License

PocketDev is licensed under the Functional Source License, Version 1.1, Apache 2.0 Future License (FSL-1.1-Apache-2.0).

What you can do

Everything, with one narrow exception. You can read, fork, run, self-host, contribute to, and build on top of PocketDev freely — for personal projects, internal tooling, research, or education. The only thing you cannot do is publish a derivative of the PocketDev mobile app to any app store or software distribution platform (Apple App Store, Google Play, etc.).

Why FSL and not MIT?

PocketDev is source-available today because of one specific risk: at launch, before a community exists to defend the project, someone could fork the mobile app and publish it to the App Store or Google Play under a different name. The FSL closes that gap with a single, narrow restriction.

This is a launch-time precaution, not a permanent philosophy. A well-known project with an active community is naturally protected — app store pirates thrive on obscurity. The plan is to relicense to Apache 2.0 once PocketDev has a community large enough that the community itself is the best defense.

Automatic transition to open source

The FSL has a built-in conversion clause: every version automatically becomes available under Apache 2.0 two years after its first public release. If community momentum warrants it, the relicense can happen sooner.

Contributing

Contributors agree to the Contributor License Agreement by submitting a pull request. The CLA is what makes the future Apache 2.0 transition possible — it ensures the project can relicense without needing sign-off from every contributor individually.

Full license text

The complete license is available in the LICENSE file in the repository.