Revolut app

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Groman
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Revolut app

Post by Groman »

Hi !

I recently went from windows to ubuntu to mint.
I now have no way of accessing my bank. I was using bluestacks on windows to access the Revolut app.
Revolut can not be used at all without a very recent android device (or ios I guess). This is by design, yes there is a web app but you can only see your accounts, not do anything.
I do own an android device but can't install the app on it. I also want to get rid of it asap.

I have installed Anbox which only shows a "starting" screen for a few minutes then disappears.
I have followed a tutorial to install "AVM" and the best I could do was access a developers tool for android apps (apparently).
I did do a search on this forum, best I could find was to install a windows VM with bluestacks in it.

Is there any way I can have a fake android phone on my laptop, just the way it was on windows with bluestacks ?
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karlchen
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Re: Revolut app

Post by karlchen »

Hello, Groman.

Provided you are a registered Revolut user, you should be able to use the Revolut Web App on any operating system, including Linux Mint, because it runs inside your browser.
Therefore I assume that you do not need any Android emulator in order to run the Revolut Android app inside it on Linux Mint.
The blog article Go big. Go desktop. With the Revolut Web App. in the end points to https://app.revolut.com/start
Apart from that I know precisely 0 about the Revolut App and about the Neobank behind it.

Regards,
Karl
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Groman
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Re: Revolut app

Post by Groman »

Thank you for your answer.

So, as I said, Revolut can not be used at all without a very recent android device (or ios I guess). This is by design, yes there is a web app but you can only see your accounts, not do anything.
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karlchen
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Re: Revolut app

Post by karlchen »

Groman wrote: Tue Nov 22, 2022 5:45 am So, as I said, Revolut can not be used at all without a very recent android device (or ios I guess). This is by design, yes there is a web app but you can only see your accounts, not do anything.
Hm.
Their blog article from 2020 states otherwise:
What can you do with the Web App? wrote: What can you do with the Web App?
  • Get a full view of transactions and account balances
  • Add money to make sure your account is ready to go
  • Freeze and unfreeze your card and control card security settings
  • Access 24/7 customer support chat and FAQs
Explore the Revolut Web App now.
You tell you can't, their blog tells you can. Whoever may be right, I cannot judge. Maybe the Web App does grant you access to a subset of all features only. I will not open a bank account just to find out.

Irrespective of the final answer to the question above, this brings us back to your general question, whether it is possible to run an Android emulator on Linux Mint.
Again, this is not really my area of expertise. So I will keep quiet now and hope that users, who may run such an emulation, chime in ...
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Groman
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Re: Revolut app

Post by Groman »

Sorry I'm to blame for taking this shortcut.
Yes you can do a few more things, add money from a debit card, and freeze your Revolut ones.

What I need is to pay rent with a bank transfer, authorize online purchases, change euros to nok and back, and many things that aren't allowed from the web app.
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karlchen
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Re: Revolut app

Post by karlchen »

Hello, Groman.

Perhaps the answer to your wish is the software named Anbox: Anbox - Android in a box
It seems that Anbox is available as a snap software package for Ubuntu.
If it can be used on Ubuntu, it can also be used on Linux Mint.
Note:
On Mint you will have to enable snap first and install the Ubuntu snapd second, because Mint by default prevents you from installing snap software.

How to enable snap on Mint: https://itsfoss.com/enable-snap-support-linux-mint/
Why Mint disables snap by default: https://linuxmint-user-guide.readthedoc ... /snap.html. (At the end there is the instruction to re-enable it, too.)

HTH,
Karl
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Re: Revolut app

Post by Groman »

That gives me hope, thanks !

I did the snap thing, and then installed Anbox and I got to the point where it told me "anbox (beta) 4-56c25f1 from Simon Fels (morphis) installed"

But still, when I click the Anbox application from startup menu, I get a few minutes of a screen with the Anbox logo and "starting", then nothing.

I tried doing the kernel thing but I don't understand any of it and it seems like it's something specific for Ubuntu ?

Sorry, disregard that : I closed everything, restarted, and now I can launch Anbox. I'm now trying to get the play store to install the revolut app.

I followed this : https://www.linuxuprising.com/2018/07/a ... store.html
But when I get to " ./install-playstore.sh " it outputs "./install-playstore.sh: line 164: /etc/systemd/system/anbox-container-manager.service.d/override.conf: Permission denied"
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Re: Revolut app

Post by karlchen »

Hello, Groman.

The line 164 inside the script install-playstore.sh, which causes the error message

Code: Select all

./install-playstore.sh: line 164: /etc/systemd/system/anbox-container-manager.service.d/override.conf: Permission denied
, tries to append some content to the file /etc/systemd/system/anbox-container-manager.service.d/override.conf.

This operation requires root permissions. In order to get root permissions the script invokes the command sudo in several places. It also does so in line 164.

The fact that you get "permission denied" suggests either of two causes as the most likely reason:
+ Either you have not entered your user password correctly, when prompted by sudo to do so.
+ Or your user account is not a member of the user group sudo. In this case you cannot invoke the command sudo successfully.

What does the terminal command id display?

