BITWARDEN has announced that from its forthcoming release, applications distributed through major app stores, notably the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, will be built under a commercial, proprietary license rather than the current dual-license setup. The company states that users will not experience any changes in operation or features, and that existing functionality will be preserved in the commercial builds.
The Bitwarden codebase already employs a two-license model: GPLv3 for the general client, and Bitwarden License v1.0 in a separate /bitwarden_license directory, which is source-available but not open-source in OSI terms. Official guidance indicates that the store-ready builds will run under the proprietary license, while the GPLv3 edition will continue to be publicly accessible and receive updates from the public repository.
Bitwarden emphasises that self-hosted deployments are unaffected and that users retain the right to audit, fork, or modify the underlying code. The intent, according to the announcement, is to deter unauthorised repackaging and commercial resale of Bitwarden’s intellectual property. Future feature introductions may be distributed under the commercial license, with some components potentially remaining exclusive to official website builds.
For end users, there is no immediate migration required, but developers distributing third-party packages will need to verify licence compliance on a case-by-case basis to avoid copyright complications.