Thread

🛡️
We're going to be moving forward under the expectation that future Pixel devices may not meet the requirements to run #GrapheneOS (
Frequently Asked Questions | GrapheneOS
) and may not support using another OS. We've been in talks with a couple OEMs about making devices and what it would cost. In April 2025, we received leaked information about Google taking steps to strip down the Android Open Source Project. We were told the first step would be removal of device support with the launch of Android 16. We didn't get details or confirmation so we didn't prepare early. We spent most of May preparing for the Android 16 release. Due to our extensive preparation work, our initial port to Android 16 has been completed and is being tested in the emulator. We could have published experimental releases yesterday if this was a regular AOSP release. Due to AOSP no longer having device support, we need to build it ourselves. We can start from the Android 15 QPR2 device support, remove the outdated code and update the configurations. We have tooling to automate generating device support setups which will need major expansions. Since our port to Android 16 is going to be delayed by a week or more, we're in the process of backporting the Android 16 firmware/drivers released on June 10 to the previous releases. This is not something we can do in general so we still need to port to Android 16 this month. Despite our lead developer who has done 90% of the ports for several years being conscripted into an army, we were still able to complete the initial port to Android 16 in under 2 days, but without device support. Our extensive preparation in April and especially May paid off. It's important to get an experimental release out quickly to begin extensive public testing. There are usually many issues found in testing. For a yearly release, we usually get out an experimental release in a day, an Alpha channel release in 2 days and need 4-6 more releases. Google has released a statement claiming AOSP is not being discontinued. This should be taken with a grain of salt, especially considering that they made similar public statements recently followed by discontinuing significant parts of AOSP on June 10.
X (formerly Twitter)
Seang Chau (@seangchau) on X
We're seeing some speculation that AOSP is being discontinued. To be clear, AOSP is NOT going away. AOSP was built on the foundation of being an op...
 Google is in the process of likely having the company broken up due to losing an antitrust lawsuit from the US government and being in the process of losing several more. There's a high chance of Google losing control of Android in the next couple years.
U.S. Asks Judge to Break Up Google
The Justice Department said the best way to address the company’s monopoly in internet search was to force it to sell Chrome, among other measures.
 The leaked information we received in April 2025 indicates that the reasoning they're making substantial cuts to Android is primarily cutting costs, perhaps in anticipation of it being split from Google. The courts should investigate Google's recent changes and cuts to Android.

Replies (6)

