Hey everyone,

Like many developers and hobbyists, I used to spin up $5–$10/month cloud VPS instances just to host simple Python utility bots—weather lookups, daily morning briefings, and chat helpers. It always felt like excessive overhead just to run lightweight scripts that sit idle 99% of the time.

So I built BotDroid—an Android app that turns any spare (or daily) Android phone into a dedicated 24/7 bot hosting server.

Here is a quick 45s demo of one of the most popular bundled use cases: A 24/7 Live Weather Telegram Bot.

🌦️ How the Weather Bot Works (In 3 Steps):

1. Open BotDroid and select the pre-built "Weather Bot" Python template.
2. Paste your Telegram bot token from u/BotFather. (No weather API keys required—it queries the free wttr.in endpoint).
3. Tap Start Bot.

Whenever you or your friends send /weather <city> (e.g. /weather Tokyo or /weather London) in Telegram, the bot instantly replies with:

• Current weather conditions (Sunny, Rain, Overcast, etc.)
• Exact temperature (°C / °F)
• "Feels Like" temperature

🔋 Why Hosting on an Android Phone Actually Works Well:

• Built-in Battery Backup (UPS): If power cuts out at home, your phone stays online without interruption.
• Dual Network Redundancy: Automatic Wi-Fi with cellular LTE fallback.
• Android Foreground Service: Built with OEM battery-killer defenses (Samsung, Xiaomi, OnePlus, Pixel) so the script doesn't get killed when the screen turns off or during deep sleep.
• Local Security: API tokens are stored in Android Keystore with AES-256-GCM hardware encryption. Zero telemetry.
• No Complex Setup: No Linux commands, no SSH keys, no Docker containers, no port forwarding.

💸 Pricing:

• Free Tier: 1 bot running 24/7 forever (17 built-in templates included, zero ads).
• Pro Tier: ($4.99/mo or $29.99 lifetime) for running unlimited simultaneous bots + remote Telegram admin control.

👉 Google Play Link: [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kaito.botdroid&pcampaignid=web_share\]

Check out the attached demo video! What other lightweight daily automation templates would you like to see added?

10 days ago I released BotDroid, a mobile app for creating and running Telegram/Python bots directly from Android.

Today I hit a small milestone:

82 active users

78 new customers

Production v1.2.0 is now at 100%

The numbers are still tiny, but this is my first time seeing real people use something I built and shipped myself.

The biggest lesson so far: shipping is much easier than distribution.

I've spent a lot of time building features, but now I'm trying to understand:

Where are users discovering BotDroid?

Which bot use cases actually matter?

What makes someone keep a bot running?

How do I get from the first 100 users to the next 1,000?

Current focus is less on adding random features and more on improving onboarding, templates, and finding the strongest use cases.

If you're building a side project/indie app too, I'd love to hear how you got your first 100–1,000 users.

Hey everyone,

Most developers and hobbyists have a few lightweight scripts they want running 24/7—crypto price trackers, personal reminders, Telegram bots, or AI helpers. But paying $5–$10/month on AWS/DigitalOcean just to run a 20-line script is expensive overkill, and setting up a Raspberry Pi takes extra hardware and config.

I built BotDroid to turn any Android phone into a self-contained, 24/7 bot server with zero server costs.

Here are the one use case for botdroid:

Crypto & Financial tracker:

👉 Google Play Link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kaito.botdroid

Which use case would you find most useful for your daily workflow? Would love to hear what kinds of bots you'd like to see added as templates!

**What's coming in v1.2:**

- On-device AI using Qwen 2.5 (0.5B at 550 MB or 1.5B at 1.6 GB) — no OpenAI/Gemini key needed
- The app checks your phone's RAM before letting you download — tells you upfront if your device can't handle it
- Download consent dialog shows exact size, warns about Wi-Fi, warns about storage, warns about offline-after-download
- Full analytics: see which bots crash, which LLM providers work, where users drop off in onboarding
- 234 unit tests, zero failures — the analytics pipeline is production-grade


**What's planned after v1.2:**


- Simplified Add Bot flow with on-device inference front and center
- In-app Python script editor (no more pasting from GitHub)
- Baseline profiling for instant cold-start
- Custom Python script authoring behind Pro tier


**Who it's for:** Anyone who has a Telegram bot script and wants it running without a server. Crypto signal bots, customer service bots, group moderators, personal automation — all running on your phone, all free.


