The Steam Deck is ideal for use as an Android device; it is highly responsive and has a bright screen. Here, I will show you how to install Waydroid in a few easy steps:

1. Go to desktop mode.
2. Set the sudo password:
   • Navigate to Settings > System Settings > User > Change Password.
3. Open Konsole and run the following commands:
   • git clone https://github.com/ryanrudolfoba/steamos-waydroid-installer
   • cd steamos-waydroid-installer
   • chmod +x steamos-waydroid-installer.sh
   • ./steamos-waydroid-installer.sh
4. Enter your password.

You have to launch it through Steam even in desktop mode. It works great for tablet gaming. However, the most demanding games, like Fortnite, may not work (your mileage may vary).

To make the touchscreen more phone-like, you need to follow these steps. This method also works on many other games if you don't like the default touchscreen behavior:

1. In the Steam launcher, click on the gamepad icon beside "Play" on the right. Then, select Edit Layouts and go to Action Sets.
2. Click the gear icon next to Default and choose Add Always-on Command.
3. Click Add Command, then select the System tab. Choose Touchscreen Native Support.

Updating the Steam Deck might break the launcher, so you may need to fix it if you update the deck firmware. Follow these steps to update:


cd ~/
wget https//raw.githubusercontent.com/ryanrudolfoba/SteamOS-Waydroid-Installer/refs/heads/main/extras/Waydroid-Updater.sh -O ~/Waydroid-Updater.sh
chmod +x ~/Waydroid-Updater.sh
~/Waydroid-Updater.sh

This was entirely taken from https://www.youtube.com/@10MinuteSteamDeckGamer go check him out for video sorry I could not find the link to the original video...

 

[JeremyVignaut]

Did anybody find a way to play balatro on it ?
The apk works but it doesn't let me install on the play store. I would like to synchronize it with my phone so bad....

Post automatically merged: Mar 5, 2025

Did anybody find a way to play balatro on it ?
The apk works but it doesn't let me install on the play store. I would like to synchronize it with my phone so bad....

 

[ShadowOne333]

Can we play Call of Duty Mobile with this?
I tried installing gameloop (official app for playing on Windows) but it didn't work on my end, not sure if I missed anything.

 

[Exnor]

Are those binaries safe?

 

[BlusterBong]

Isn't SteamOS 3.0 Arch based, and reliant on the absolute ton of iron-on-chain above water that is SystemD? Just do sudo pacman -S waydroid if the extra and multilib repos or an unofficial repo like the chaotic AUR if you want to use yay or trizen if they arn't already in your pacman.conf file.

Can we play Call of Duty Mobile with this?
I tried installing gameloop (official app for playing on Windows) but it didn't work on my end, not sure if I missed anything.

FYI, Waydroid isn't an emulator like bluestacks or nox, or whatever you used. Android is Linux under the hood, so you can run it in a containerized environment like Waydroid if you're on any Linux distrobution

 

[Magsor]

Isn't SteamOS 3.0 Arch based, and reliant on the absolute ton of iron-on-chain above water that is SystemD? Just do sudo pacman -S waydroid if the extra and multilib repos or an unofficial repo like the chaotic AUR if you want to use yay or trizen if they arn't already in your pacman.conf file.

Look. It took me a very long time to analyse what you are saying .Is there a better way ? I have never used linux before and I am willing to learn.
I tried sudo pacman -S waydroid and it did not work because it says could not lock database: Read-only file system. It is a blessing and a curse that the steam deack has it mean I can factory reseat at will in 10 min. Do I need something called yay or trizen is that gonna make my life better?

 

[BlusterBong]

Look. It took me a very long time to analyse what you are saying .Is there a better way ? I have never used linux before and I am willing to learn.
I tried sudo pacman -S waydroid and it did not work because it says could not lock database: Read-only file system. It is a blessing and a curse that the steam deack has it mean I can factory reseat at will in 10 min. Do I need something called yay or trizen is that gonna make my life better?

Yay and Trizen are package managers that you use when downloading packages from the AUR (aka the Arch User Repository)

as for your error, it's becuase SteamOS 3.0 is an immutable distro, which is they say they lock out the main parts of the OS's files like the /usr or /etc folders by making them read-only and only allowing dedicated update tools like steamos-update and sandboxed software methods such as Flatpak or Snap to be used.

all you need to do to unlock the filesystem is use use this script to easily automate the process of unlocking the filesytem and populating the needed keys.

but if you don't trust it for one reason or another or would do it manually, use the command "steamos-readonly disable" with sudo before it, and if that fails for some reason, just follow this handy guide to fix it, then "pacman-key --init" to generate the standard Arch repo keys, then subsequently "pacman-key --populate holo" since you're better off keeping the SteamOS Repos over the base Arch Repos.


Once that's done, install base-devel and git if you haven't (this lets you install from the AUR that you'd need to compile in the first place like versions of software that have the -git instead of -bin at the end as those are the source code that the system uses to build the package.), thenuse "sudo pacman -S glibc linux-api-headers" to restore files that would otherwise be missing normally for compiling C++ code when you need to compile code when installing software through source, then you'd just have to add in your desired additional repos in your pacman.conf file and then, then you can install Waydroid as if you were using normal Arch where you can get waydroid through pacman or the AUR.

 

[mituzora]

I looked at this real quick, and the verbage on the github tells me it's just a script that does the heavy lifting of disabling the immutable filesystem, adding the keys, and getting this through AUR, or something of the like. I was hoping this was some sort of flatpak script or something, but it makes sense it's not (I imagine that waydroid needs more access than flatpaks can offer)

Personally I'd rather just do it manually as @BlusterBong suggested, but I guess this is a nice way to try it out without knowing the ins and outs of Arch Linux.

