The Plant Base for Android app and its small Data Support helper app have been removed from the Google Play store.

This is due to a restriction introduced by Google a little while ago and which comes into full enforcement in a few days. Although this change was introduced for the sake of improved security, it has an unfortunate impact on the Plant Base app. Compliance with the new standard would make the app unworkable as it conflicts with the basic design. Plant Base is very unusual because the app opens a large on-device database in a dedicated separate folder. This is no longer allowed for apps on Google Play, so there was no choice but to remove it from the store.

The Plant Base app continues to work perfectly well. It has been tested up to Android 11 and will probably still work on later releases. The app is now free for all users of the main Plant Base editions and can be downloaded directly from the website. Installation is by the “sideload” method, rather than being managed by Google.

When time allows, I will be looking at alternative distribution for new users who don’t have a licence and wish to run standalone on Android. In the meantime I’m happy to handle requests by email. It is very likely the Android mobile edition will be free to everyone, but with no guarantee it will function on future Android releases.