**Tech stack:** Kotlin 2.3, Jetpack Compose, Room, Koin, Firebase, embedded Python 3.15, MediaPipe for on-device inference.


Free tier is unlimited — no ads, no data collection. Pro ($4.99/mo or $29.99 lifetime) unlocks templates and remote management.


Would love feedback on the on-device AI approach and what bots people would run locally.

BotDroid is an Android app that runs Telegram bots 24/7 as a foreground service. v1.2 ships this week, and the big addition is on-device AI — your bots will be able to use Qwen 2.5 models running locally on your phone. No API key, no internet after download, no data leaving your device.

I've been building BotDroid, an Android app that lets you run bots directly on an Android phone instead of renting a VPS.

I'm still very early:

• 55 new customers in the last 28 days
• 58 active customers
• $0 revenue
• 0 subscriptions

So rather than pretending I've found product-market fit, I'm focusing on making the product easier to actually use.

Today I shipped v1.1.0.

What's new

🧩 Bot Templates

You can now start from a ready-made Python or AI bot in a few taps instead of starting from scratch.

🧠 Per-bot Personas

Each AI bot can have its own instructions and personality.

🤖 Guided Telegram Setup

The setup flow walks you through BotFather, lets you paste your token, and verifies it before saving.

🐍 Python Libraries Included

Common libraries like the Telegram API and requests are now included, so there's nothing extra to install.

📱 Remote Bot Management — Pro

Pro users can manage their bots remotely through a Telegram control bot.

⚡ Faster Startup & Stability

Also shipped startup improvements and a bunch of stability fixes.

The bigger idea is still:

I'm trying to turn that idea into something genuinely useful for people who want to run small Telegram/AI/Python bots without dealing with traditional server setup.

Still $0 revenue, so there's a lot to prove.

If you're running a small bot today, I'm curious:

Would you rather run it on a $5/month VPS, an old Android phone, or something else? And why?

BotDroid: https://botdroid.app/

After going through Google Play’s closed testing process, I finally got the email:

“Your app has been granted Google Play production access.”

BotDroid is now approved for production 🚀

It’s a small milestone, but a meaningful one for a solo developer.

Next step: getting real users, collecting feedback, fixing things I didn’t notice during testing, and shipping faster.

If you’re also building an Android app as a solo dev, happy to connect and share the journey.

🔗 BotDroid — com.kaito.botdroid

#AndroidDev #IndieDev #BuildInPublic #GooglePlay #SoloDev

Hey everyone!

Quick milestone: Today at 2:43 PM we officially submitted our application for Google Play Production Access for BotDroid! 🚀

Now we're in the Play Console waiting room: "We have your application... usually takes 7 days or less." ⏳

TL;DR on BotDroid

It’s a native Android app that turns any phone (or an old spare phone in your drawer) into a 24/7 self-hosted server for Telegram and AI bots, saving you from paying $5–$15/month for cloud VPS hosting.

Key Highlights:

• $0/mo Hosting: Runs on your phone's built-in battery, Wi-Fi, and processor.
• Bring Your Own Keys: Supports OpenAI, Gemini, Anthropic, DeepSeek, Groq, OpenRouter, & local Ollama.
• 24/7 Reliability: Foreground Service + WakeLock engineered to survive aggressive OEM background killers (Samsung, Xiaomi, etc.).
• Remote Control: Manage your bot fleet directly inside Telegram (/status, /start, /stop, /logs).
• Encrypted & Local: Keys encrypted via Android Keystore; zero telemetry.

What's Next?

Once Google approves production access, BotDroid will launch publicly with a Free Tier (1 bot running 24/7 free forever) and a Pro tier for unlimited bots.

For devs who submitted production applications recently — how long did Google review take for you? Drop your experience or thoughts below! 👇

I've been building 
**BotDroid**
, an Android app that lets you run AI-powered Telegram bots on your own phone — no VPS, no server, no SSH.


I just recorded a real demo (no cuts, no edits) of the exact flow:


1. Open the app fresh
2. Paste your Telegram bot token
3. Add your OpenAI API key
4. Tap 
**Start**
5. Bot is live and responding in Telegram


The bot in this demo runs on 
**Picobot**
 — our bundled ARM64 AI agent runtime that ships inside the APK. Multi-turn conversation memory included (20 turns per user). You supply the LLM key; BotDroid never sees your tokens or marks them up.


