I don't understand the point of running a full node on an Android device. It's more like murdering your phone with poison which kills it slowly day by day.
The battery health will degrade sooner everyday and performance of the device will start decreasing too.
Basically phones are not mean for running a full node. We can simply run a low end processor to run a full node instead.
The cheaper and convenient option would be raspberry pi instead. The cost of running it would be lower along with maintenance.
Running things which are not meant for a device isn't cool. So the idea of running a bitcoin full node on Android isn't really cool.
Topic: Is it cool to run Bitcoin full node on Android OS? - page 2. (Read 391 times)
If you dedicate an old Android phone as a node, battery dying or Core shutting down if you put the app in the background shouldn't be anything to worry about.
I can definitely see this be a viable alternative to my ~$50 laptop-based node example.
It's been quite a few years now that we have 4+ GB of RAM and appropriate computing power in Android phones; so there must be a ton of devices going to landfill or sitting in drawers for eternity, that could be used as nodes!
It would be great if someone replicated this and could share their experience here on the forum.
I can definitely see this be a viable alternative to my ~$50 laptop-based node example.
It's been quite a few years now that we have 4+ GB of RAM and appropriate computing power in Android phones; so there must be a ton of devices going to landfill or sitting in drawers for eternity, that could be used as nodes!
It would be great if someone replicated this and could share their experience here on the forum.
I think some Android mods such as the advanced charging controller Magisk module allow you to bypass charging so your battery doesn't die too quickly. It needs a custom kernel though, and if your phone doesn't have a custom ROM it is probably not gonna work. Might be able to reduce the wear on the battery if anyone is interested in doing this, but yea I'd rather buy a Pi or a cheap laptop instead.
You probably shouldn't do it as it'll kill the battery pretty quickly, especially with the method you've described.
Bitcoin Core itself has an Android APK build target, so it's not particularly hard to produce an APK that you can install on an Android phone. There's some docs for doing that. This completely removes the need for things like Termux, or any third party application to get it running. The UI is not very usable as it's just the desktop Qt UI jammed into a phone screen. There's also some issues with the phone pausing the app when it's in the background though.
Bitcoin Core itself has an Android APK build target, so it's not particularly hard to produce an APK that you can install on an Android phone. There's some docs for doing that. This completely removes the need for things like Termux, or any third party application to get it running. The UI is not very usable as it's just the desktop Qt UI jammed into a phone screen. There's also some issues with the phone pausing the app when it's in the background though.
However, I checked the threads they're not same the other thread seems like the phone is not connected to an external memory device.
If you look more carefully at the picture in the other thread you'll see that in the back of the phone there's an external HDD. So they're pretty much the same.
Also if you look at the other solution's Git it tells:
... it makes very little sense. Don't you have a few bucks to spare for a second-hand laptop, or a Raspberry Pi? There's little to no support on running a node on an Android, so even if you don't have that money, you're about to pay it with time. 
It can be a fun project for one who has the time, obviously. Second hand laptop may be a bit more power hungry and nowadays electricity may be expensive in certain areas/countries. And Raspberry Pi devices are overpriced and hard to find (in my country there's only one official shop and it's always out of stock since more than a year ago).
However, I agree, it makes much more sense as a fun project than something to use for long term.
Ugh... That doesn't look good. Definitely not cool. 
I mean, yeah, absolutely it's possible to use a mobile device, since it's a computer as well, but... it makes very little sense. Don't you have a few bucks to spare for a second-hand laptop, or a Raspberry Pi? There's little to no support on running a node on an Android, so even if you don't have that money, you're about to pay it with time.
I mean, yeah, absolutely it's possible to use a mobile device, since it's a computer as well, but... it makes very little sense. Don't you have a few bucks to spare for a second-hand laptop, or a Raspberry Pi? There's little to no support on running a node on an Android, so even if you don't have that money, you're about to pay it with time.
You are probably going to kill your phone faster with this setup. There is absolutely no need for that. Does it look cool? It does if you are into that kind of thing. However there is a much easier setup you can do instead of using a phone. Get a used netbook and replace its hdd with a 1tb one and you are set. Use either win or linux it is up to you. Their batteries last long too. Or you can use a raspberry pi 3 and add an external battery pack.
Of course, Raspberry pi 4 is a better fit for the job, except that this option can hurt the phone on the long run, it'll boost the running of bitcoin full node amongst Bitcoin users. And it's my first time seeing such, that is why I raised this question.
