TwinnDroid

Run two (or more) copies of the same Android app, each logged into a different account, and lock them away in a sandbox if you want.

No root, no virtual space. Every copy is a real app, kept apart by Android itself.

Download · Changelog · Support on Ko-fi

Why I made this

I was using Shelter to run a second copy of a couple of apps, but I wanted one place to keep all my alt accounts together, without root and without a work profile. So I built TwinnDroid. Pick an app, give the copy its own name and icon, and it installs next to the original with its own login and data.

What it does

• Sandboxes apps in a separate space on your phone, with its own storage, accounts and contacts. It runs apps unchanged, so even ones that refuse to be cloned work in there, and it can hold as many clones as you like of any app that allows cloning
• Hardens clones so they can't see other apps or be reached by them, and can't be linked to your other clones
• Clones apps you already have installed, or an .apk / .apks / .xapk / .apkm file
• Lets you rename them, so you can tell "Discord" and "Discord (Alt)" apart
• Changes the icon: keep the original, add a coloured number badge, or use your own picture. You can also tweak hue, saturation, brightness, contrast, tint, flip and rotation, with a live preview
• Removes permissions you don't want a copy to have, like location or contacts
• Keeps clones updated: when the original app updates, you get a heads-up, and one tap updates the copy without logging you out
• Extracts APKs from any installed app (splits included) as .apk, .apks, .xapk, .apkm, or one merged .apk
• Installs silently if you use Shizuku (optional)
• Looks how you want: 14 animated backgrounds, 12 theme presets with matching app icons, your own colours and saved themes, Material You, a frosted-glass header and more
• Backs everything up, so you can move your clones and settings to a new phone
• Speaks your language: 23 languages, including the 20 most spoken in the world, from Settings → Language (Arabic and Urdu get a proper right-to-left layout)
• Tells you when there's a new version with a short pop-up and the release notes

Where to download

The only official place to get TwinnDroid is the Releases page here on GitHub.

I haven't published it anywhere else yet. Copies on other app stores or APK sites weren't uploaded by me, may be out of date and could be modified, so please don't install those. When I'm ready to put TwinnDroid on F-Droid, Orion Store or Google Play, I'll add the links here myself.

Official builds are signed with my key. Settings → About shows Official build with a tick on a genuine copy, and SECURITY.md has the fingerprint if you want to check an APK yourself.

What you need

• Android 8.0 or newer. I use it daily on a Galaxy S25 Ultra running Android 16.
• No root.

Getting started

1. Grab TwinnDroid.apk from the latest release.
2. Open it on your phone. If Android asks, let your browser or file manager install unknown apps.
3. Open TwinnDroid and go to the New clone tab (or just swipe left).
4. Pick the app you want to copy, or tap From an APK file.
5. Change the name, icon or permissions if you want, then tap Clone & install.
6. Confirm the install. The copy shows up in your app drawer, ready for your other account.

The first time, Android will ask you to let TwinnDroid install apps. Tap Allow on the banner in TwinnDroid or in the prompt.

The sandbox

The Sandbox tab sets up a separate space on your phone. It's built on Android's work profile, the same thing companies use to keep work apps apart, except here you're the one in charge and TwinnDroid is the admin. Android keeps it separate, not TwinnDroid, so an app inside it can't reach out no matter what it tries.

Apps in the sandbox get their own storage, accounts, contacts and data. They can't see your other apps or your files.

Setting it up:

1. Open the Sandbox tab and tap Create sandbox.
2. Android walks you through a short setup. It talks about "work" and an "IT admin" because that's what the feature was built for. The admin here is TwinnDroid on your own phone, and nobody else can see anything.
3. The first time you add an app, Android asks you to turn on Allow from this source for TwinnDroid. It only needs doing once.

What you can do in there:

Things to know:

• Android allows one work profile per phone. If Shelter, Island or your job already has it, you'll need to remove that one first, and that deletes everything in it. TwinnDroid tells you if the slot's taken. Samsung's Secure Folder doesn't count, so it can stay.
• Apps with anti-tamper protection work here, but only as the original. Clash Royale crashes as a clone, hardened or not, because a clone is always a changed copy, and changing it is what sets the check off. Use Add app instead, or tap Add original to sandbox on the warning in the clone editor. It runs fine that way because nothing about it has been changed. I've tested that with Clash Royale and Clash of Clans on an S25 Ultra.
• Those apps get one copy per Android profile. A second copy in the same place would need a different package name, and that's exactly what they reject. So that's your normal install plus one in the sandbox. Samsung's Secure Folder or Android's Private Space could hold one more, but I haven't tested those yet.
• Switching from Shelter? TwinnDroid does what Shelter does, and for apps that can be cloned it can also hold several copies of the same app, where Shelter is limited to one.

Hardened clones

In the clone editor, Sandbox and isolation lets you harden a clone. This works on any phone, with or without the sandbox. Android enforces all of it, so it isn't something an app can get around:

Put the two together and you get a hardened clone inside the sandbox, which is as walled off as Android allows without root.

Updating TwinnDroid

When a new version is out, TwinnDroid shows a pop-up when you open it with what's new. Update now takes you to the latest release here, and the new APK installs straight over your current one. You can turn the check off in Settings → Updates.

Updating clones

Every few hours TwinnDroid checks whether the originals have updated. If one has, you get a notification and the clone shows Update available. Tap Update and it rebuilds from the new version and installs over the old copy. Your login and data stay put.