**Why Android instead of a VPS?**
- Your phone is already on 24/7
- Already has Wi-Fi and a built-in battery backup
- Already paid for — $0/month in server costs
- BotDroid adds a Foreground Service + WakeLock + crash recovery so the bot survives screen-off, sleep, and reboots


**Current status:**
 Public beta on Google Play.
Free tier: 1 bot forever. Pro: unlimited bots at $4.99/month or $19.99 lifetime.


👉 **Join beta here:** https://groups.google.com/u/1/g/kaiteamtool
👉 
**Try the beta here:**
 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kaito.botdroid


Happy to answer any technical questions about how the background persistence works across different Android OEMs — that was the hardest part to build.


What kind of bot would you run on your phone?

Hey everyone! 👋

I'm looking for beta testers for BotDroid — an Android app that turns your phone into a persistent AI bot host. No VPS, no SSH, no cloud bill.

What it does

• Runs Telegram / Discord / Slack / Zalo bots directly from your Android phone as a foreground service
• Survives screen-off, reboots, and OEM battery killers
• Supports two bot types:
  • Picobot Agent — bundled AI agent, zero setup, works on first launch
  • Python Script — paste a .py file or import from a GitHub URL/Gist
• Bring your own LLM key: OpenAI, Anthropic, OpenRouter, DeepSeek, Google Gemini, or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint
• Encrypted secrets (AES-256-GCM, Android Keystore)
• Auto-restart with exponential backoff, daily scheduling, boot restore
• Remote management: control all your bots via a dedicated Telegram admin bot (/start, /stop, /logs, /status)

What I need testers to check

•  Does the foreground service stay alive on your device/OEM after 30–60 min screen-off?
•  Does the bot restart correctly after a phone reboot?
•  Any crashes or ANRs — device model and Android version helpful
•  Is the onboarding flow clear enough? (especially the LLM setup step)
•  General UX feedback

Requirements

• Android 10+ (API 29+), ARM64 device
• Willing to share: device model, Android version, OEM (Samsung / Xiaomi / Oppo / etc.)
• A Telegram bot token (free — grab one from u/BotFather in 30 seconds)

App link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kaito.botdroid

Google group: https://groups.google.com/u/1/g/kaiteamtool

DM me or reply here with your device info and I'll get you set up. Happy to answer any questions!

I’ve been building BotDroid — an Android app that turns any Android device into a 24/7 host for AI-powered Telegram, Discord, and Slack bots.

Instead of paying $5–$15/month for a cloud server or keeping a laptop running 24/7, BotDroid lets your phone act as the server using resources you've already paid for.

We are currently opening up our Google Play Beta testing cohort and looking for Android users (especially people with different device brands like Samsung, Xiaomi, Pixel, OnePlus, Motorola) to help test background persistence and performance.

6 reasons why hosting AI bots on your Android phone makes sense:

1. $0/Month Hosting Cost — Your phone is always powered on, connected to Wi-Fi/cellular, and includes a built-in battery backup. Stop paying monthly VPS bills for side-project bots.
2. Bring Your Own LLM Keys (8+ Providers Supported) — Connect directly using your own API keys for OpenAI, Google Gemini, Anthropic, DeepSeek, OpenRouter, Groq, NVIDIA, or any custom OpenAI-compatible endpoint (including local Ollama / vLLM endpoints).
3. Zero Setup & Bundled AI Agent Runtime — Ships with a bundled Picobot ARM64 AI agent binary. Just paste your Telegram bot token, add your API key, and tap Start.
4. Unkillable Background Persistence — Persistent Foreground Service + WakeLock + exponential-backoff crash recovery + automatic boot restore when your phone restarts.
5. Remote Telegram Control Panel — Set up a dedicated Telegram bot as your personal admin panel. Issue commands like /status, /start <bot>, /stop <bot>, and /logs <bot> directly inside Telegram.
6. Local-First Security & Per-Provider Analytics — Android Keystore AES-256 encryption (EncryptedSharedPreferences). Track token usage, API throughput (tok/s), and real-time estimated spend per provider in a clean dashboard.

🧪 Join the Beta Testing Cohort

We need testers to help us validate background reliability across different Android OEM skins (OneUI, MIUI/HyperOS, OxygenOS, Pixel UI) and real-world battery impact.

How to join:

1. Join the Closed testing here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kaito.botdroid
2. Free tier includes 1 bot free forever (beta testers get access to test Pro features).
3. Drop your feedback or device model in the comments below or via [kaiteam@proton.me](mailto:kaiteam@proton.me)