Using python and matplotlib on android

Question

Is there a way to set up python 2.7.x + matplotlib on an android tablet so that you can run simple standard python code? I would like to be able to run the same scripts I run on my Linux desktop. This is just for my own use and I don't need to distribute the code to anyone else.

As a concrete example, is it possible to run this script?

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

x = np.arange(0, 5, 0.1);
y = np.sin(x)
plt.plot(x, y)

Answer 1

Is it easy, no.

Can it be done? Yes. I believe a skilled Python / Android developer could do it in 2 to 8 hours of effort.. It's a rare and complex request.

Why do I think it can be done? This sample: http://matplotlib.org/examples/pylab_examples/webapp_demo.html

Using a different library, and not abstracted for data without live hardware, this sample shows me that SL4A can do web-based graphics: http://www.smartphonedaq.com/android-python-ecg.page

Now, if you were talking native GUI graphics in Android - then I'm focused way too much on the web methods of publishing with SL4A ;)

Answer 2

Pydroid is great for Matplotlib on Android, supports Numpy and many other libraries:

Pydroid for Python 2.7

Pydroid 3 for Python 3.6

Answer 3

There is an app called Gnuroot that allows you to run a kind-of chroot (proot), where you can install a linux distro such as debian, archlinux...
For the gui, there is the option to run a vncserver for an X server and use some android vnc client app to show the screen.

I use the non-gui version of gnuroot and it works well. I now have a command line debian wheezy on android lollipop arm. One minor thing i miss, is armhf (hardware floating point which my nexus7's processor can do) support instead of armel (software floating point).

Answer 4

Yes, it can be done, even without root. You need the termux app, it basically is a terminal emulator with a full Linux environment and via apt install python , for example, you can install python .

The main webpage is here , and it is of course available via the standard market. (The termux wiki is a helpful place.)

Answer 5

ever heard of qpython? http://qpython.com/ i personally never used it, but my colleague were quite handy with it so you may want to look at that

Answer 6

I've read somewhere that scipy and matplotlib cannot be compiled for android, someone did it for numpy though

https://code.google.com/p/android-scripting/issues/detail?id=260

Answer 7

您可以设置一个便宜的服务器（Raspberry Pi？）并创建一个到它的 ssh 连接，以通过 vnc 查看器 android 应用程序或 shell 访问完整的 python 功能

Answer 8

You can try MathSys . It's a wrapper around Python, and it has matplotlib inside.

Unfortunately, MathSys is rather convoluted, and it's an alpha version. Apparently, nobody is working on a beta version. You'll want to write any complicated code in an external file. import works fine in MathSys.

Answer 9

Upon searching numpy android on Google, I found a very nice library . I guess it might be helpful.

Answer 10

Here is the code, this works after installing GNURoot Debian as you said. Just a detail : my graph is exported directly in a .png file :

from pylab import *
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
plt.switch_backend('agg')
x = linspace(-5, 5, 100)
y = sin(x)
plot(x, y)
out_png = 'out_file.png'
plt.savefig(out_png, dpi=150)

Answer 11

There is a lot of incorrect information in this thread! I first tried Termux, using the information from this thread: How do I install Jupyter notebook on an Android device? but could not get Matplotlib downloaded for the life of me. The error messages suggested I needed to install wheel, which I did, but the install crash was only postponed. I am not saying it is not possible to install Matplotlib from Termux on a Galaxy Tab A, but I cannot do it. On the other hand, downloading Pyroid3 was straightforward, as was installing numpy, scipy and matplotlib. So that's my recommendation, based on success in doing so.

Answer 12

I just got this running for myself and these are the steps I used:

1. install termux (from the Play Store or FDroid)
2. install python in termux:

pkg install python

3. install matplotlib
4. install a graphical environment for matplotlib (I installed tkinter):

pkg install python-tkinter

5. install an X server (I used XServer XSDL)
6. use this initialization sequence in your python:

import os
from time import sleep
os.environ["MPLBACKEND"] = "TkAgg"
os.environ["DISPLAY"] = ":0.0"
print('Loading X server...')
os.system("am start --user 0 -n x.org.server/.RunFromOtherApp 2>/dev/null")
os.environ["DISPLAY"] = ":0.0"
sleep(8) # give the X server an opportunity to start
print('Done')
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

x = np.arange(0, 5, 0.1);
y = np.sin(x)
plt.plot(x, y)
plt.show()

There's probably a better way to detect whether the X server is already running so you don't have to launch it every time, but I haven't figured out how to do that yet.

Answer 13

Use the linux shell, I have it git python and pip installed on my phone. I used gnuroot in the play store.. You can apt-get install python pip from there