Google has officially announced that starting in 2026 it will publish updates to the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) source code only twice a year. The decision was confirmed by company representatives in comments to Android Authority.
Previously, Google released AOSP source code for every quarterly Android update, resulting in four public releases per year. Under the new policy, fresh AOSP source code will be published only in the second and fourth quarters of each year.
According to Google, the change is intended to improve platform stability across the Android ecosystem and align development with the trunk-stable model. This approach simplifies Android development by reducing the need to maintain multiple parallel branches and by providing third-party developers with more stable and secure code.
Google explained that maintaining separate internal and public AOSP branches led to growing discrepancies over time. As a result, significant resources were required to synchronize changes and merge patches across different branches during the release cycle.
The company also clarified that developers building and maintaining AOSP are encouraged to use the android-latest-release branch instead of aosp-main. The aosp-latest-release manifest branch will always point to the most recent version uploaded to AOSP, corresponding to the codebase state of the latest Android release, such as android16-qpr2-release. Additional details are available in the AOSP change documentation.
A Google spokesperson noted that the revised release schedule helps streamline development, reduces the complexity of managing multiple code branches, and enables the delivery of a more stable and secure codebase for Android platform developers.
At the same time, Google emphasized that its commitment to AOSP remains unchanged. The updated publication schedule will not affect the release of security fixes. Google will continue to publish Android security updates on a monthly basis through dedicated android-security branches.
In March 2025, Google had already announced a shift in its approach to Android and AOSP development. Development activities were moved largely behind closed doors within the company to avoid fragmentation and inconsistencies between internal and external development efforts. Despite this, Google continues to publish source code alongside new Android releases, keeping AOSP open to developers and users.
In June 2025, Google released the Android 16 source code to AOSP. However, the release did not include device trees for Pixel smartphones, Pixel-specific drivers, or a complete kernel commit history. Google explained that AOSP now uses a virtual device, Cuttlefish, as its reference platform instead of Pixel hardware.
Earlier, Google also stopped publishing detailed information about Android vulnerability fixes in its public security bulletins. The company stated that security patches are now distributed to OEM partners exclusively through private channels under non-disclosure agreements.
These agreements prevent OEMs from sharing source code that includes applied patches with third parties for a period of three months from receipt. During this time, only binary builds containing the fixes may be distributed.
While the source code for Android security patches continues to be released under the open Apache license, its distribution is temporarily restricted by confidentiality agreements. Google described this policy change as part of its effort to strengthen platform security, a strategy often referred to as “security through obscurity.”