Chainfire retires all root-related Android projects

Some have been prophesying the eventual death of rooting on Android. If true, it's a very slow death. While it will probably never go away, development might soon be left to languish by the wayside. Especially when some of the main developers in the community start riding into the sunset. The most recent, and perhaps the biggest, blow is the famed Chainfire. After retiring from active root development last year, he is now putting a complete and indefinite halt to the apps themselves.

It was pretty much expected after Chainfire put the writing on the wall last October. Back then, he did leave the door open for an eventual return someday. Now he closes that door, explaining that, while he still had plans for those apps, he no longer has the time to even update them. In other words, they're practically dead, even if still usable today.

Chainfire's biggest claim to fame is SuperSU, the root app for Android. He also has a ton of root-related apps on the Google Play Store as well as on XDA and other sources. He says some of those will be updated to show the current status. Others might completely disappear even.

It's not just the root apps though. Chainfire is also retiring his other apps, though some not by choice. 500 Firepaper, for example, will become useless since 500px is shutting down their API in June.

The problem facing users of Chainfire's apps is one of continuity. While the apps might work as they are now, there's now even less assurance they will in future Android versions. While open sourcing those apps could go a long way in preserving them, Chainfire is still uncertain of that course of action.