Regards,
Karl
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Re: Revolut app

Post by Groman »

Hey Karl,

id returns " uid=1000(groman) gid=1000(groman) groups=1000(groman),4(adm),24(cdrom),27(sudo),30(dip),46(plugdev),115(lpadmin),135(sambashare) "

I was never prompted to enter my password.

I tried " sudo ./install-playstore.sh "
I got :
/var/lib/anbox/rootfs-overlay
Overlay no enabled ! Please check error messages!

Maybe it has something to do with the previous command " chmod +x install-playstore.sh " that doesn't seem to do anything
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Re: Revolut app

Post by karlchen »

The command chmod +x install-playstore.sh simply marks the script install-playstore.sh as executable.
You can check so by executing ls -l install-playstore.sh.

Apart from this, there is little I can do to tell why install-playstore.sh does not work. The Anbox installation seems to be a pretty complicated process. And now somewhere in this process, some step(s) fail.
Without installing Anbox here and following all the steps, which doing so involves, it is impossible for me to tell why you get a "permission denied" by line 164 of the script install-playstore.sh, though you are a member of the user group sudo.
Also I do not understand why install-playstore.sh does not have asked you to enter your password, because it seems to invoke the command sudo in a number of places. So it would have had to ask you at least once. Further sudo invocations would have re-used your authentication, provided the time span between first authentication and sudo invocation was less than the default timespan of 10 minutes.

We really need someone to chime in, who has gone through this installation before, or you may have to ask in the Ubuntu forums e.g., in case no-one here in the Linux Mint forum comes to your rescue.
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Re: Revolut app

Post by karlchen »

Groman wrote: Fri Nov 25, 2022 7:31 amI tried " sudo ./install-playstore.sh "
The instruction which you follow tells that this is no longer required.
(Reason:
Inside the script, those commands which require root privileges are invoked by prefinxing "sudo " to the commandlines.)
Groman wrote: Fri Nov 25, 2022 7:31 amI got :
/var/lib/anbox/rootfs-overlay
Overlay no enabled ! Please check error messages!
This error message can be found in lines 176 to 180 of the script install-playstore.sh.

The existence of this directory is checked: $OVERLAYDIR, whereby the expanded real directory name is /var/lib/anbox/rootfs-overlay (line 145)
The directory is not found? Then the error message will be displayed, which you shared.

As long as this block of commands in lines 164 to 168

Code: Select all

		$SUDO cat >/etc/systemd/system/anbox-container-manager.service.d/override.conf<<EOF
[Service]
ExecStart=
ExecStart=/usr/bin/anbox container-manager --daemon --privileged --data-path=/var/lib/anbox --use-rootfs-overlay
EOF
keep on failing with "permission denied", the commands below

Code: Select all

		$SUDO systemctl daemon-reload
		$SUDO systemctl restart anbox-container-manager.service
will definitely fail to launch the anbox-container-manager.service.
And I assume one consequence is that the directory /var/lib/anbox/rootfs-overlay gets never created.

As I stated before:
No real chance of finding out the root cause without going through the whole process as well.
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Re: Revolut app

Post by Groman »

karlchen wrote: Fri Nov 25, 2022 8:30 am The instruction which you follow tells that this is no longer required.
(Reason:
Inside the script, those commands which require root privileges are invoked by prefinxing "sudo " to the commandlines.)
Yeah I read that in the instructions, but that can't be right since the script never asks for password and then returns a "permission denied".
Adding sudo got me to type my password, and got me a different output even if it still failed eventually.

I'm completely out of my depth, of course I expected to struggle a lot more with any flavour of linux than with windows, and I'm ready to make sacrifices, but I have to access my bank, it's gonna get critical by the end of the month when I have to pay rent...

Anyway thanks for you time Karl.

Maybe a mod can put that topic back in the virtualization sub, since a VM is probably the only way to get an android app to work ?
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Re: Revolut app

Post by karlchen »

Groman wrote: Sat Nov 26, 2022 2:12 pmMaybe a mod can put that topic back in the virtualization sub, since a VM is probably the only way to get an android app to work ?
Done.
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Re: Revolut app

Post by linux-rox »

I've never used the app or run an Android emulator, but I do have two links which might be helpful.

Anbox tutorial: https://www.fosslinux.com/13176/how-to- ... -anbox.htm
Dual boot strategy: viewtopic.php?f=42&t=301776

Notice the second solution is NOT a virtual machine strategy.
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Re: Revolut app

Post by karlchen »

It should be noted that the linked tutorial is from 2019. Not every single detail mentioned there may necessarily apply to Linux Mint 21 (Ubuntu 22.04) still.
Specifically the initial step where the memory devices /dev/ashmem and /dev/binder are added may be handled differently depending on the kernel series, which is in use. (Do not ask me for details, please.)

