Fuchsia OS Spotted on Google's AOSP, Said to Natively Support Android Apps

By Ankit Chawla | Updated: 28 April 2018 16:12 IST

Highlights

The update was spotted on Twitter
App developers might not need to tweak Android apps for Fuchsia
Fuchsia OS might be an alternative to Android

Fuchsia OS Spotted on Google's AOSP, Said to Natively Support Android Apps

Photo Credit: Tushar Jindal/ Google Maps

Google is ramping up development on its "open source" Fuchsia OS that has been in the works for the past couple of years. It seems mentions of Fuchsia have recently been spotted in Google's AOSP (Android Open Source Project) in the ART (Android RunTime) branch suggesting support for native Android apps. Additionally, Fuchsia OS could work across smartphones, tablets, and computers, creating a sort of unified experience.

XDA Developers' Mishaal Rehman in a tweet spotted the Fuchsia OS in AOSP. As per Rehman's claims, Google might be building Fuchsia with ART bringing native Android app support to the operating system. This is of particular interest as native support means no further tweaking or alteration - from app developers - would be required to run apps on this platform. Some Twitter users expect Fuchsia to become a base for Android OS, with the latter built on top of Fuchsia instead of the earlier Linux.

However, it is unlikely that Google would want to replace its ultra-popular Android OS with Fuchsia OS considering the rigidity of consumers to switch mobile platforms.

Separately, a series of videos posted on YouTube back in January this year reportedly give us a look at Fuchsia OS running on a PixelBook, suggesting support on mobile as well as desktop platforms.

Fuchsia has a lot of history behind it. Back in 2016, reports said that the focus of Fuchsia operating system was on creating software for IoT (Internet of Things) and other embedded hardware. Additionally, in May last year, then VP of Engineering (Android), Dave Burke, said that Fuchsia OS is independent of Android and that it is an early stage experimental project.

Previously, tech giants like Samsung (Tizen OS) and Microsoft (Windows Phone) have launched proprietary operating systems albeit with little success. It will be interesting to see what the biggest mobile software company (in terms of market share) in the world has in store for its customers.

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