Build an APK on a phone: Termux and Gradle
A debug APK without a computer. This file does not go to Play. It is for testing on the phone.
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Tools in Termux
You can build a debug APK on a phone without a computer. It is not the store file. Play wants a signed AAB. app-debug.apk is only for installing on your own phone and testing. First you need Node.js, git and Java. If Java is missing, Gradle stops.
pkg update && pkg upgrade -y pkg install nodejs git openjdk-17 -y java -version
The project and the APK
Clone the project, install the packages, and add Capacitor if it is missing. npm run build packs the web files. npx cap sync moves them into the Android folder. Then, inside android, run ./gradlew assembleDebug. The first time, Gradle downloads the SDK from the internet. It can take several minutes. After BUILD SUCCESSFUL the file is here: android/app/build/outputs/apk/debug/app-debug.apk
git clone https://github.com/istifadeci/proyekt-adi.git cd proyekt-adi npm install npm install @capacitor/core @capacitor/cli @capacitor/android npx cap init npx cap add android npm run build npx cap sync cd android ./gradlew assembleDebug
Questions
What does Java not found mean? The JAVA_HOME path is missing. In Termux, export the default-jvm path and run the command again.
Why does the build stop halfway? The first Gradle downloads large files. If the internet drops, the process stops. The network must stay up.
Why does storage fill up? The SDK and Gradle take about 1–2 GB. If free space is low, the build does not finish. This APK is not uploaded to Play.
export JAVA_HOME=/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/lib/jvm/default-jvm