5 tips to customize your smartphone like a cyberdeck

Cyberdecks are interesting pieces of tech. They are, essentially, sci-fi inspired portable computers that people build that can kind of bridge the gap between smartphones and laptops. You’ve probably seen them all over the sci-fi genre, including games like Cyberpunk 2077 and movies like Ghost in the Shell or Hackers. You may be interested in building your own. It turns out, you can do that. 

Alternatively, you can take an existing piece of tech and turn it into a cyberdeck. A smartphone is a great candidate for this because it’s already a portable computer attached to a screen, giving you the ability to add a few more touches to turn it into a cyberdeck. It may not be as cool-looking as a Raspberry Pi board built into a custom enclosure, but it’s a quick way to get into it with tech you already have. 

Find a cool enclosure

This is the hardest part of this whole process. A lot of people use something like a small tacklebox, dremel it out so that the phone fits, and buy a small keyboard like the K808 Mini Bluetooth Keyboard to complete the effect with minimal effort and resources. Your enclosure and keyboard will depend on the size of your phone, but hopefully this gives you a good place to start. 

There are also custom 3D printing services that will make you something on request. Prices vary wildly here, but the first and most important step is getting your enclosure and keyboard set up since cyberdecks are supposed to be used out and about.

Rotation Lock keeps your screen right

The enclosure is arguably the hardest and also most important part, but preparing your software to work with everything is also necessary. One app that works well for this is Rotation Lock. This app locks your display in a specific orientation, bypassing your phone’s auto-rotate function and letting you use your phone in whatever orientation you set it to. The app doesn’t work with every phone, though, so make sure to check that yours is compatible. 

Add Linux via Termux

Next up is adding some software chops to your smartphone-turned-cyberdeck. Termux is a good app to do this. It is an Android terminal emulator and Linux environment app that lets you run commands. The real win here is that it lets you set up and run a Linux environment, which grants you access to all sorts of other cool things. 

There are limitations to this technology, and you’ll want to look for Linux apps compiled specifically for Termux, but there’s a lot of additional functionality you can add to your cyberdeck with it. 

Utilize desktop modes where you can

Some Android phones have a desktop mode that is perfect for cyberdeck use. The most well-known and obvious one is Samsung DeX, which turns your smartphone into a native desktop environment, making it friendlier for keyboard and mouse activities. This is doable in the settings menu of Samsung phones, so you don’t need an external display to use it. Google added a desktop mode to Android in 2026 but you need a Pixel device to use it for now. Either of these solutions will work just fine. 

Other apps can help

Most of the stuff above gets you most of the way there, but recommending anything further really depends on what you want to do with it. You can download a custom launcher to give it a more cyberdeck vibe, like this retro launcher on Google Play. Another option is Tasker to set up automations, like turning on all the cyberdeck stuff once it’s plugged into a certain device. You can even use a remote desktop app to connect to your PC at home. There are apps for cybersecurity and productivity, or you can turn your phone into a video game emulator box with all the various emulators. The sky is really the limit here, so let your imagination run wild.