Hello there!

I am new to the project and I hope this is the right place to ask this:

Is it possible to use a smartphone (I have an HTC Desire with Android 2.2.2) as a platform to use BOINC?
I know there are two apps in the market, but I think they are just managers for your running host (e.g. PC).

The reason I ask is this:
Soon I will buy (at least I plan to do that) a new smartphone.
Instead of just shutting down my current smartphone forever, I would like to "donate" its computing capacity to BOINC by using BOINC on the phone.
Is that possible?

And another question with that....I would need another SIM-card for my current phone, right?
Because as far as I know I can't use the phone without a SIM-card.

I would, however, use the phone only at home, so it would use the Wi-Fi-Connection and NOT the outside-network.

Can someone help me with all my questions?
I am gladly take any advice from you all

Sorry for maybe bad english, I am german

Up to now I know of one working porting to Android: NativeBoinc, developed by members team BOINC Poland.
Currently it's possible to run MilkyWay, PrimeGrid and WUProp on it, and Enigma, but there are no WUs for Enigma.

I don't know whether you really need IceCreamSandwich (Android 4.0), but it runs with it on my GalaxyS2 smooth. Only now in summer it stops crunching more often, as it goes in battery protection mode against overheating.

Edith says: Here you can see what Android devices currently run BOINC

Bislang weiß ich nur von einer funktionierenden Portierung auf Android: NativeBoinc, das von Leuten des Teams BOINC Poland entwickelt wurde.
Aktuell laufen MilkyWay, PrimeGrid und WUProp darunter, Enigma würde bei vorhandenen Wutzen wohl auch gehen.

Keine Ahnung ob Du 4.0 brauchst, aber bei mir läuft's auf 'nem GalaxyS2 ohne Probleme. Nur aktuell im Sommer hält's öfter mal an, wenn sich der Batterieüberhitzungsschutz einschaltet.

Edith sagt: Hier kannst Du sehen, auf welchen Androiden BOINC schon läuft.

Thank you for the kind and fast reply!

I just downloaded that app and I will try it out soon.
Hopefully there is an option that the app will only be used when there is Wi-Fi, so there won't be any costs for me...
Anyone has some experience with that?

Again, please excuse my (maybe) bad english




Danke für die nette und schnelle Antwort!

Ich hab mir die App jetzt mal geladen und werde sie bald mal ausprobieren.
Hoffentlich gibt es eine Option, dass die App nur arbeitet, wenn sie über Wi-Fi verbunden ist, so dass ich keine Kosten habe (wenn das Mobilfunknetz genutzt werden würde)
Kennt sich da jemand mit aus?

Nochmals, sorry für das eventuell schlechte Englisch

Hopefully there's also a "don't do work on battery" option like with regular BOINC, otherwise your battery life is really going to be terrible!

Not only that, it has even an adjustable battery temperature monitoring function, so that now with high temperatures my Galaxy often stops crunching once 50°C are reached.

But be aware of a massive power consumption: My Galaxy only succeeds to get more load in its battery if it's plugged in the wall, USB doesn't deliver enough current to load while crunching, the battery looses power even while it's plugged in a port. But....massive only on comparison with the needed current for crunch and reload, it's just above 4W if plugged in the wall while loading and crunching.

Does it support limiting the number of cores used? (Thinking about the One-X I'll get shortly).
What if another app is running, like navigation? Does it throttle crunching back or is navigation choppy (Thinking about my current single-core DesireHD now).
Does it load on car-charger?

Yes, the usual way: Use at most ___% of the processors.


Navigation worked well while I was crunching on my dual-core SGS2, but I haven't looked up anything @BOINC while driving


It worked with my charger from hama, dunno if there are different types, that may not supply enough energy.
There's as well a setting, that stopps crunching if battery level is below a set charge level. Here are the imho special settings:
While battery charge level is not less than ___%
While battery temperature less than ___°C

Is there a tutorial for people who aren't familiar with compiling software for mobile platforms?

No need to compile it, it's available as an install package. I didn't compile anything here.

I wonder, how long will a smartphone work on battery power, when using boinc client software?
I mean it's using cpu constantly, so high powerconsumption.
Maybe you need to charge more times a day when cpu is constantly 100%, and with wrong configuration, maybe the phone usage is not working properly, especially with voip/sip.

I think it will last for just very few hours, if more than one at all
Even if it's plugged in a USB-port it will work for less than a day methinks.