StackShareStackShare
Follow on
StackShare

Discover and share technology stacks from companies around the world.

Follow on

© 2025 StackShare. All rights reserved.

Product

  • Stacks
  • Tools
  • Feed

Company

  • About
  • Contact

Legal

  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
  1. Stackups
  2. Application & Data
  3. Infrastructure as a Service
  4. Operating Systems
  5. Android OS vs Arch Linux

Android OS vs Arch Linux

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

Arch Linux
Arch Linux
Stacks562
Followers555
Votes108
Android OS
Android OS
Stacks1.9K
Followers524
Votes21

Android OS vs Arch Linux: What are the differences?

Android OS and Arch Linux are two vastly different operating systems with distinct features and functionalities. Below are the key differences between them:

1. **Package Management System**: One major difference between Android OS and Arch Linux is their package management system. Android uses Google Play Store and APK files for installing and managing applications, while Arch Linux relies on Pacman, a powerful package manager for installing, updating, and removing software packages.

2. **User Interface**: Another significant difference is the user interface. Android OS comes with a user-friendly interface designed for touchscreens, featuring home screens, widgets, and app drawers. In contrast, Arch Linux primarily uses command-line interfaces by default, requiring users to have a good understanding of Linux commands.

3. **Customizability**: Arch Linux is known for its high level of customizability, allowing users complete control over the system's configuration and performance. In contrast, Android OS, although customizable to some extent, is more limited in terms of system-level modifications and configurations due to its desktop-oriented design.

4. **User Base**: Android OS caters to a wide range of users, including everyday consumers, businesses, and developers, with a focus on accessibility and ease of use. Arch Linux, on the other hand, targets more advanced users and enthusiasts who prefer a minimalist and DIY approach to building and managing their systems.

5. **Hardware Support**: Android OS is specifically optimized for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, offering support for touchscreens, mobile processors, and cellular connectivity. Arch Linux, being a general-purpose Linux distribution, can be installed on a wide range of hardware, from desktop computers to servers, with support for various architectures and peripherals.

6. **Community Support**: The community around Arch Linux is known for its active and helpful nature, providing extensive documentation, forums, and repositories to assist users in troubleshooting, customization, and development. While Android also has a large user base, the community support for resolving technical issues and sharing knowledge is not as prominent as that of Arch Linux.

In Summary, Android OS and Arch Linux differ significantly in their package management system, user interface, customizability, user base, hardware support, and community support.

Share your Stack

Help developers discover the tools you use. Get visibility for your team's tech choices and contribute to the community's knowledge.

View Docs
CLI (Node.js)
or
Manual

Advice on Arch Linux, Android OS

Simon
Simon

Developer Advocate at k6 / Load Impact

Mar 7, 2020

Decided

At the moment of the decision, my desktop was the primary place I did work. Due to this, I can't have it blow up on me while I work. While Arch is interesting and powerful, Ubuntu offers (at least for me) a lot more stability and lets me focus on other things than maintaining my own OS installation.

299k views299k
Comments

Detailed Comparison

Arch Linux
Arch Linux
Android OS
Android OS

A lightweight and flexible Linux distribution that tries to Keep It Simple.

It is a mobile platform which powers phones, tablets, watches, TVs, cars etc. It makes doing business easier, in the office or out in the field. Manage entire fleets of devices with a touch. Keep corporate data protected with built-in security. And help your employees get more done.

-
Powers phones, tablets, watches etc; Ultimate security;Build anything on Android; Manage entire fleets of devices with a touch
Statistics
Stacks
562
Stacks
1.9K
Followers
555
Followers
524
Votes
108
Votes
21
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 17
    Large Community
  • 15
    Package Manager
  • 13
    Customizable
  • 12
    Rolling Release
  • 11
    Bleeding Edge
Cons
  • 4
    Systemd only
  • 3
    Only X86_64 architecture is offically supported
  • 1
    Unstable
  • 1
    No Guided Installation
  • 1
    System maintenance
Pros
  • 4
    Customization
  • 3
    Google
  • 3
    Open Source
  • 3
    Not Apple
  • 3
    Material Design
Integrations
No integrations available
Android Studio
Android Studio
Kotlin
Kotlin
Android SDK
Android SDK
Gmail
Gmail
Google Drive
Google Drive
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator
NativeScript
NativeScript
Viber
Viber
Raspberry Pi
Raspberry Pi
WhatsApp
WhatsApp

What are some alternatives to Arch Linux, Android OS?

Ubuntu

Ubuntu

Ubuntu is an ancient African word meaning ‘humanity to others’. It also means ‘I am what I am because of who we all are’. The Ubuntu operating system brings the spirit of Ubuntu to the world of computers.

Debian

Debian

Debian systems currently use the Linux kernel or the FreeBSD kernel. Linux is a piece of software started by Linus Torvalds and supported by thousands of programmers worldwide. FreeBSD is an operating system including a kernel and other software.

Fedora

Fedora

Fedora is a Linux-based operating system that provides users with access to the latest free and open source software, in a stable, secure and easy to manage form. Fedora is the largest of many free software creations of the Fedora Project. Because of its predominance, the word "Fedora" is often used interchangeably to mean both the Fedora Project and the Fedora operating system.

Linux Mint

Linux Mint

The purpose of Linux Mint is to produce a modern, elegant and comfortable operating system which is both powerful and easy to use.

CentOS

CentOS

The CentOS Project is a community-driven free software effort focused on delivering a robust open source ecosystem. For users, we offer a consistent manageable platform that suits a wide variety of deployments. For open source communities, we offer a solid, predictable base to build upon, along with extensive resources to build, test, release, and maintain their code.

Linux

Linux

A clone of the operating system Unix, written from scratch by Linus Torvalds with assistance from a loosely-knit team of hackers across the Net. It aims towards POSIX and Single UNIX Specification compliance.

CoreOS

CoreOS

It is designed for security, consistency, and reliability. Instead of installing packages via yum or apt, it uses Linux containers to manage your services at a higher level of abstraction. A single service's code and all dependencies are packaged within a container that can be run on one or many machines.

Gentoo Linux

Gentoo Linux

It is a free operating system based on either Linux or FreeBSD that can be automatically optimized and customized for just about any application or need.

Alpine Linux

Alpine Linux

Alpine Linux is a security-oriented, lightweight Linux distribution based on musl libc and busybox.

Manjaro

Manjaro

It is an accessible, friendly, open-source Linux distribution and community. Based on Arch Linux, it provides all the benefits of cutting-edge software combined with a focus on getting started quickly, automated tools to require less manual intervention, and help readily available when needed.

Related Comparisons

Bootstrap
Materialize

Bootstrap vs Materialize

Laravel
Django

Django vs Laravel vs Node.js

Bootstrap
Foundation

Bootstrap vs Foundation vs Material UI

Node.js
Spring Boot

Node.js vs Spring-Boot

Liquibase
Flyway

Flyway vs Liquibase