Interestingly, I've read another topic too on Bitcoin Core full node on Android also made this week.
I didn't go into the internals, since I don't have extra smartphone for the job (although I find it sa cool idea since it may consume less than a laptop for the job), however, maybe somebody does a cross-check between the threads.
The other one is: [ANN] Smartino - Android Bitcoin Core Full Node
I didn't go into the internals, since I don't have extra smartphone for the job (although I find it sa cool idea since it may consume less than a laptop for the job), however, maybe somebody does a cross-check between the threads.
The other one is: [ANN] Smartino - Android Bitcoin Core Full Node
Apparently not all phones are fitted for this task. The phone must be able to detect the external memory device and charge at same time to maintain 24 hrs runtime. However, I checked the threads they're not same the other thread seems like the phone is not connected to an external memory device.
Interestingly, I've read another topic too on Bitcoin Core full node on Android also made this week.
I didn't go into the internals, since I don't have extra smartphone for the job (although I find it sa cool idea since it may consume less than a laptop for the job), however, maybe somebody does a cross-check between the threads.
The other one is: [ANN] Smartino - Android Bitcoin Core Full Node
I didn't go into the internals, since I don't have extra smartphone for the job (although I find it sa cool idea since it may consume less than a laptop for the job), however, maybe somebody does a cross-check between the threads.
The other one is: [ANN] Smartino - Android Bitcoin Core Full Node
You are probably going to kill your phone faster with this setup. There is absolutely no need for that. Does it look cool? It does if you are into that kind of thing. However there is a much easier setup you can do instead of using a phone. Get a used netbook and replace its hdd with a 1tb one and you are set. Use either win or linux it is up to you. Their batteries last long too. Or you can use a raspberry pi 3 and add an external battery pack.
While going through Carl Mengers' news letter on running a phone Node which he recommended for a time like this when running a full node is like owning your own keys. A question was raised on the comment box about if its possible to run a full node using Android phones. At first I thought it was a silly question, but my instincts about the question changed when Carl Menger shared this link https://portaldobitcoin.uol.com.br/brazilian-teaches-how-to-run-a-full-bitcoin-node-on-an-android-smartphone-tutorial/
A blog that translated the Brazilian, Ricardo Reis, Tutorial of running a bitcoin full node on Samsung phone - dex enabled.
He listed, an external storage device like HD or SSD with atleast 1TB memory space, USB Hub type C as the two devices needed to run Bitcoin full node on Android OS to enable a bitcoin node set up.
My scepticism about it started changing and I was seeing more possibilities, then I further read.
A pic he shared.
The processes he share includes;
Formating the hard drive
Installing Termux
Installing Ubuntu on Termux; then execute this
Installing Bitcoin Core on Ubuntu by executing this command on Termux
That's all. Looking at the method and external memory which is capable of storing the Bitcoin data and the methods he displayed, I didn't have much doubt, but I think it'll have some loopholes on the pipeline.
This is a video of Ricardo Reis process on running a full node on Android phone.
https://youtu.be/IrM8K3XUYwo
A blog that translated the Brazilian, Ricardo Reis, Tutorial of running a bitcoin full node on Samsung phone - dex enabled.
He listed, an external storage device like HD or SSD with atleast 1TB memory space, USB Hub type C as the two devices needed to run Bitcoin full node on Android OS to enable a bitcoin node set up.
My scepticism about it started changing and I was seeing more possibilities, then I further read.
A pic he shared.
The processes he share includes;
Formating the hard drive
Installing Termux
Installing Ubuntu on Termux; then execute this
Code:
pkg upgrade && termux-setup-storage && curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/AndronixApp/AndronixOrigin/master/repo-fix.sh > repo.sh && chmod +x repo.sh && bash repo.sh && pkg update -y && pkg install wget curl proot tar -y && wget https://bitbrasil.com.br/sh/ubuntu20.sh -O ubuntu20.sh && chmod +x ubuntu20.sh && bash ubuntu20.sh
Installing Bitcoin Core on Ubuntu by executing this command on Termux
Code:
apt-get update && apt-get upgrade -y && apt install curl -y && curl https://bitbrasil.com.br/sh/install-full-node.sh | sh
That's all. Looking at the method and external memory which is capable of storing the Bitcoin data and the methods he displayed, I didn't have much doubt, but I think it'll have some loopholes on the pipeline.
This is a video of Ricardo Reis process on running a full node on Android phone.
https://youtu.be/IrM8K3XUYwo
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