Support and FAQ

It depends on your phone. Zelicra emulates a PC in software, so a faster phone gives you a faster PC. On a phone with a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 running Android 16, we measured Alpine Linux x86-64 booting to login in 31 seconds and Alpine Linux ARM64 in about 60 seconds.

Modern flagships run lightweight Linux desktops well. Heavy desktops are slow.

Android does not allow apps distributed through Google Play to use the phone's hardware virtualization. Zelicra uses emulation instead: QEMU's multi-threaded JIT (TCG) translates the guest's instructions and runs them across your CPU cores. We don't use workarounds that would need root.

Start with Balanced, the default: it lets Android schedule the guest alongside everything else and suits installs and everyday desktop use. Max lets the guest use every core at a higher priority, for the most speed on short tasks; your phone will get warm. Sustained keeps the guest on your phone's middle cores for a steady speed over long sessions such as big downloads or builds, without the sudden slowdowns of thermal throttling. The live HUD shows frames per second, load on each core and thermal headroom, so you can see the effect.

Zelicra runs x86-64 and ARM64 guests. On a real phone we have verified:

• Alpine Linux x86-64 and ARM64: boot to login.
• SliTaz (x86): an interactive desktop.
• Omarchy (Arch Linux): reaches its installer menu.

Other Linux distributions are untested by us; lightweight ones are your best bet.

We have not verified Windows. It is a heavy desktop, so expect it to be slow under emulation. If you try it, you need your own valid Windows licence; see our Terms of Use.

Not yet. Android as a guest (LineageOS 23 and Android 16 VMs, Android-x86 and GSI images) with real multi-touch is in development.

Use the architecture your disk image was built for. Many distributions offer both; the download page usually labels them x86_64 (or amd64) and aarch64 (or arm64).

Download them from each project's official website, for example alpinelinux.org/downloads for Alpine Linux. Where the project publishes checksums, check them. Zelicra does not include, host or sell operating systems.

ISO installers, raw IMG disk images and QCOW2 disks. You pick them with Android's file picker, so the app doesn't need broad storage permission. Zelicra chooses BIOS (SeaBIOS) or UEFI (EDK II) firmware for the image automatically.

No. Zelicra is an ordinary app and needs no root.

Soon. It isn't available to download yet. When it launches it will be free, with no ads and no account.

Choose one of three input modes: Trackpad (drag to move the cursor), Direct touch (the cursor goes where you tap) or Mouse (use a real mouse). A physical keyboard works, and the extra-keys bar gives you Esc, Tab, Ctrl, Alt, the arrow keys and the F-keys.

Yes. The app has built-in user-mode networking (NAT), so the guest can reach the internet through your phone's connection with no setup. That traffic goes straight out from your phone; Zelicra never sees it.

Yes. The VM keeps running in the background and shows a notification with a Stop button. Allow notifications when the app asks so this works. For long installs you can use the optional keep-awake so the phone doesn't sleep.

Not yet. Audio, clipboard sharing and GPU acceleration are in development.

Emulation keeps your processor busy, so expect more battery use and heat than a typical app. Some tips:

• Use the Sustained profile for long sessions.
• Watch thermal headroom in the HUD.
• Plug in for long installs, and take the case off if the phone gets warm.
• Stop the VM from the notification when you're done.

The app collects none. There are no accounts, ads, analytics, crash reporting or trackers, and the app makes no network requests of its own. If you email us, we use your message only to reply. Read the full Privacy Policy.

Uninstall the app. Uninstalling deletes all the virtual machine data the app created. Files you picked from elsewhere on your phone stay where they were. The app sends us nothing, so there is no app data about you on our side. If you have emailed us, ask and we will delete your messages.

Yes: free, with no ads and no account.

Pro will be a one-time USD 4.99 purchase through Google Play. It will unlock Zelicra Stream, which casts a running VM to a TV or laptop on your Wi-Fi, when that feature ships. Pro is not on sale yet.

The app bundles QEMU and other open-source components. Their licences and complete corresponding source code are on the open-source page. The app's own code is closed source.