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X (formerly Twitter)
Seang Chau (@seangchau) on X
We're seeing some speculation that AOSP is being discontinued. To be clear, AOSP is NOT going away. AOSP was built on the foundation of being an op...
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Frequently Asked Questions | GrapheneOS
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U.S. Asks Judge to Break Up Google
The Justice Department said the best way to address the company’s monopoly in internet search was to force it to sell Chrome, among other measures.
 The released in support release. substantial
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↩ replying to Max
Work on existing devices will still happen. We can't make a timeframe of when or who will help in making a future device that meets our requirements. We've been told it will be expensive. This problem would not have been as large as it is if other OEMs properly supported alternate operating systems and cared about device security like Pixels from the start.
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That's a mastodon post mirrored here. Full thread is at:
Final's avatar Final
We're going to be moving forward under the expectation that future Pixel devices may not meet the requirements to run #GrapheneOS (
Frequently Asked Questions | GrapheneOS
) and may not support using another OS. We've been in talks with a couple OEMs about making devices and what it would cost. In April 2025, we received leaked information about Google taking steps to strip down the Android Open Source Project. We were told the first step would be removal of device support with the launch of Android 16. We didn't get details or confirmation so we didn't prepare early. We spent most of May preparing for the Android 16 release. Due to our extensive preparation work, our initial port to Android 16 has been completed and is being tested in the emulator. We could have published experimental releases yesterday if this was a regular AOSP release. Due to AOSP no longer having device support, we need to build it ourselves. We can start from the Android 15 QPR2 device support, remove the outdated code and update the configurations. We have tooling to automate generating device support setups which will need major expansions. Since our port to Android 16 is going to be delayed by a week or more, we're in the process of backporting the Android 16 firmware/drivers released on June 10 to the previous releases. This is not something we can do in general so we still need to port to Android 16 this month. Despite our lead developer who has done 90% of the ports for several years being conscripted into an army, we were still able to complete the initial port to Android 16 in under 2 days, but without device support. Our extensive preparation in April and especially May paid off. It's important to get an experimental release out quickly to begin extensive public testing. There are usually many issues found in testing. For a yearly release, we usually get out an experimental release in a day, an Alpha channel release in 2 days and need 4-6 more releases. Google has released a statement claiming AOSP is not being discontinued. This should be taken with a grain of salt, especially considering that they made similar public statements recently followed by discontinuing significant parts of AOSP on June 10.
X (formerly Twitter)
Seang Chau (@seangchau) on X
We're seeing some speculation that AOSP is being discontinued. To be clear, AOSP is NOT going away. AOSP was built on the foundation of being an op...
 Google is in the process of likely having the company broken up due to losing an antitrust lawsuit from the US government and being in the process of losing several more. There's a high chance of Google losing control of Android in the next couple years.
U.S. Asks Judge to Break Up Google
The Justice Department said the best way to address the company’s monopoly in internet search was to force it to sell Chrome, among other measures.
 The leaked information we received in April 2025 indicates that the reasoning they're making substantial cuts to Android is primarily cutting costs, perhaps in anticipation of it being split from Google. The courts should investigate Google's recent changes and cuts to Android.
View quoted note →
Final's avatar Final
We're going to be moving forward under the expectation that future Pixel devices may not meet the requirements to run #GrapheneOS (
Frequently Asked Questions | GrapheneOS
) and may not support using another OS. We've been in talks with a couple OEMs about making devices and what it would cost. In April 2025, we received leaked information about Google taking steps to strip down the Android Open Source Project. We were told the first step would be removal of device support with the launch of Android 16. We didn't get details or confirmation so we didn't prepare early. We spent most of May preparing for the Android 16 release. Due to our extensive preparation work, our initial port to Android 16 has been completed and is being tested in the emulator. We could have published experimental releases yesterday if this was a regular AOSP release. Due to AOSP no longer having device support, we need to build it ourselves. We can start from the Android 15 QPR2 device support, remove the outdated code and update the configurations. We have tooling to automate generating device support setups which will need major expansions. Since our port to Android 16 is going to be delayed by a week or more, we're in the process of backporting the Android 16 firmware/drivers released on June 10 to the previous releases. This is not something we can do in general so we still need to port to Android 16 this month. Despite our lead developer who has done 90% of the ports for several years being conscripted into an army, we were still able to complete the initial port to Android 16 in under 2 days, but without device support. Our extensive preparation in April and especially May paid off. It's important to get an experimental release out quickly to begin extensive public testing. There are usually many issues found in testing. For a yearly release, we usually get out an experimental release in a day, an Alpha channel release in 2 days and need 4-6 more releases. Google has released a statement claiming AOSP is not being discontinued. This should be taken with a grain of salt, especially considering that they made similar public statements recently followed by discontinuing significant parts of AOSP on June 10.
X (formerly Twitter)
Seang Chau (@seangchau) on X
We're seeing some speculation that AOSP is being discontinued. To be clear, AOSP is NOT going away. AOSP was built on the foundation of being an op...
 Google is in the process of likely having the company broken up due to losing an antitrust lawsuit from the US government and being in the process of losing several more. There's a high chance of Google losing control of Android in the next couple years.
U.S. Asks Judge to Break Up Google
The Justice Department said the best way to address the company’s monopoly in internet search was to force it to sell Chrome, among other measures.
 The leaked information we received in April 2025 indicates that the reasoning they're making substantial cuts to Android is primarily cutting costs, perhaps in anticipation of it being split from Google. The courts should investigate Google's recent changes and cuts to Android.
View quoted note →