This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/selfhosted by /u/r4crp on 2025-07-19 16:01:45+00:00.
Kali Linux NetHunter was originally created for penetration testing on your Android device. It does not run native, but instead a custom Android ROM overlay with a Kali Linux environment. This still means you can install any package that supports your phone's architecture (in my case, it's ARM64). It also uses all of your phone's resources (see image below).
Comparing the statistics with those of the Raspberry Pi 4, the Samsung S9 has 8 cores up to 2.704 GHz, while the Pi 4 is limited to 4 cores at 1.5 GHz. Overall, it is about 3x faster. Unfortunately, my Samsung S9 is limited to 4GB of ram, but newer phones like the Samsung Galaxy S10 use 8GB of ram. Even better if you have one laying around.
Power consumption is also low. There are no statistics for the S9, but if you do a simple search for a phone that runs 24/7 on heavy CPU load and highest brightness, it consumes less than ~50kwh per year, which totals to about €15 per year.
The image above is my connection to Kali via a VNC client. The phone itself is still running Android like a normal phone in the background. In my case, I use the Debian to run a Telegram bot. But you can go even further by hosting a website without opening a port in your router by using Cloudflare Tunnel.
The best part is that if your phone disconnects, it means the server is still active. I tested it and left my phone uncharged all night and when I woke up, there was still 30% left. All in all, I just wanted to share my experience and the surprises I encountered when running Debian on an Android phone. My Raspberry Pi died so this was a necessary alternative for me. If you don't want to spend anything on a VPS, or are in the same situation as me, but still have an old android phone lying around, try it. You don't even need root.
