I2P Android has existed for over three years. In that time, it has evolved from a simple test project into a usable, useful Android port of the I2P router. Our eventual goal has been to release I2P Android on Google Play, to make it easier for users to discover, install and use I2P on their Android devices. After much work improving the user interface, fixing bugs and testing, we think that I2P Android is finally ready to go where the users are.

Initially, we are only releasing to Android users in Norway, as a test run. I2P Android will have far more exposure on Google Play than it has ever had before, and there will be bugs and usability issues that we need to fix. It will be much easier (and less stressful!) to respond to feedback if we only need to deal with reports from hundreds of users instead of thousands (already orders of magnitude more feedback than we have ever had).

Simultaneously we are making the first public release of Bote, an Android port of I2P-Bote. Bote is private, distributed, secure email, made easy. It runs on top of the I2P network, and while it works as a standalone app, it will use the I2P Android app by default if installed. As with I2P Android, we are initially only releasing Bote to Android users in Norway.

The apps are being released on Google Play by The Privacy Solutions Project. See their blog post for further information, and links to the Google Play page for Norway users.

As lead developer for I2P Android and Bote, I look forward to your comments. You are the people who will be using them, and your perspectives will help me craft simple, intuitive apps that make privacy accessible to everyone.

Website release details

We have also updated I2P Android on the website to match the release candidate deployed in Norway. This version will be updated with changes as we respond to feedback from Norwegian users, heading towards our next stable release.

Please note that we have upgraded the Android API to 9. This means that Froyo Android 2.2 will not be supported anymore; the minimum requirement is now Gingerbread Android 2.3.

Also note that if you have an earlier version of I2P Android, you will need to uninstall and reinstall because we have changed the release keys. Further information about this will be provided in a subsequent blog post.