Big Update: jCenter Shuts Down & Set to Affect Android Apps. What to do?

Introduction

Is your native Android app or cross-platform app up and running on the Google Playstore and has used jCenter as a central repository? Then this HUGE UPDATE is for YOU.

This blog is for all, especially for the owners of Native Android or Cross-platform apps, who hate being too technical and want to understand jCenter, its latest update, and what it means to the world of Android apps.

So let’s get started!

The Latest Update on jCenter

Finally, ever since the news was on air and on the internet that jCenter was about to shut down, it has well and truly shut down on 31st October 2022. The JFrog team has finally released the news about this, which is set to impact millions of native Android applications and cross-platform applications using the native Android packages.

You might be wondering, what is jCenter and what does it have to do with my native Android or hybrid app. You are about to find out everything along with things you should do to avoid failures in the future.

After all, keeping your Android application or Cross-platform application up and running at all times is vital for your business, isn’t it?

What is jCenter?

For Java and Android OSS libraries, packages, and components, jCenter was the largest public repository in the world. jCenter has been hosted on JFrog Bintray which is free to use and an open-source download center. jCenter has been the core repository where Android developers host TestFairy Android SDK since its existence.

Bintray is an asset hosting platform that is often used to distribute Android libraries and it is done via central repositories such as jCenter, Maven, etc.

What is the role of jCenter?

For years, jCenter has been hosting a great number of open-source libraries used in native and cross-platform mobile app development, specifically to build Android applications and cross-platform applications.

Native Android app developers use jCenter to download and fetch the packages in the Android project. Whereas in cross-platform development using Flutter/React Native/Ionic, the developers use jCenter to fetch native Android app development packages and components.

Recently, as JFrog finally implemented the shutdown of jCenter, all the Android Studio and Android project dependencies hosted on jCenter will be affected.

How will the jCenter Shutdown impact Android applications?

You may wonder about the following scenarios:

What if my Android app has just been recently developed using jCenter? Do I have to do the development from scratch?

The answer is: No, absolutely not. If you have hired a top Android app development company, they will let you know and migrate all the packages to another repository such as Maven Central.

Migration to new repositories such as Maven Central becomes a need for all such Android applications hosted on jCenter.

What if I do not migrate? Would my Android/Cross-platform app still be running like before?

As of now, no differences in the existing apps on Play Store have been noticed regarding overall performance and security. However, this soon may change.

Why Should You Migrate from jCenter to Maven Central for Android Apps?

With the evolving business and market needs, the technologies and in-app features are upgrading from time to time. This makes the app version upgrades and feature upgrades inevitable to stay competitive and meet the needs of app users. Add another dimension of security into the mix and you find this even more important to install a sense of trust among the audience.

Should you opt not to migrate from jCenter to Maven Central, the following cases may happen with your existing Android or cross-platform application:

• The current version of your app will be restricted.
• Version upgrades simply will not be possible without migration to Maven Central.
• Your existing app may get restricted in some cases. This is yet to be seen in due time.
• Old third-party packages need to be manually upgraded.
• Old packages need to be updated to get support from Gradle Center.
• Compatibility issues may occur with the build automation tool like Gradle.

Currently, more than a million Git repositories on GitHub are found using jCenter. Gradle, as a result, has been stopping any support for jCenter for the new Android app development projects. They have set Maven Central as the new default. This all changes will be implemented and constant for the upcoming versions of Gradle.

This is why packages hosted on jCenter will need to find another repository that is compatible with Gradle. Maven Central is the answer.

Want to Migrate to Maven Central? We will Help You.

Bytes Technolab is a leading mobile app development company that has already informed the global clientele about this huge update. Currently, we are helping them to migrate numerous Native Android and Cross-platform applications to Maven Central to keep them ready for future upgrades.

If you have similar concerns mentioned in this blog, we will help you with all of the following things:

• Our hybrid mobile development team will help you migrate existing hybrid app native packages built on React Native, Flutter, etc.
• Secure and complete migration of Native Android app development packages to Maven Central.
• Ensuring full compatibility of your repository with GitHub.
• Manual upgrades of your old packages to assure future app version upgrades.

Besides, our world-class custom mobile app development services are fit for startups, SMEs, and Enterprises to develop mobile apps from scratch with 100% delivery success.

Contact our mobile app developers for more queries and expert consultation now!