds light on what its new Linux terminal app is for (and what it isn’t)

Google’s active work on an Android Linux Terminal app that lets users run an instance of Debian in a virtual machine has long been an open secret. First spotted with Android 15 QPR2 beta in November, the Terminal app finally made its way to stable with the March 2025 Pixel Feature Drop.

The app currently offers a text-based command-line interface, complete with options to adjust the amount of space allocated to the Linux environment, set port controls, and a Recovery option for the virtual machine’s storage partition.

The app’s existence, however, also gives rise to the question: Who, and more importantly, what is it for? Additionally, what is Google’s ultimate goal with it? We know that support could be useful for developers, security professionals, or those that need access to Linux-exclusive applications on Android. While it is still uncertain what Google’s long-term goal is here, a Google employee has stepped forward to clarify what the application is not for (via Android Authority).

“We usually don’t share our feature plan, but I have seen some expectations that I feel like should be corrected before they go wild,” wrote the Google employee, adding that Google does not intend to leverage the tool to “bring yet another desktop environment.”

This doesn’t mean that users can’t install and run Linux desktop environments like KDE Plasma, XFCE, or GNOME — it only means that Google won’t be providing them as the default experience within the Terminal app. The tech giant only wants to focus on one mode of desktop-class windowing system, and it is already making progress in that aspect with Android 16’s Desktop Mode.

“Android, as speculated by the public, will have better desktop-class windowing system. We think it would in general be bad to present multiple options for the window management on a single device,” wrote the employee.