GTK 4 now includes an experimental Android backend, enabling GTK applications to run on Android devices. This backend was introduced in GTK 4.18 and is still under active development, with some limitations such as the absence of GL renderer support.

  • Current Status: The backend is experimental and not yet complete. While basic applications like gtk4-demo can run on Android, full functionality is not guaranteed.

  • Minimum Android Version: The current gtk4-demo APK requires Android 12 (API level 31) or higher, meaning it will not work on older versions like Android 8.

  • Development Progress: The backend is being actively developed by the GTK team, with contributions from developers like Florian Leander Singer. A dedicated conference talk at Linux App Summit 2025 discussed the technical challenges and roadmap for Android support.

  • Rust Support: Building GTK apps in Rust for Android is possible in theory, but requires workarounds for issues like pkg-config dependency resolution and entry point symbol linking.

  • Future Outlook: The backend is intended to become a first-class platform for GTK, though it will remain experimental until further stabilized.

For developers, the backend opens the possibility of cross-platform development, though UI adaptation for mobile is recommended for optimal user experience.

Try GTKAndroid.

It still has many limitations at the moment when I'm writing this comment, but you should be able to run some simple forms with this already.

Answer from eugals on Stack Overflow
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/gnome › draft: android support for gtk
r/gnome on Reddit: Draft: Android support for GTK
May 10, 2024 - Does any existing code need changes if GTK gets an Android backend? No, because backends are isolated from each other. The Wayland or X11 backend doesn't care at all if there's an Android backend or not.
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GitHub
github.com › xournalpp › xournalpp › issues › 5892
GTK Android Backend · Issue #5892 · xournalpp/xournalpp
June 2, 2024 - Is Your Feature Request Related to a Problem? Since Flutter thing seems pretty much dead in water by now, I was looking for alternatives when I stumbled upon this: Draft: Introducing new android backend Feature Description What I have in...
Published   Sep 27, 2024
Videos
36:27
🌐 YouTube
GTK apps on Android | Matthias Clasen & Florian Leander Singer ...
May 1, 2025
05:30
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Top-10 GNOME Apps for Android ~now that GTK 😊😊 - YouTube
January 26, 2025
🌐 reddit.com
r/unixporn on Reddit: [Hyprland](and Ignis!) I made my own GTK4 shell
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GNOME 42 - Initial Software port to GTK4 (MR!944) - YouTube
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GitHub
github.com › gtk-rs › gtk4-rs › issues › 1997
Support building application for Android · Issue #1997 · gtk-rs/gtk4-rs
March 9, 2025 - It should be possible to build gtk applications written in rust for the new android backend, given that the rust bindings do not use introspection at build time (sources are pregenerated). As far a...
Published   Mar 09, 2025
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OSnews
osnews.com › story › 141670 › gtk-announces-x11-deprecation-new-android-backend-and-much-more
GTK announces X11 deprecation, new Android backend, and much more – OSnews
GTK 4.18 will also bring major ... news. Another major new feature is the new Android backend, which, while not yet complete, will allow you to run GTK applications on Android....
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Stack Overflow
stackoverflow.com › questions › 6964655 › is-it-possible-to-use-gtk-in-android
Is it possible to use GTK+ in Android? - Stack Overflow
Top answer
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Try GTKAndroid.

It still has many limitations at the moment when I'm writing this comment, but you should be able to run some simple forms with this already.

2 of 4
10

Nothing is impossible. First of all, GTK library need to be coss-compiled. After that, the compiled library need to be deployed to android.

