Emacs Comes to Android

Here’s some good news: The F-Droid site now has a more or less complete implementation of GNU Emacs for the Android platform. I’m not sure Emacs on a phone is all that useful other than for dealing with Org files and there are several apps already available for that on both the Android and iOS platforms. On a tablet, though, it could be a real game changer. Emacs on a tablet—perhaps with a real keyboard—would enable truly remote work. Yes, you can carry your laptop around as many of us do but a tablet is much easier especially in situations such as air travel.

We here at Irreal are famously iPhone/iPad users so F-Droid’s announcement doesn’t affect us directly but perhaps it will encourage Apple to relax their no interpreters rule on the platform. I understand their reasoning but having a workable Emacs on the iPad would be such a win that it would be worth it, especially with appropriate sandboxing.

If we had Emacs on the iPad it would change my mobile computing strategy completely. I’d get a good keyboard for the iPad and probably almost always leave my laptop at home. The iPad, modulo software, is already as powerful as many laptops and could easily support remote work. I have a family member—in banking not software—who already uses his iPad as his exclusive mobile device. There’s no reason we developers couldn’t do the same. All we need is Emacs. I love my laptop and don’t foresee myself ever giving it up but it sure would be nice to have an easy-to-carry device for remote work.

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