Droidifi Allows You to Install Android on Your Wireless Router

Jeff Weisbein -

Now this is just neat.  A new Kickstarter project launched yesterday called Droidifi, the project is looking to raise $2,500 to develop a way to put Android on your wireless router.  Sounds awesome, right?  I thought so too.

The Droidifi firmware is based on Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2.  And get this: you can control your router via a web-based user interface that acts just like the screen of a Android smartphone or tablet, except you use your mouse instead of your finger to click things.  A router running the Droidifi firmware will be able to recognize and support USB devices such as external hard drives and even cameras, which also means you can use your router to turn a storage device into file server or a media streaming server.

In addition to that, Droidified routers will have several great new features including the ability to boost the power output and range of your wireless router, the ability to take advantage of mesh networking without having to worry about additional configurations, and perhaps my favorite, the ability to install Droidifi Apps.

The app industry has brought a ton of new capabilities to Android phones and Droidifi plans to take full advantage of that.  According to the Droidifi team, a router running their firmware will be able to run Android apps, in addition to their own Droidifi apps.  So while you may not typically want to play Angry Birds on your router, with the Droidifi firmware you could, if you, you know, ever had the urge.

The Droidifi team are developing their own apps that will add new features to your router and they are encouraging independent Android developers to build their own, which will be able to be sold or released for free in the Droidifi App Store.  Obviously, one of the major reasons people will want to install Droidifi on their router will be the apps, so gaining independent developer support will be key.

Developers who want to sell apps in the Droidifi add-ons store will be subject to the same 70/30 cut that both Apple and Google take in their respective app stores.  The Droidifi team will take 30% of all sales in their add-ons store.  Additionally, the team is looking to charge a fee of $5 every three months ($20/year) for access to their add-ons store.

In the initial release of the product, Droidifi will be able to be installed on the Cisco/Linksys EA6500, Netgear R6300, and ASUS RT-AC66U, with support for more devices coming down the road.  If you’re curious if your router has a shot at being supported, check out the specification requires for Droidifi below.

  • 600 MHz MIPS CPU
  • 128 MB flash storage
  • 128 MB RAM memory
  • 1.7 Gbps wireless transfer speed
  • 4 x 1 Gbps Ethernet ports
  • 1 x 1 Gbps WAN port
  • 2x USB 2.0 ports
  • Backwards compatible with older 802.11g devices
  • Under $200 USD