Android development is undergoing a significant structural change as Google prepares to consolidate its development process. After nearly 16 years of a hybrid approach, the tech giant is moving to streamline how the world's most popular mobile operating system evolves, while promising to maintain its open-source nature.
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| The image showcases a smartphone, representing the Android operating system that Google is restructuring |
The End of Public Development
Google has confirmed that starting next week, all Android development will move to its internal branches, marking the end of the current two-pronged development approach. Until now, Google has developed some Android components publicly on the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) Gerrit while handling other parts privately. This split system has reportedly created challenges for both Google and its partners, including delays in feature rollouts, bug fixes, and security patches. The company claims that merging code between public and private branches often introduces errors—a problem this new policy aims to solve.
What's Changing Behind the Scenes
Components that were previously developed as part of the public AOSP stack—including the build system, update engine, Bluetooth stack, virtualization framework, and SELinux configuration—will now move exclusively to Google's internal branches. The aosp-main branch will be locked and set to read-only, meaning platform developers will need to sync to android-latest-release instead. This branch automatically points to the most recent AOSP release branch, currently android15-qpr2-release, and will update to android16-release when Android 16 launches.
Impact on Different Stakeholders
For everyday Android users, this change should have virtually no noticeable impact on their experience. App developers will similarly see little change in their workflow. However, platform developers—especially those without ties to Google's OEM partners—will face a modified contribution process. While Google has confirmed that the Android team will continue to accept code contributions from external developers through the public AOSP Gerrit, these contributions will now be based on code that could be weeks behind Google's internal codebase.
Google's Continued Commitment to Open Source
Despite moving development behind closed doors, Google has emphasized that Android will remain an open-source platform. The company will continue to release the source code for new Android versions and maintains that this change is not intended to hinder third-party developers but rather to streamline the development process. Google will retain full control over what gets merged to ensure the vitality of Android as a platform and as an open-source project.
Partner Access Remains Unchanged
Companies with Google Mobile Services (GMS) licensing agreements—such as Samsung, Xiaomi, and OnePlus—will continue to have uninterrupted access to Google's internal branch. These partners can submit patches through the partner Gerrit, which is not available to the public. In either case, patches will be reviewed by Google engineers and, if accepted, will be cherry-picked and merged into the company's internal branch for inclusion in future releases.
Other Projects Unaffected
Google has confirmed that no changes will be made to the development process for AndroidX (Android Jetpack support libraries), which have always been developed fully in public and were never technically part of aosp-main. Additionally, the company will continue to support existing Android developer preview/beta programs, though it has no plans to release CI builds of its internal main branch.
The Future of External Contributions
While Google justifies this change by noting that external contributions are minimal compared to the overall volume of annual changes, these contributions have proven valuable. The new workflow may make contributing to AOSP less convenient, potentially deterring some developers from proposing contributions. Only time will tell whether this structural change will impact the diversity and innovation that external developers bring to the Android ecosystem.