I have tried with a certain patience, insistence and kind answers and help from members but probably I was missing skills to make WD work on my XA2 (earlier posts in this thread).
Problem is that probably few people have tried, as App Support is available on the XA2.
I just tried on freshly-flashed XA2 with Sailfish OS 4.5.0.21.
I did everything what I do to make Waydroid working on F(x)tec Pro1 (Sailfish 4.5.0.19). But it doesn’t work in XA2 case.
On Pro1 I install Waydroid, Settings, Sensors and Gbinder Hybris. I change aidl2 to aidl3 in config, waydroid init, enable container service, disable dnsmasq, enable starting session at boot and run Waydroid. Works on Pro1. Doesn’t work on XA2.
Journalctl / systemctl status doesn’t show any errors in terms of container service. So I guess problem is in session?
I will keep trying.
This may rely to old hardware, SFOS on XA2 runs in 32 bit mode. I guess it’s possible that Waydroid only runs on 64 bit systems.
Waydroid used to work for me in 32bit (Xperia X) with vibration sensor disabled but now it doesn’t work anymore.
Wait you ran Waydroid on Xperia X?
I’m thinking about switching to a Volla (the new x23 precisely), giving all the positive feedback here in the forum. However, I’m unsure about replacing the Android support with waydroid regarding usability. I see that you can run waydroid in the background (as Android support does) to speed up the starting time of apps. As I’m mainly use communication apps, this would be my use case. I presume that with this setting, there is little difference to the Android support, right?
One thing I’m wondering is the app permission thing. Does waydroid offer the possibility to control them (e.g. giving one app access to the contacts of SFOS while block another one / give it an empty contact list)? How about network access, can I restrict internet access for an app?
Does somebody know and can answer my questions? Thanks already.
Well, Waydroid <-> Sailfish integration is very small. Internet control? I think it’d be on Android side, as Waydroid is just full Lineage 18.1 running on Sailfish OS. There is a script adding Magisk = root access, but I’m not sure if it works on Sailfish’s Waydroid (it’s designed for normal Waydroid on Linux). A small integration with Sailfish can be achieved using Sailfish Connect and KDE Connect, but Android notifications won’t show on Sailfish (yet).
You are right, it is not possible at all. It was X10II.
It works but the mount point is different i.e.:
mount --bind /home/defaultuser/Downloads /home/waydroid/data/media/0/Download
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You just have to imagine it to be like you have the entire android OS (as Lineage in this instance) as an app. When you open the app, you see the boot image and then Lineage starts. You download and control apps exactly like you do on Android (within the app). You can import contacts, and likely control what apps have what permissions.
To get notifications you need to leave the app (Waydroid) running in the background so you can hear the notifications come through. They don’t show up in Sailfish
I’m unsure about root access, I haven’t delved too deep into it.
One thing to note is that you likely can’t have many apps operating within Waydroid without slowing the phone down. I run outlook and chrome in there for work, but not at the same time. I really like how you can run apps in Waydroid in real time and monitor then from the Sailfish running/minimised apps screen.
I used to use an Android browser when running Alien Dalvik on an Xperia 10 as it operated better than the stock browser, but now I find myself only using either the stock browser or Angelfish.
I’m now using an XZ2 and am looking to get rid of the supported Xperia 10 device with how well the XZ2 runs Sailfish.
All the best with your decision.
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This is what worked for me, thanks to @Seven.of.nine funnily enough:
ln -s /home/waydroid/data/media/0/ /home/defaultuser/Android-Data
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This will likely help you understand it too:
As @tn71 said, the WD integration is less developped than in App Support.
Which can also be seen as an advantage as apps don’t access personal data, even when it is mandatory to accept sharing.
A down side of WD os that bluetooth and GPS are not working, at least here in the Gigadet GS5 (Volla 22).
Bluetooth isn’t working working on XZ2 either. Unsure of GPS. However, I can listen through Bluetooth by connecting through Sailfish for example, but then playing Spotify through Waydroid.
Oh, ok. I didn’t try that. thanks.
Oh, nice, how did you set it up? Did you have to edit Waydroid props? I use Waydroid Settings (as landscape works better with it than with Runner), and apps don’t show in Sailfish opened apps.
Yes, and Sailfish Connect doesn’t receive them as well.
Well, I can play some game, have opened Opera, file manager and KDE connect and phone isn’t slow. But Pro1 has nice specs.
Are you able to use both AD and Waydroid in the same time? I wasn’t. I wrote myself a Python script which can swap these things for me to bypass this (one command, reboot and the Android implementation changed).
This is kinda interesting. I have XA2 and F(x)tec Pro1 as my two (and only) Sailfish devices. Both run Sailfish 4.5.0. On both uname -a shows aarch64, and both use armv7hl packages.
But, on Pro1, arm64 images for Waydroid works. aarch64 Arch Linux container works as well, and I use arm64 apps on Waydroid.
On XA2 aarch64 Arch Linux container works too with Xsession. However I can’t get Waydroid to work, although I tried everything what I do on Pro1 (and on Pro1 this makes Waydroid working). I also tried arm (non-arm64) image on XA2, and the same problem. Full UI (or session) doesn’t work.
I think I just had to install Waydroid through the Chum store fortunately, and then ran the command waydroid init as root. I did have issues with it though, and, I’m not certain, but I think removing encryption allowed Waydroid to install/run properly on my device. I didn’t have to do anything more than that.
I think from memory (from looking at previous posts on this forum) you can’t run native Alien Dalvik and Waydroid on the same device. Interesting that you managed to go between the two - what benefit did you find going between AD and Waydroid?
Regarding XA2 not running Waydroid, I thought maybe the base image that Jolla uses is 32 bit based (which I don’t think Waydroid likes), but I’m not sure. It’s not a conflict with the native Alien Dalvik?
I wrote a script as I wrote, which disables one implementation and enables another. It allows me to swap them using one command and reboot 
But currently Waydroid is enough for me.
I needed both on Sailfish 4.4, because one game wasn’t working on AD but was working on Waydroid.
I usually have to do more (Waydroid & Settings & Gbinder Config Hybris even on SFOS 4.5), disable dnsmasq, enable waydroid-container, waydroid init. If I use arm image, I also have to fix one problem with mount command (I remount vendor rw and create the folder manually). This makes Waydroid working but definitely its opened apps don’t show in Sailfish opened apps.
I checked many things and they seem to be similar with Pro1 port. aarch64 kernel, armv7hl packages, same AD works on both, arm64 containers work on both. Just Waydroid can’t work on XA2. Maybe it has something to do with Porter Tasks of Waydroid?
Obviously I tried to run Waydroid on XA2 on fresh SFOS, without AD.
Thank you all for your replies. Seems like Waydroid has not (yet) evolved as much as I hoped. At least the integration of notifications is essential for me (as I’m using Signal and Elements for communication and relying on my smartwatch for notifications), so having the apps only living inside the Android ‘vm’ is inconvenient.