chrisjenx/androidtimelock

AndroidTimeLock is a lightweight tool for Android developers who share early or unfinished versions of their apps and want to make sure those builds don't keep running forever. It adds an expiration date to an app, so if someone tries to open it after a set time has passed, the app simply won't launch. Instead, the user sees a message telling them the build is too old. This is especially useful for test builds sent to teammates, clients, or beta testers. Developers often hand out works-in-progress that shouldn't be used long-term, but without a time lock, those builds can linger on phones and cause confusion or bugs down the line. With this tool, a dev can say, "this build stops working in one week," and the app enforces that automatically. The setup involves dropping the library into an existing Android project and adding a couple of calls: one when the app starts up to configure the expiration settings, and another in the app's base activity to perform the actual check. Once enabled, the tool stores those settings between sessions. There's also an option to customize the dialog text that appears when the app expires, and a method to retrieve the exact expiration date if needed elsewhere in the app. The project is small and straightforward, just a single Java component with a few configuration options. It doesn't appear to handle complex scenarios like server-side validation or remote expiration, so it's really meant for casual time-bombing of development builds rather than a hardened DRM solution. For anyone distributing early Android builds who wants a simple way to enforce a shelf life, this does the job with minimal setup.