Google’s Android transparency shift unnerves Chinese developers, sparking debate

US technology giant Google moved to assure developers in China on Friday that its Android mobile operating system (OS) will remain open source after a change to how it publishes its code raised concerns that developers may lose access.

Google, owned by Mountain View, California-based Alphabet, sent a notice to its China-based partners to assure them that the company will continue to upload the full code of future updates to the Android Open Source Project (AOSP), without elaborating on update frequency, the local newspaper China Business News reported on Friday.

This came after the specialised blog Android Authority reported on Wednesday that Google will develop future versions of the OS internally, only sharing Android source code when major version updates are ready for release. That would mark a deviation from the approach it has taken thus far, in which Android is developed in the open with updates frequently made to the AOSP code repository. Google, which confirmed the change to Android Authority, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The move has unsettled the developer community in China, where Android powers nearly all major smartphones that do not come from Huawei Technologies or Apple.

Developers feared the shift could increase costs and jeopardise app development, potentially fragmenting the Android ecosystem, one Android app developer told the Post. The developer, who works for a Chinese Big Tech firm, asked not to be identified because he is not authorised to talk to media.