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Find answers to the most common questions about setting up and using Aether. If your question isn’t covered here, check the Troubleshooting page or open an issue on GitHub.
Aether requires Android 8.0 Oreo (API 26) or higher and runs on arm64-v8a (64-bit ARM) devices only. It will not install on x86 tablets, emulators, or 32-bit ARM devices.
Aether itself is free and open-source under the GPL-3.0 license. You only pay for the LLM API usage charged directly by your chosen provider (OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.). Aether does not add any fees or markups.
Yes. API keys are stored in Aether’s private app storage on your device and sent only to the respective provider’s API endpoint when you make a request. Aether has no servers of its own and never receives or logs your keys.
The AI chat features require an internet connection to reach LLM provider APIs — the models themselves run in the cloud. However, the Alpine Linux runtime and shell tools work fully offline once the environment has been initialized, so you can run local scripts and commands without a connection.
Aether ships with an Alpine Linux arm64 root filesystem that runs via proot — a user-space tool that emulates a Linux environment without requiring root access. This gives the AI agent a real Linux shell where it can execute commands, install packages with apk, and use standard UNIX tools to complete tasks.
No. Root access is never required. For privileged device operations, Aether optionally integrates with Shizuku, which uses Android’s ADB (Wireless Debugging) interface to grant elevated permissions without rooting your device. Shizuku itself is entirely optional.
Yes. Both Termux and Shizuku are optional integrations. The built-in Alpine Linux runtime handles the vast majority of shell-tool use cases — file manipulation, scripting, package installs — without any additional apps. Install Termux or Shizuku only if you need deeper device automation capabilities.
Extensions are packages that add new tools, UI surfaces, or application behaviors to Aether. They can be TypeScript scripts (interpreted at runtime by the Pi framework) or compiled Kotlin/DEX native mods (injected directly into the app as a Compose or WebView UI layer). A single extension package can extend the Pi agent and inject native UI into Aether at the same time. See the Extension Developer documentation for details on building your own.
Chat history is stored in a local database inside Aether’s private app storage on your device. It is never synced to any server, cloud service, or Aether infrastructure. Your conversations stay on your device.
Download the latest APK from the GitHub Releases page (or grab a nightly build from Nightly Link) and install it over your existing version. Android will perform an in-place upgrade that preserves all your data, settings, and chat history.