Revolution IRC is unmaintained — what to use on Android in 2026
Updated July 25, 2026
The short version: Revolution IRC shipped 0.5.5 on 25 April 2023 and nothing since. Its Google Play listing now returns a 404, though the project's README still carries the Play badge — the usual sign that nobody has been through the front page in a while.
It was the standard answer for a native Android IRC client for years, and it was a good one. That is why it deserves a straight answer rather than being quietly dropped from lists.
Do you have to move?
Not this week. The F-Droid build still installs and still connects, and the app was solid: Material design, message storage, autocomplete, ignore lists, mIRC colour support, TLS.
The problem is the direction of travel. Android tightens the rules on background connections with roughly every release, and a client whose entire job is holding a socket open needs ongoing work to keep doing that. Revolution IRC has had none since 2023 and has no maintainer to give it any. It will not be a security emergency; it will be a morning when notifications stop arriving and nobody ships a fix.
The version history tells the story on its own — 0.5.3 in December 2020, 0.5.4 in January 2021, 0.5.5 in April 2023.
Where to go
The direct replacement: goguma. Free, open source (AGPL), actively developed — 0.9.1 shipped January 2026. It is the closest thing to what Revolution IRC was trying to be, built by the soju developer around IRCv3: real scrollback, proper unread tracking, multiple networks in one app.
Download (free):
If you want notifications that never miss: pair it with a bouncer. This is the part Revolution IRC could never solve, because no app can. Android will eventually kill any background connection it feels like killing. A bouncer holds the connection on a server instead, and the phone just syncs — goguma against soju is the setup worth having.
If you would rather not run anything: IRCCloud. The connection lives on their servers, push notifications and history included. Free until you idle for two hours; $6 per month removes the limit. The full picture.
If your desktop is Quassel: Quasseldroid. Attaches your phone to the same core, and still shipping (1.8.0, April 2026). Excellent in its niche, pointless outside it.
If you already self-host: The Lounge added to your home screen is a real Android client — PWA, push notifications, no app store involved.
Moving your networks across
There is no import, but there is not much to move either. Write down each network's server address and port, your channels, and your NickServ credentials, then add them in the new client — ten minutes for most setups.
Two things worth doing properly on the way:
- Use SASL rather than a NickServ command on connect. On mobile, where you reconnect constantly, automatic identification is not optional.
- Use port 6697 with TLS. If Revolution IRC was your last plaintext holdout, fix it now — security and privacy.
The verdict
Nothing about this is a scandal. An unpaid developer moved on, which is the normal way open source projects end, and the app kept working for three years afterwards — better than most abandonware manages.
But "still works" is not the same as "still a good idea" on a platform that changes underneath you. Install goguma; add a bouncer when you get tired of missing messages. The rest of the Android field is in best IRC clients for Android.