I figured out how to run my favorite Linux TUI music player on Android, and it's better than any app on the Play Store

I figured out how to run my favorite Linux TUI music player on Android, and it's better than any app on the Play Store Credit: David J. Buck/How-To Geek By  David J. Buck Published May 30, 2026, 2:45 PM EDT Former radio and TV guy (I Heart Radio and PBS). Now a writer, researcher, and musician who writes about the absurdity of our modern world and other offbeat topics. Specializes in weird music, the old web, retro video games and tech, and researching strange, yet interesting things. His work has appeared in Vice, Tedium, Star Trek.com, Today I Found Out, Tybebar, SyFy Wire, and How To Geek. Currently working on a variety of music, web, and writing projects. Visit him on the web at https://djbuckfreelance.neocities.org/ . Sign in to your How-To Geek account Add Us On Jump links Jump Links Setup takes only a few minutes The number keys are the simplest way to navigate Easy navigation through key binding For a TUI tool, there are a surprising number of customization options Discussing the limitations of using cmus on Android If you're not careful, you can mess up track playback follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap If you spend a lot of time working in the Terminal, you undoubtedly have your favorite CLI (command line interface) and TUI (terminal or text-based user interface) apps. One of mine is a TUI app called cmus. Cmus has a text-based user interface with minimal graphics and customization options. It's also one of the best music players I've ever used, with easy organization (in conjunction with another method I use ) and simple playback. I've been spending considerable time with Termux on both of my Android phones and came up with a bright idea: getting my favorite TUI apps to work on both of my Android phones. Setup takes only a few minutes Adding music to the library with a quick ter