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XDA Developers (also known simply as XDA; often stylized as xda-developers) is a mobile software development community launched on 20 December 2002. Although discussion primarily revolves around Android, members also talk about many other operating systems and mobile development topics. The "X" represents convergence of voice and information/data within one product; the "DA" stands for "Digital Assistant", as in PDA. The name of XDA Developers is derived from it. Many software and hardware hacks, rooting methods, and other phone and tablet specific tweaks originate from the members of the XDA Forum. XDA Developers also hosts the XDA Portal, a source for Android and mobile phone development news, as well as XDA Labs (shut down in 2020), an Android app and repository that acts as a third-party application provider. They were launched in 2010 and 2016, respectively. Montreal based Valnet Inc. acquired Xda-Developers along with four other websites, Pocketnow, AppAdvice, BackyardBoss and Hook&Bullet from Busy Pixel Media in February 2022.


History

XDA-Developers.com was created by Dutch company NAH6 Crypto Products BV and launched on December 20th, 2002. In January 2011, XDA Developers was bought by US based company, JB Online Media, LLC. and subsequently by Canada based Valnet Inc. in February 2022. The name ''XDA Developers'' is originally derived from the O2 XDA, which was marketed as a
personal digital assistant A personal digital assistant (PDA), also known as a handheld PC, is a variety mobile device which functions as a personal information manager. PDAs have been mostly displaced by the widespread adoption of highly capable smartphones, in part ...
(PDA) with extra features. In 2013, XDA partnered with Swappa to become its official marketplace where users can buy or sell devices.


Website layouts

Their forum site was majorly redesigned in the years 2010, 2013, late 2014 (named ''XDA 2015'') and late 2020 (named ''XDA 2021''). A theme selector allows users to change the appearance of the site. The 2013 layout distinctively indicated the number of active and total registered users at the top right, and the 2015 layout supported responsive web design and was available with a dark-on-light color scheme option. As of 2020, the website features 3 themes, namely XDA, XDA Dark and XDA Classic. The older layout options for XDA 2013 and XDA 2015 were removed in XDA 2021. The website transitioned from
vBulletin vBulletin is a proprietary Internet forum software package sold by MH Sub I, LLC doing business as vBulletin (formerly Jelsoft Enterprises and vBulletin Solutions). It is written in PHP and uses a MariaDB or MySQL database server. Similar prod ...
to XenForo on December 1, 2020, along with a major layout redesign, named ''XDA 2021''.


Custom ROM controversy

In February 2009,
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washi ...
asked XDA Developers to remove all ROMs created by
OEM An original equipment manufacturer (OEM) is generally perceived as a company that produces non-aftermarket parts and equipment that may be marketed by another manufacturer. It is a common industry term recognized and used by many professional or ...
s. In response, a petition was raised and signed by over 10,000 XDA Developers members. The petition was put aside when Microsoft did not pursue the removal of the customized images. Microsoft felt that using custom images based on the ROMs originally provided by Microsoft was acceptable as the ROMs work only on specific models and are not portable to devices for which the original ROM was not designed.


Reception

CNET ''CNET'' (short for "Computer Network") is an American media website that publishes reviews, news, articles, blogs, podcasts, and videos on technology and consumer electronics globally. ''CNET'' originally produced content for radio and televi ...
Asia suggested that XDA Developers offers potential solutions to problems with many Android-based mobile devices. In other
mobile phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link wh ...
reviews, testers at CNET preferred using XDA Developers' ROMs when carrying out detailed reviews.


See also

*
List of Internet forums An Internet forum, or ''message board'', is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. Forums act as centralized locations for topical discussion. The Forum format is derived from BBS and Usen ...


References


External links

* {{Official website Android (operating system) Internet forums Internet properties established in 2003 Windows CE Windows Mobile