The Rabbit R1 is one of the hottest AI gadgets on the market right now — and it looks like it’s hiding an Android-scented secret.
“This is supposed to be a simpler companion to my phone, yet the R1 often tells me to use my phone when asking it to do the most basic of tasks,” wrote Digital Trends’ Section Editor Joe Maring after taking the Rabbit R1 out for a spin. The biggest flaw here is not a slow interface or lack of functions, but what it adds to an average user’s life on a day-to-day basis.
At this stage, it’s not much, primarily because a budget Android phone can do the same tasks with apps — be it AI chores like summarizing an email chain or ordering a burger. “This could’ve been an AI app at best.” That’s a recurring theme in the online forums about the R1. And it seems the R1 itself proves that point.The Rabbit R1’s Android secret
Android expert Mishal Rahman got his hands on the APK file of a launcher, which allowed him to run the R1’s software on a Google Pixel 6a. In the most fundamental terms, an APK is all the code that makes an Android app. A launcher is essentially a segment of the software that controls how a phone’s home screen and app drawer system look and work.
In the R1’s case, the situation is a bit confusing. As Rahman explains on Android Authority, the Rabbit R1 runs what can essentially be called a launcher based on the Android Open Source Project (AOSP). Notably, Rabbit’s research overview doesn’t mention AOSP or its Android affiliations. It was only after Rahman’s story broke that Rabbit confirmed R1’s software is built on AOSP, the core framework behind Android.
