diff --git a/xwords4/android/app/build.gradle b/xwords4/android/app/build.gradle
index 8dfcb27bb..92c526c22 100644
--- a/xwords4/android/app/build.gradle
+++ b/xwords4/android/app/build.gradle
@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@ android {
             buildConfigField "boolean", "IS_TAGGED_BUILD", "${CURTAG}" == '' ? "false" : "true"
             resValue "string", "invite_prefix", "/and/"
             buildConfigField "int[]", "SMS_BANNED_EXPL", "null"
+			buildConfigField "boolean", "UDP_ENABLED", "true"
         }
 
         xw4 {
diff --git a/xwords4/android/app/src/main/java/org/eehouse/android/xw4/CommsTransport.java b/xwords4/android/app/src/main/java/org/eehouse/android/xw4/CommsTransport.java
index 06f63ac5b..ad479b99d 100644
--- a/xwords4/android/app/src/main/java/org/eehouse/android/xw4/CommsTransport.java
+++ b/xwords4/android/app/src/main/java/org/eehouse/android/xw4/CommsTransport.java
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ public class CommsTransport implements TransportProcs,
         @Override
         public void run()
         {
-            if ( !XWApp.UDP_ENABLED ) {
+            if ( !BuildConfig.UDP_ENABLED ) {
                 m_done = false;
                 boolean failed = true;
                 try {
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ public class CommsTransport implements TransportProcs,
         private boolean loop()
         {
             boolean failed = false;
-            if ( !XWApp.UDP_ENABLED ) {
+            if ( !BuildConfig.UDP_ENABLED ) {
                 outer_loop:
                 while ( !m_done ) {
                     try {
@@ -237,7 +237,7 @@ public class CommsTransport implements TransportProcs,
 
     private synchronized void putOut( final byte[] buf )
     {
-        if ( !XWApp.UDP_ENABLED ) {
+        if ( !BuildConfig.UDP_ENABLED ) {
             int len = buf.length;
             ByteBuffer netbuf = ByteBuffer.allocate( len + 2 );
             netbuf.putShort( (short)len );
@@ -254,7 +254,7 @@ public class CommsTransport implements TransportProcs,
 
     private synchronized void closeSocket()
     {
-        if ( !XWApp.UDP_ENABLED && null != m_socketChannel ) {
+        if ( !BuildConfig.UDP_ENABLED && null != m_socketChannel ) {
             try {
                 m_socketChannel.close();
             } catch ( Exception e ) {
@@ -294,7 +294,7 @@ public class CommsTransport implements TransportProcs,
 
     private void addIncoming( )
     {
-        if ( !XWApp.UDP_ENABLED ) {
+        if ( !BuildConfig.UDP_ENABLED ) {
             m_bytesIn.flip();
 
             for ( ; ; ) {
@@ -330,7 +330,7 @@ public class CommsTransport implements TransportProcs,
 
     private void waitToStopImpl()
     {
-        if ( !XWApp.UDP_ENABLED ) {
+        if ( !BuildConfig.UDP_ENABLED ) {
             m_done = true;          // this is in a race!
             if ( null != m_selector ) {
                 m_selector.wakeup(); // getting NPE inside here -- see below
@@ -363,13 +363,13 @@ public class CommsTransport implements TransportProcs,
         Assert.assertNotNull( addr );
         Assert.assertTrue( addr.contains( conType ) );
 
-        if ( !XWApp.UDP_ENABLED && conType == CommsConnType.COMMS_CONN_RELAY
+        if ( !BuildConfig.UDP_ENABLED && conType == CommsConnType.COMMS_CONN_RELAY
              && null == m_relayAddr ) {
             m_relayAddr = new CommsAddrRec( addr );
             m_useHost = NetUtils.forceHost( m_relayAddr.ip_relay_hostName );
         }
 