If you turn on Shizuku and Settings → Auto-update in background, this happens without you doing anything.

Shizuku (optional, still no root)

With Shizuku, TwinnDroid can install clones without the "Install?" prompt every time, and grant clones their special permissions in one tap.

1. Install Shizuku from the Play Store or GitHub.
2. Turn on Developer options → Wireless debugging and follow Shizuku's pairing steps.
3. Start Shizuku, then in TwinnDroid go to Settings → Authorize TwinnDroid.

You'll need to start Shizuku again after each restart.

Clones that ask for special permissions

Some apps, managers and patchers especially, need All files access or Install unknown apps. Those are granted from a Settings page, and the app's own "Open settings" button takes you to the page for the original app instead of the clone, so you end up stuck.

TwinnDroid shows a "Needs … · tap to grant" line on any clone that's missing one. Tap it (or use ⋮ → Special access) and either:

• tap Grant to allow it right away (needs Shizuku), or
• tap Open settings to go to the clone's own page and switch it on there.

I've tested this with Revenge Manager, Shiggy Manager and Morphe.

Extracting APKs

Open the Extract tab, pick an app, and choose a format:

Everything except Merged keeps the app's original signature.

Making it yours

Tap the palette button on the Clones tab:

Back up TwinnDroid

TwinnDroid signs every clone with its own key. If you uninstall TwinnDroid without a backup, that key is gone, and you'd have to uninstall and recreate your clones to update them.

Settings → Backup & restore → Back up saves your clone list, signing key, imported APKs, icons and settings to one file. After reinstalling or on a new phone, use Restore.

Coming from 1.0.0? 1.1.0 switched to a new release key, so you'll need to uninstall 1.0.0 first. Export your key in 1.0.0 (Settings → Signing key → Export) before you do, then Import it in the new version so your clones keep updating.

Which apps work?

Most do. I've used it with various social media apps, multiple tools apps, notes, and shopping apps.

Some apps protect themselves, and those won't work as clones. TwinnDroid spots the common ones and warns you in the editor before you build, so you don't waste time on a copy that just crashes:

• Apps with anti-tamper protection (Promon SHIELD and similar). They check that they haven't been modified and close straight away if they have. Supercell games like Clash Royale and Clash of Clans do this. No no-root cloner can get around it, and hardening a clone doesn't help. The sandbox can run them, though, because it doesn't change the app at all. You get one copy in there, on top of your normal install.
• Banking and payment apps, for the same reason. These may work in the sandbox too, though some refuse to run in a work profile.
• Apps that use Google Play Integrity, or tie Sign in with Google to the original app. A clone is signed with a different key, so sign-in may fail even if the app opens. This is the app checking its own signature, not a missing Google Play Services issue, so MicroG won't help.

A couple of other things:

• Push notifications may not reach clones, since they're registered to the original app.
• Some apps can crash when you share a file from the clone.

Other cloning apps run into the same limits.

Troubleshooting

For developers

source APKs (base + splits)
  └─► ARSCLib: edit the binary AndroidManifest + resources.arsc of every APK
        • package name → new name (manifest and resource table)
        • relative class names (.Foo) → absolute
        • <provider android:authorities>, custom <permission>s and their references → unique
        • taskAffinity rewritten; sharedUserId + instrumentation removed
        • base APK: label, icon (new drawable resource), removed permissions, debuggable
  └─► strip old signatures / source stamp
  └─► apksig: sign v2 + v3 (+ v1 if minSdk < 24), 16 KB page-aligned
  └─► PackageInstaller session, or Shizuku `pm install-*` (all splits at once)

./gradlew assembleDebug
# → app/build/outputs/apk/debug/app-debug.apk

storeFile=/path/to/release.jks
storePassword=...
keyAlias=...
keyPassword=...

./gradlew assembleRelease

TWINN_TEST_APKS=base.apk,split_config.arm64_v8a.apk ./gradlew :app:testDebugUnitTest

Support

TwinnDroid is free and open source. If it's been useful to you, you can buy me a coffee on Ko-fi:

Contributing

Bug reports and pull requests are welcome, and so are fixes to the translations. If a clone isn't working, please include the app name, app version and your Android version so I can look into it.

License

TwinnDroid is free and open source under the GNU General Public License v3, with a few additional terms. You're welcome to read the code, learn from it, build it yourself and improve it.

In short, if you share a modified version of TwinnDroid:

• it has to stay open source under the same license,
• it has to keep my credit ("StarlightJulie", linking to my GitHub) in the code, the README and the About screen,
• it has to say clearly that it's modified and not the official release,
• and it needs its own name and icon, signed with your own key. The TwinnDroid name and split-droid logo are for my official builds.

Please don't re-upload my releases to other stores or sites; link to this page instead. Versions up to and including 1.1.4 were released under the MIT License.

It's built on these open-source projects:

• ARSCLib (Apache 2.0): binary manifest and resource editing. app/libs/arsclib-1.4.0-android.jar is the Maven Central release with its bundled android.* / org.xmlpull.* stub classes removed.
• apksig (Apache 2.0): APK signing
• Shizuku API (Apache 2.0)
• Bouncy Castle (MIT)
• Jetpack Compose, Material 3, WorkManager (Apache 2.0)

The background animations and appearance settings were inspired by Morphe Patcher's design. TwinnDroid's code is its own and doesn't include any of Morphe's.

TwinnDroid isn't affiliated with any of the apps you clone. Please use clones in line with each app's terms of service.