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GNOME Discourse
discourse.gnome.org › platform
Building a GTK application for Android - Platform - GNOME Discourse
Top answer
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No, there is no GTK backend for Android, so you cannot create a GTK application for that platform. [image] pikhosh: all I found was about Broadway but I didn’t understand precisely how to use it to build the Android version. Broadway is a GDK backend that renders GTK applications to a web br…
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GNOME Discourse
discourse.gnome.org › platform › core
GTK 4 and Android - Core - GNOME Discourse
Top answer
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3
[image] gavr: I also heard that GTK 4 is going to use Google’s ANGLE for rendering Only on Windows, as it may be the only semi-reliable GL implementation available there. [image] gavr: Can anyone tell if there are any plans to distribute GTK 4 to Android mobile devices and what ways of d…
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GTK Development
blog.gtk.org › home page
GTK Development Blog – All things GTK
And, maybe the biggest news: We have an Android backend now. It is still experimental, so you should expect some rough edges and loose ends. For example, there is no GL renderer support yet. But it is exciting that you can just try gtk4-demo on your phone now, and have it mostly work.
Find elsewhere
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YouTube
youtube.com › watch
A builder for installing GTK apps on Android - YouTube
02:36
the work for an Android backed continues :) https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/-/merge_requests/7555#note_2252698Android Builder on Github (read the above co...
Published   November 5, 2024
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GitHub
github.com › eugals › GTKAndroid
GitHub - eugals/GTKAndroid: GTK+Android
This is a set of hacks, makefiles and configs allowing you to run GTK-based forms on Android platform.
Starred by 92 users
Forked by 24 users
Languages   C 87.9% | Makefile 8.3% | Python 3.3%
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GTK Project
gtk.org
The GTK Project - A free and open-source cross-platform widget toolkit
#!/usr/bin/env perl use strict; use warnings; use utf8; use Glib::IO; use Gtk4; # Create a new application my $app = Gtk3::Application->new('com.example.Gtk3Application', 'G_APPLICATION_FLAGS_NONE'); # When the application is launched… $app->signal_connect( activate => sub { my $app = shift; # …
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GNOME Discourse
discourse.gnome.org › platform
What versions of Android does the gtk4-demo support? - Platform - GNOME Discourse
February 26, 2025 - I tried to install it using the signed apk I got via the instructions at Unable to install Android gtk4-demo APK - #3 by CodedOre. However, the apk fails to install on an Android 8 phone.
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Ssalewski
ssalewski.de › gtkprogramming.html
GTK4 for Graphical User Interfaces
Android and iOS are not supported by GTK, but there is some early experimental support for the Librem mobile devices manufactured by the Purism company. As GTK is compact and has a modular design, it can also be used on devices with restricted resources like the Raspberry Pi family.
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GTK Development
blog.gtk.org › home page
gtk4
And, maybe the biggest news: We have an Android backend now. It is still experimental, so you should expect some rough edges and loose ends. For example, there is no GL renderer support yet. But it is exciting that you can just try gtk4-demo on your phone now, and have it mostly work.
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Class Central
classcentral.com › subjects › programming › mobile development
Free Video: GTK Apps on Android - Building Cross-Platform Applications with GTK 4.18 from Linux App Summit | Class Central
This conference talk from Linux App Summit 2025 introduces the new Android backend in GTK 4.18, exploring the technical challenges overcome to make GTK applications function on Android. Learn about the roadmap for establishing Android as a first-class platform for GTK and discover practical guidance for developing Android applications using the GTK framework.
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OS Radar
osradar.com › home › linux › gtk 4 available
GTK 4 available - Linux Windows and android Tutorials
December 17, 2020 - The great news of the last weeks of GTK 3.99.3 release, is that it has the first non-trivial backend.
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/gtk › gtk4 for cross-platform applications in 2022?
r/GTK on Reddit: GTK4 for Cross-platform Applications in 2022?
March 21, 2022 -

I'm thinking about choosing GTK4 for an upcoming cross-platform desktop application, but one concern is the "motivation" of the GTK devs (and those that are both GTK and GNOME devs) for cross-platform applications since there doesn't seem to be much "stake in the game" for anything but Linux.

For example, back when GTK was truly just the "GIMP ToolKit" the "stake in the game" was obviously GIMP because it's a cross-platform application. But over the years it seems the GNOME desktop environment (Linux only of course) is the real stake in the game -- and not GIMP (Edit #1: I put a strikethrough for my information on GTK and GIMP's relationship as seems that was inaccurate, sorry). Is it really practical to consider at GTK4 for cross-platform applications when there's seemingly not much motivation for Windows and macOS? I apologize if my understanding is incorrect.

Edit #2: I ended up going with Qt/QML for this project.

Top answer
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Considering the same and have the same concerns. Qt seems like the "safer" choice, but I prefer Rust and that pretty much means GTK. Everyone you ask says GTK looks "alien" in Windows/Mac but best I can tell the whole native look is not nearly as prevalent as it used to be in this new world of electron apps. Adwaita looks plenty nice and I believe if I don't decorate the window it will retain native windows decorations and can use native file pickers and mac menu which should be sufficient (right? pretty sure all those are avail)
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Joplin Forum
discourse.joplinapp.org › apps
GTK app? - Apps - Joplin Forum
October 11, 2023 - Hello everyone ! I've been thinking about making a GTK4 app that acts as some kind of wrapper/front-end for Joplin. But, to be perfectly honest, I've no idea where I can start when it comes to the back-end. It seems that Joplin in itself doesn't have an API usable outside of the app itself, ...
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GTK
docs.gtk.org › gtk4 › building.html
Gtk – 4.0: Building GTK
Enable specific backends for GDK.
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GTK
docs.gtk.org › gtk4 › getting_started.html
Gtk – 4.0: Getting Started with GTK
gcc $( pkg-config --cflags gtk4 ) -o example-1 example-1.c $( pkg-config --libs gtk4 ) As seen above, example-1.c builds further upon example-0.c by adding a button to our window, with the label “Hello World”. Two new GtkWidget pointers are declared to accomplish this, button and box.