diff --git a/xwords4/android/XWords4/jni/Android.mk b/xwords4/android/XWords4/jni/Android.mk
index f0a5f8d07..05062f5db 100644
--- a/xwords4/android/XWords4/jni/Android.mk
+++ b/xwords4/android/XWords4/jni/Android.mk
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ local_DEFINES += \
 	-DKEY_SUPPORT \
 	-DPOINTER_SUPPORT \
 	-DSCROLL_DRAG_THRESHHOLD=1 \
+	-DDROP_BITMAPS \
 	-DNODE_CAN_4 \
 	-D__LITTLE_ENDIAN \
 
diff --git a/xwords4/android/XWords4/jni/anddict.c b/xwords4/android/XWords4/jni/anddict.c
index 76112f152..25d394cf4 100644
--- a/xwords4/android/XWords4/jni/anddict.c
+++ b/xwords4/android/XWords4/jni/anddict.c
@@ -107,6 +107,9 @@ andMakeBitmap( AndDictionaryCtxt* ctxt, XP_U8** ptrp )
 
     if ( nCols > 0 ) {
         XP_U8 nRows = *ptr++;
+#ifdef DROP_BITMAPS
+        ptr += ((nRows*nCols)+7) / 8;
+#else
         XP_U8 srcByte = 0;
         XP_U8 nBits;
         XP_U16 ii;
@@ -134,6 +137,7 @@ andMakeBitmap( AndDictionaryCtxt* ctxt, XP_U8** ptrp )
         (void)(*env)->NewGlobalRef( env, bitmap );
         (*env)->DeleteLocalRef( env, bitmap );
         XP_FREE( ctxt->super.mpool, colors );
+#endif
     }
 
     *ptrp = ptr;
diff --git a/xwords4/android/XWords4/jni/jniutlswrapper.c b/xwords4/android/XWords4/jni/jniutlswrapper.c
index fa2770a31..0c681b369 100644
--- a/xwords4/android/XWords4/jni/jniutlswrapper.c
+++ b/xwords4/android/XWords4/jni/jniutlswrapper.c
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ destroyJNIUtil( JNIUtilCtxt** ctxtp )
 }
 
 /* These are called from anddict.c, not via vtable */
+#ifndef DROP_BITMAPS
 jobject
 and_util_makeJBitmap( JNIUtilCtxt* jniutil, int nCols, int nRows, 
                       const jboolean* colors )
@@ -71,6 +72,7 @@ and_util_makeJBitmap( JNIUtilCtxt* jniutil, int nCols, int nRows,
 
     return bitmap;
 }
+#endif
 
 jobject
 and_util_splitFaces( JNIUtilCtxt* jniutil, const XP_U8* bytes, jsize len,
diff --git a/xwords4/android/XWords4/src/org/eehouse/android/xw4/jni/JNIUtils.java b/xwords4/android/XWords4/src/org/eehouse/android/xw4/jni/JNIUtils.java
index 9df9c5cc9..42fef3cb2 100644
--- a/xwords4/android/XWords4/src/org/eehouse/android/xw4/jni/JNIUtils.java
+++ b/xwords4/android/XWords4/src/org/eehouse/android/xw4/jni/JNIUtils.java
@@ -25,6 +25,5 @@ import android.graphics.drawable.BitmapDrawable;
 public interface JNIUtils {
 
     // Stuff I can't do in C....
-    BitmapDrawable makeBitmap( int width, int height, boolean[] colors );
     String[] splitFaces( byte[] chars, boolean isUTF8 );
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/xwords4/android/XWords4/src/org/eehouse/android/xw4/jni/JNIUtilsImpl.java b/xwords4/android/XWords4/src/org/eehouse/android/xw4/jni/JNIUtilsImpl.java
index 588a5dd22..349fbb8fe 100644
--- a/xwords4/android/XWords4/src/org/eehouse/android/xw4/jni/JNIUtilsImpl.java
+++ b/xwords4/android/XWords4/src/org/eehouse/android/xw4/jni/JNIUtilsImpl.java
@@ -42,24 +42,6 @@ public class JNIUtilsImpl implements JNIUtils {
         return s_impl;
     }
 
-    public BitmapDrawable makeBitmap( int width, int height, boolean[] colors )
-    {
-        Bitmap bitmap = Bitmap.createBitmap( width, height, 
-                                             Bitmap.Config.ARGB_8888 );
-
-        int indx = 0;
-        for ( int yy = 0; yy < height; ++yy ) {
-            for ( int xx = 0; xx < width; ++xx ) {
-                boolean pixelSet = colors[indx++];
-                bitmap.setPixel( xx, yy, pixelSet? 0xFF000000 : 0x00 );
-            }
-        }
-
-        // Doesn't compile if pass getResources().  Maybe the
-        // "deprecated" API is really the only one?
-        return new BitmapDrawable( /*getResources(), */bitmap );
-    }
-
     /** Working around lack of utf8 support on the JNI side: given a
      * utf-8 string with embedded small number vals starting with 0,
      * convert into individual strings.  The 0 is the problem: it's