Layouts and widgets
Floating windows that reopen where you left them, Layouts that open a set of apps in one tap, and Breadstick widgets for your Android home screen.
In Floating mode every Linux app is its own Android window. With Breadstick Pro, those windows remember where they go, and a set of them opens together in one tap. The widgets on this page put Linux on your Android home screen.
Windows reopen where you left them
Breadstick Pro.
When you open a Linux app in Floating mode, its window comes back where it was the last time you used that app, at the same size.
- It is the app's first window that goes back. A second window of the same app, or a dialog it opens, gets the usual place, so it never lands on top of the main one.
- A full-screen or maximized window is not remembered.
- A window placed on a larger screen, such as a DeX monitor, is scaled to fit when it reopens on a smaller one, rather than hanging off the edge.
- Each Linux environment keeps its own places.
Places are remembered on Android 11 and newer.
Layouts
Breadstick Pro.
A Layout is a saved set of floating apps and where their windows are. Opening it starts every app in it and puts each window back in its place.
Saving a Layout
In Floating mode, the Apps drawer has a Layouts row under the apps that are running. Open the apps you want and arrange their windows, then tap Save layout and give it a name.
A Layout keeps which apps are open and where their windows are. It does not keep documents or what is inside the apps. It holds one window per app, and only apps from the Apps drawer: a program that is not in the drawer, such as one you built and started from a terminal, is left out, because a Layout has to be able to start it again.
Opening a Layout
Tap the Layout's name in the Apps drawer. Its apps open one at a time, each waiting for the one before it to show its window, and each goes where you saved it. Apps that are already open stay as they are.
Layouts open in Floating mode. If nothing is running, Breadstick starts a Floating session first. If a Desktop session is running, stop it first.
Before each app, Breadstick checks Android's process limit. If the session is close to it, the Layout stops there and says which app it did not open, rather than letting Android close the session.
A long press on a Layout gives Open, Add to home screen, Rename and Delete. Each Linux environment has its own Layouts.
On your home screen
Add to home screen puts the Layout on your Android home screen as a shortcut, with its name and the first app's icon, so one tap opens the whole set. Your launcher has to allow pinned shortcuts, as most do. Renaming a Layout renames its shortcut, and deleting it disables the shortcut.
A Layout can also open from a keyboard shortcut or the Run in Linux widget below.
Home screen widgets
Breadstick has three widgets. Add them the way your launcher adds any widget, usually with a long press on the home screen and Widgets.
| Widget | What it does | Free or Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Breadstick apps | Your Linux apps on the home screen; tap one to open it | Free |
| Linux monitor | CPU, memory and the processes Android counts, live | Pro |
| Run in Linux | One tap opens a Layout or runs a command | Pro |
Linux monitor
The monitor shows how much of the processor and memory Linux is using, and how many of Android's 32 processes it has, with the time of the reading. A running Desktop or Floating session updates it every ten seconds, and only while the widget is on your home screen, so it costs nothing when you do not use it. With no session running it says so. Tap it to open the resource monitor.
Run in Linux
When you place it, choose what it does: Open the layout for any of your Layouts, or Run a command. A command runs in a terminal window, which stays open to show the result. Give it a label of up to 24 characters, or it takes the Layout's name or the start of the command.
If Linux is not running, a command starts it in the mode you used last, and a Layout starts it in Floating mode. Without Pro, the setup screen says the widget is part of Pro, and nothing is placed.
Reopening after Android closes Linux
This part is free. If Android closes the Linux session while floating apps are open, the next time Floating mode starts, the Apps drawer offers to reopen them. See The three modes.