[v6ops] Android now supports DHCPv6 PD

Lorenzo Colitti <lorenzo@google.com> Mon, 15 September 2025 23:30 UTC

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From: Lorenzo Colitti <lorenzo@google.com>
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2025 08:30:35 +0900
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Subject: [v6ops] Android now supports DHCPv6 PD
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FYI, we announced DHCPv6 PD support on Android today:

https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2025/09/simplifying-advanced-networking-with.html

This change should already be live on most Android devices running Android
11 and above. Specifically:

   - RFC 9762: if the P flag is set, the device will ask for a SLAAC-sized
   prefix, and if it gets it, use it to form addresses. Some devices will also
   disable SLAAC as per the SHOULD in the RFC. Not all devices will support
   this because it requires a kernel change which will be rolling out over the
   coming months. In future releases, we expect that the prefix will be shared
   with downstream devices, wearable devices, VMs, etc.
   - Heuristic: if the device obtains a default route but not PIO, it will
   ask for a prefix, and if it gets it, use it to form addresses. This allows
   DHCPv6-only networks to support Android devices today without having to
   upgrade their routers to set the P flag.

Over the next few months we also plan to roll out support for DHCPv6
address registration (RFC 9686).

I would like to thank everyone who contributed to RFC 9663, RFC 9762
and RFC 9686. We think that DHCPv6 PD is *better* than either SLAAC or
IA_NA, because it allows the device to provide end-to-end connectivity to
unlimited devices, containers, VMs etc. without scaling load on the
network. Plus the prefix can be tracked and managed by the operator, which
means that it should be possible to deploy it in networks that require
DHCPv6 or that have scaling issues dealing with many addresses. We hope
that this will allow at least some enterprise operators to deploy IPv6 to
Android devices.

Cheers,
Lorenzo