Umbra releases an autonomous AI agent for Android
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Developer pinyen_cheng has released Umbra, an autonomous agent that runs on Android phones. After users give it a task, it reads the screen, taps and types, opens apps, and verifies the result of each step in the background; in a Debian environment on the same device, it can also write and test code. Umbra requires sideloading and has no Play Store version; it requires Android 16 (API 36), Root is optional, and users must supply their own model provider API key.
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- Hacker News AIShow HN: Umbra – An AI agent that uses Android apps while you use your phone
Umbra is an Android agent that reads the screen via the accessibility tree and screenshots, then taps, types, scrolls and opens apps in an invisible background display so you can keep using the phone. It also runs a Debian Linux environment on-device for building and testing code, supports Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, OpenRouter or any OpenAI-compatible model, and requires your approval for risky actions like payments, messages or deleting data. It requires Android 16 (API 36), root is optional, and distribution is by sideload from umbra-agent.pages.dev.
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