diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a989358cb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[submodule "app/src/main/proto"]
+	path = app/src/main/proto
+	url = https://github.com/meshtastic/Meshtastic-protobufs.git
diff --git a/TODO.md b/TODO.md
index dc73a8bb0..952209462 100644
--- a/TODO.md
+++ b/TODO.md
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # High priority
 Work items for soon alpha builds
 
-* use git subtree for androidlib and the protobufs
+* use git submodule for androidlib
 * run services in sim mode on emulator
 * show offline nodes as greyed out
 * show time since last contact on the node info card
diff --git a/app/src/main/proto b/app/src/main/proto
new file mode 160000
index 000000000..c4ee1448e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/src/main/proto
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit c4ee1448ea99058fe45c6738e547197e4a4c1887