-        if ( !XWApp.UDP_ENABLED && conType == CommsConnType.COMMS_CONN_RELAY ) {
+        if ( !BuildConfig.UDP_ENABLED && conType == CommsConnType.COMMS_CONN_RELAY ) {
             if ( NetStateCache.netAvail( m_context ) ) {
                 putOut( buf );      // add to queue
                 if ( null == m_thread ) {
@@ -422,7 +422,7 @@ public class CommsTransport implements TransportProcs,
         int nSent = -1;
         switch ( conType ) {
         case COMMS_CONN_RELAY:
-            Assert.assertTrue( XWApp.UDP_ENABLED );
+            Assert.assertTrue( BuildConfig.UDP_ENABLED );
             nSent = RelayService.sendPacket( context, rowID, buf );
             break;
         case COMMS_CONN_SMS:
diff --git a/xwords4/android/app/src/main/java/org/eehouse/android/xw4/MultiMsgSink.java b/xwords4/android/app/src/main/java/org/eehouse/android/xw4/MultiMsgSink.java
index 17c78f387..8c420a79a 100644
--- a/xwords4/android/app/src/main/java/org/eehouse/android/xw4/MultiMsgSink.java
+++ b/xwords4/android/app/src/main/java/org/eehouse/android/xw4/MultiMsgSink.java
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ public class MultiMsgSink implements TransportProcs {
     // can just insert a message into its queue
     public int sendViaRelay( byte[] buf, int gameID )
     {
-        Assert.assertTrue( XWApp.UDP_ENABLED );
+        Assert.assertTrue( BuildConfig.UDP_ENABLED );
         return RelayService.sendPacket( m_context, getRowID(), buf );
     }
 
diff --git a/xwords4/android/app/src/main/java/org/eehouse/android/xw4/RelayService.java b/xwords4/android/app/src/main/java/org/eehouse/android/xw4/RelayService.java
index c7fa3ddcf..517a14e7c 100644
--- a/xwords4/android/app/src/main/java/org/eehouse/android/xw4/RelayService.java
+++ b/xwords4/android/app/src/main/java/org/eehouse/android/xw4/RelayService.java
@@ -567,7 +567,7 @@ public class RelayService extends JobIntentService
     private boolean startFetchThreadIfNotUDP()
     {
         // DbgUtils.logf( "startFetchThreadIfNotUDP()" );
-        boolean handled = relayEnabled( this ) && !XWApp.UDP_ENABLED;
+        boolean handled = relayEnabled( this ) && !BuildConfig.UDP_ENABLED;
         if ( handled && null == m_fetchThread ) {
             Assert.assertFalse( BuildConfig.DEBUG ); // NOT using this now!
 
@@ -600,7 +600,7 @@ public class RelayService extends JobIntentService
     private UDPThreads startUDPThreadsOnce()
     {
         UDPThreads threads = null;
-        if ( XWApp.UDP_ENABLED && relayEnabled( this ) ) {
+        if ( BuildConfig.UDP_ENABLED && relayEnabled( this ) ) {
             synchronized ( sUDPThreadsRef ) {
                 threads = sUDPThreadsRef.get();
                 if ( null == threads ) {
@@ -1613,7 +1613,7 @@ public class RelayService extends JobIntentService
         Log.d( TAG, "startThreads()" );
         if ( !relayEnabled( this ) || !NetStateCache.netAvail( this ) ) {
             stopThreads();
-        } else if ( XWApp.UDP_ENABLED ) {
+        } else if ( BuildConfig.UDP_ENABLED ) {
             stopFetchThreadIf();
             startUDPThreadsOnce();
             registerWithRelay( -1 );
diff --git a/xwords4/android/app/src/main/java/org/eehouse/android/xw4/XWApp.java b/xwords4/android/app/src/main/java/org/eehouse/android/xw4/XWApp.java
index 3bb5d2cfd..7b39e09d4 100644
--- a/xwords4/android/app/src/main/java/org/eehouse/android/xw4/XWApp.java
+++ b/xwords4/android/app/src/main/java/org/eehouse/android/xw4/XWApp.java
@@ -45,7 +45,6 @@ public class XWApp extends Application implements LifecycleObserver {
     public static final boolean ATTACH_SUPPORTED = false;
     public static final boolean LOG_LIFECYLE = false;
     public static final boolean DEBUG_EXP_TIMERS = false;
-    public static final boolean UDP_ENABLED = true;
     public static final boolean SMS_INVITE_ENABLED = true;
     public static final boolean LOCUTILS_ENABLED = false;
     public static final boolean CONTEXT_MENUS_ENABLED = true;