Android Developer Chats

There are several online chat resources available for Android developers, some of which seem a bit under-utilized, so I thought I would point a few out.

The original chat resource is the #android-dev channel on irc.freenode.net, established by the core Android team back in 2008 (or perhaps earlier — my memory is fuzzy). You can access this via IRC or via a Web-based interface. As with all freenode channels, this one is pretty much open all the time, though the level of activity will vary.

Another open chat is the Android chat room on StackOverflow. Chats were added last year, and somebody quickly set up an Android room. Anyone can monitor, but to actually chat, you need the permission of the room owner — there’s a “request access” button to get this level of access.

In addition to always-open rooms, there are scheduled chats. Notably, Motorola’s MOTODEV group runs hour-long chats periodically, for questions and answers around developing applications for Motorola’s devices. Note that these chats are for solving programming problems — trying to get information on future upgrades or products will get you nowhere. On the other hand, this is the only place I’ve seen for getting live assistance with device-specific issues. You can track these chats and other events in the Android Events MOTODEV board.

Also, I run chats for my subscribers, to provide live support for Android development questions. I try to run two hour-long sessions a week, though it may vary depending upon my travel schedule. Times alternate to try to provide convenient times for as much of the planet as possible. Subscribers will find a calendar of upcoming chats on their Warescription page; that page will also have an “Enter the Chat” button when a chat is live.