Therefore let me give the links to recent instructions on how to install Anbox on Ubuntu / Linux Mint:
+ Install Anbox (the official installation instruction)
+ How To Install and Run Android Apps on Ubuntu using Anbox (Jan. 2022)
+ Adding the Google playstore installer to Anbox (end of 2020)

~~
Personal comment:
The installation of all Anbox components, adding ARM support and adding the Google playstore seems a pretty involved procedure.
And I have come across a number of user reports, where users failed to complete the procedure succesfully.
In fact I only remember one Ubuntu 20.04 user who reported "full success". But maybe those who succeeded could not be bothered to let the world know.
I have not tried, yet.
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Re: Revolut app

Post by Groman »

linux-rox wrote: Tue Nov 29, 2022 1:48 am I've never used the app or run an Android emulator, but I do have two links which might be helpful.

Anbox tutorial: https://www.fosslinux.com/13176/how-to- ... -anbox.htm
Dual boot strategy: viewtopic.php?f=42&t=301776

Notice the second solution is NOT a virtual machine strategy.
The tutorial does not work at many steps (most of them) but a developer friend got me through most of it. He's gone now and I'm left at the last step with this :

groman@PCdeGroman:~/Downloads$ adb install revolut.apk
Performing Streamed Install
adb: failed to install revolut.apk: Failure [INSTALL_PARSE_FAILED_UNEXPECTED_EXCEPTION: Failed to parse /data/app/vmdl100756636.tmp/base.apk: AndroidManifest.xml]

karlchen wrote: Tue Nov 29, 2022 8:15 am + How To Install and Run Android Apps on Ubuntu using Anbox (Jan. 2022)
It fails at the first step with this :

groman@PCdeGroman:~$ sudo apt install mokutil
[sudo] password for groman:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
mokutil is already the newest version (0.4.0-1ubuntu2).
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 86 not upgraded.
groman@PCdeGroman:~$ sudo mokutil --sb-state
SecureBoot enabled
groman@PCdeGroman:~$ sudo kmodsign sha512 /var/lib/shim-signed/mok/MOK.priv /var/lib/shim-signed/mok/MOK.der /lib/modules/<code data-enlighter-language="raw" class="EnlighterJSRAW">uname -r</code>/kernel/drivers/staging/android/ashmem_linux.ko
bash: code: No such file or directory
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Re: Revolut app

Post by karlchen »

Hello, Groman.

Honestly, I am not amazed that the "sudo kmodsign ..." commandline fails. I would be amazed, in case it succeeded. At least as far as can understand the commandline.

Code: Select all

sudo kmodsign sha512 /var/lib/shim-signed/mok/MOK.priv /var/lib/shim-signed/mok/MOK.der /lib/modules/<code data-enlighter-language="raw" class="EnlighterJSRAW">uname -r</code>/kernel/drivers/staging/android/ashmem_linux.ko
It is the last long part of the commandline

Code: Select all

/var/lib/shim-signed/mok/MOK.der /lib/modules/<code data-enlighter-language="raw" class="EnlighterJSRAW">uname -r</code>/kernel/drivers/staging/android/ashmem_linux.ko
which looks fishy to me, incorrect to be precise.
The whole thing seems to specify the pretty long directory path to the ashmem_linux.ko kernel module.
This means everything preceeding that name should be directory names, separated by foreward slashes /.
But the part in the middle will not be understood as a valid directory name by the command shell bash:
<code data-enlighter-language="raw" class="EnlighterJSRAW">uname -r</code>
This looks a bit like an entry, which could be found inside a configuration file, which has got an .xml format.
It does not look like a directory name.
It also holds characters, which have got special meaning to bash.
Such characters would have to be escaped from bash, in case they were part of a directory name.
In fact, to me it looks as if some weird string has been inserted, which should not be there.
In case my assumption is correct, then I do not have the faintest idea what should be there instead.

Sorry. Cannot help resolve this issue. Maybe the author of the tutorial can.

Regards,
Karl
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Re: Revolut app

Post by Groman »

Yeah I'm starting to get the pattern. No tutorial ever works as intended, you have to be a dark wizard and there is not way around it.

Anyway, I tried this : https://www.partitionwizard.com/resizep ... albox.html

I got to this point of the tutorial, with this result :
vm.jpg
I did install the kernel thing from the software manager but it still doesn't work.

Anyone on this forum got an android phone successfully emulated on a computer, or am I completely wasting my time ?
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Re: Revolut app

Post by linux-rox »

Did you look at the second link I gave? The fellow who wrote that, smurphos, is one of the sharpest Linix users I've ever seen. Unfortunately, he seems to have drifted off, so can't answer questions. And the tutorial is a few years old. Still, if I were in your shoes, that's what I would try next. Actually, I would first try installing the app to USB drive, an option mentioned on the app's how-to page, on the theory simpler is usually less buggy.
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Re: Revolut app

Post by Groman »

That's what I've been trying to install in virtualbox.

I'm not a big fan of the dual boot since it's very practical to alt tab between bluestacks and email - discord - pdf documents and stuff, like when someone PMs or emails me their IBAN and I can just start the revolut app in bluestacks in 10s and make a transfer. Same with ordering stuff online, I can quickly approve the payment. I don't want to write info on paper, turn off my computer and restart on android every time.

I'm gonna start looking for a new bank. Problem is, traditional banks have no advanced features and fees on everything. And neo banks are pushing GAFAM ideology with mandatory recent smartphone. N26 was the same, can't do crap without the app.
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