EDIT @BlusterBong Waydroid is only in the AUR; I just checked on my system, so in order to do it manually, you'd have to go through the whole git clone, makepkg -i thing, or use something like yay, as you suggested.

 

[Tofu_mommy]

Fortnite will likely refuse to launch into a match if at all due to it's anti-tamper stuff that will kick you out if you dare to even have USB debugging enabled. Some games like PUBGM and CODM require either a device that passes their integrity checks, or a whitelisted emulator with external windows-only anti-cheat like the Tencent one. If you somehow manage to launch these games, you're at risk of getting banned at any moment.
If you want to play those on your Deck, consider dual-booting Windows, but I can't tell how well they will run. Fortnite on windows on deck used to be absolutely awful and basically unplayable in chapter 4 days.

 

[Smoker1]

Need help accessing the main Storage. I tried creating a Shared Folder via the Instructions...does not work for some reason. So need to find a way to access the Android Storage from Desktop Mode, or access the Steam Deck Storage from within Waydroid.

Bonus point for getting the Mouse to work when using Proton Experimental (Running from within Steam)

Also note that certain Games work better from Desktop Mode, than Game Mode (example - Bejeweled Classic)

 

[tomberyx]

I also installed Android 13 on my SteamDeck, but unfortunately there is no way to send APK or ROM files to Android 13. You can download everything online from various websites without any problems, but that doesn't help me.

I want to send my Files to Android 13 via USB or something else.
Does anyone have any idea how to solve this?

USB, MicroSD, or desktop don't help here, unfortunately somehow the data from Android 13 is encrypted...

How the hell can I send data to Android 13?

 

[Smoker1]

I also installed Android 13 on my SteamDeck, but unfortunately there is no way to send APK or ROM files to Android 13. You can download everything online from various websites without any problems, but that doesn't help me.

I want to send my Files to Android 13 via USB or something else.
Does anyone have any idea how to solve this?

USB, MicroSD, or desktop don't help here, unfortunately somehow the data from Android 13 is encrypted...

How the hell can I send data to Android 13?

Supposedly there is a way to do it with a Plugin, but I cant get that to work. Seriously wishing there was a way to Access the MicroSD as External Storage with WayDroid, but so far, nothing.
So far, the only way to Transfer APK Files is through FTP Websites

 

[Magsor]

I also installed Android 13 on my SteamDeck, but unfortunately there is no way to send APK or ROM files to Android 13. You can download everything online from various websites without any problems, but that doesn't help me.

I want to send my Files to Android 13 via USB or something else.
Does anyone have any idea how to solve this?

USB, MicroSD, or desktop don't help here, unfortunately somehow the data from Android 13 is encrypted...

How the hell can I send data to Android 13?

You can access the main folders in desktop mode (you have to show hidden files)

~/.local/share/waydroid/

I suggest you unlock the media folder and put your files there in download or something by using this command:
sudo chown $USER -R ~/.local/share/waydroid/data/media

 

[tomberyx]

Thanks for the quick replies.

I have access to the app files in desktop mode , and i can see all the apps I have installed on Android 13.
As soon as I try to open one of these apps in desktop mode, nothing happens.

This command :
sudo chown $USER -R ~/.local/share/waydroid/data/media
doesn't help me at the moment (file not found...).

FTP is not a Solution for me but a solution .-)

I'm now trying to access the files with a hammer, maybe that will help...
Sudo/hammer/Bum that shit..

 

[Magsor]

I found those answers by Googling, by the way.
Thanks for replying — most people give up, but you're really close!
The folder is located in your home-deck directory. You can access it using the Dolphin file manager. You'll see a lot of folders in there, but don't worry — it's easy to navigate once you know what you're looking for .local/share/waydroid/data/media.

 

[tomberyx]

I want to try to unlock a Music folder in Android 13 with these commands:

sudo mount --bind ~/Music ~/.local/share/waydroid/data/media/0/Music
After entering this and passwort in the console, nothing happens.

Now I have tried to start Android 13 in desktop mode, and everything works as it does in normal mode. I can create a new folder inside, but I am not allowed to move other files into it.

It won't be long before I throw the thing out the window.
sudu/ shit / and all the exotic characters that can't even be typed on the keyboard $~/...

 

[Magsor]

1. open dolphin-
2. Navigate to home-deck-.local-share-waydroid-data-media
3. There is gonna be a lock on it you need to do this command in terminal to access it:
sudo chown $USER -R ~/.local/share/waydroid/data/media
if there is an error check your spelling.
4. open media folder then 0 then you can put your music in the music folder or wherever!!!!!!!!!!!!
5. profit and be happy

 

[tomberyx]

You're my hero.

Yes, I finally have access and can finally transfer my cat videos.

Thank you, thank you, finally.

you are the best .-)

Post automatically merged: Nov 13, 2025

Since it is possible for me to send various data to Android 13 (thanks to Magsor)
I have tried many emulators and they all work very well even NES Clue Clue Land , but there is always a hidden problem: unfortunately, AtherSX (Ps2 Emu) does not open or gets stuck on the logo.

Maybe one of you has an idea how I can get AtherSX to run. I've tried several versions, but the result remains the same.

I know Google can help but not this time.. RetroArch and many more of that kind is not a solution for me only Standalone emus ,-)