# Termux

> Android terminal emulator and Linux environment that installs packages through its own apt repository, no root required.

Stars: 63.6k · Language: Java · License: GPL-3.0 · Platforms: Android · Config: properties

Features: configurable

- Repository: https://github.com/termux/termux-app
- Page: https://www.trmn.sh/terminals/termux

## Overview

Termux is a terminal emulator and Linux environment for Android, written mostly in Java. The app provides the terminal and a minimal set of bootstrap packages, and further software comes from the separate termux-packages repository through `pkg` or `apt`, without root. It suits people who want a shell, SSH client, compilers or scripting tools on an Android phone or tablet. Current releases support Android 7 and later, with a reduced build for Android 5 and 6 that gets no package updates.

Settings live in plain key=value files rather than a GUI. The main file is `~/.termux/termux.properties` (or `~/.config/termux/termux.properties`), which covers the extra-keys row above the soft keyboard, bell behaviour, cursor style and blink rate, scrollback size (`terminal-transcript-rows`), back-key and volume-key behaviour, and fullscreen mode. Colors go in `~/.termux/colors.properties` and a custom font in `~/.termux/font.ttf`, and `termux-reload-settings` applies changes without restarting.

Multiple sessions run side by side and are listed in a drawer that slides in from the left. With a hardware keyboard, Ctrl+Alt+C creates a session, Ctrl+Alt+N and Ctrl+Alt+P switch between them, Ctrl+Alt+U selects a URL from the screen and Ctrl+Alt+plus or minus changes the font size. Optional add-on apps extend it: Termux:API exposes Android features to the shell, and Termux:Boot, Termux:Widget, Termux:Float, Termux:Styling and Termux:Tasker cover startup scripts, home-screen shortcuts, a floating window, themes and Tasker integration.

There are no split panes; tmux inside Termux is the usual answer. Font ligatures are not supported. Sixel and iTerm2 inline image support was merged into the source in September 2026 but is not yet in a tagged release (the latest stable is v0.118.3). The README warns that Android 12 and later may kill background processes beyond a phantom-process limit, which can end sessions unexpectedly. APKs from F-Droid, GitHub and Google Play are signed with different keys, so the app and its plugins must all come from the same source, and the Play Store build is a separate experimental branch with missing features.

## Alternatives

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- [Alacritty](https://www.trmn.sh/terminals/alacritty.md): Cross-platform OpenGL terminal emulator written in Rust, configured with a TOML file and leaving tabs and splits to a multiplexer like tmux. (Linux/macOS/Windows/BSD, 66.1k stars)
- [Warp](https://www.trmn.sh/terminals/warp.md): Terminal written in Rust with an IDE-style command editor, command output grouped into blocks, and built-in AI agents. (macOS/Linux/Windows, 65.7k stars)
- [Ghostty](https://www.trmn.sh/terminals/ghostty.md): Terminal emulator written in Zig with GPU rendering and a native UI on each platform: Swift/AppKit on macOS, GTK on Linux. (Linux/macOS, 62.8k stars)
- [Hyper](https://www.trmn.sh/terminals/hyper.md): Electron terminal built on HTML, CSS and JavaScript, themed and extended through npm plugins. (Linux/macOS/Windows, 44.8k stars)
- [Kitty](https://www.trmn.sh/terminals/kitty.md): GPU-rendered terminal written in C and Python, with its own graphics protocol, built-in tabs and splits, and scriptable 'kittens'. (Linux/macOS/BSD, 35.5k stars)
- [WindTerm](https://www.trmn.sh/terminals/windterm.md): SSH, Telnet, serial and local shell client for Windows, macOS and Linux with tabs, split views, SFTP and tmux integration; only partly open source. (Windows/macOS/Linux, 32.5k stars)

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Canonical: https://www.trmn.sh/terminals/termux