Google has typically always pushed the latest Android release to AOSP alongside its public release. Android 16 was an exception, with the company not releasing QPR1’s source code until mid-November; instead, it directly jumped to QPR2. Going forward, this will be the norm rather than the exception.

Google confirmed to Android Authority that starting from 2026, it will push new source code to AOSP only twice a year: in Q2 and Q4. The company aims to align the AOSP release with its new trunk-stable development model and better platform stability.

Below is the company’s statement in full:

“Effective in 2026, to align with our trunk-stable development model and ensure platform stability for the ecosystem, we will publish source code to AOSP in Q2 and Q4. For building and contributing to AOSP, we recommend utilizing android-latest-release instead of aosp-main. The aosp-latest-release manifest branch will always reference the most recent release pushed to AOSP. For more information, see Changes to AOSP.”

The change aligns with Google’s new Android release schedule. Going forward, the company will ship a major Android version in Q2, as it did with Android 16 in 2025. While Quarterly Platform Releases will continue as usual, Google will also roll out a smaller update in Q4 with developer-facing changes.

Google believes this change to the AOSP release schedule will reduce the complexity of managing multiple code branches. Plus, it will ensure that Android developers always have access to the most stable and secure platform release.

This change to the AOSP release schedule comes almost a year after Google stopped making real-time code commits to the public AOSP branches to improve efficiency.

What does this change mean for Android users?

The change in Google’s AOSP release schedule won’t affect regular Pixel users. They will continue to get the Quarterly Platform Release on schedule. However, it will impact the development of custom ROMs.

Projects like LineageOS will now have to base their releases on Android 17 and its QPR4 build, as Google will no longer publish a separate Q1 and Q3 AOSP drop. This will limit how quickly custom ROMs can integrate platform changes, potentially slowing the rollout of new features for unsupported or older devices.

Thankfully, the company will continue to push security patch-related changes to the dedicated security branch monthly.