Add a deprecation notice

DEPRECATED.md

@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+# Deprecation Notice: SPTDataLoader Reaching End-of-Life
+
+**Date:** May 12, 2025
+
+**Subject:** End of Active Development and Support for SPTDataLoader
+
+Dear SPTDataLoader Community,
+
+We are writing to inform you that Spotify has made the difficult decision to cease active development and maintenance of the open-source project, SPTDataLoader, effective **August 15, 2025**.
+
+**Reason for Deprecation:**
+
+Spotify is deprecating this project as its maintenance demands, particularly given the current level of external activity, present challenges in aligning with Spotify's core development priorities and resource allocation. This decision will allow us to better focus on strategic open source initiatives.
+
+**Impact on Users and Timeline:**
+
+As of **August 15, 2025**, Spotify will no longer be contributing new features, bug fixes, or security updates to the SPTDataLoader repository. While the existing code will remain functional, we strongly advise users to consider migrating to alternative solutions for ongoing support and updates.
+
+The SPTDataLoader GitHub repository will be archived on **September 30, 2025**. This means the repository will become read-only, and issues and pull requests will be disabled. The existing code, commit history, and documentation will remain accessible for reference and for those who wish to fork the project.
+
+**Recommendations and Alternatives:**
+
+We understand that this news may impact your projects that utilize SPTDataLoader. We recommend exploring the following alternatives, which offer similar or overlapping functionality:
+
+* [Alamofire](https://github.com/Alamofire/Alamofire)  
+* [SwiftHTTP](https://github.com/daltoniam/SwiftHTTP)  
+* [ConnectRPC](https://connectrpc.com/) (useful if you gRPC is used in the backend)  
+* The project is open source under the [Apache License 2.0](https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0), and the community is welcome to fork the repository and continue development independently.
+
+**Availability of Resources:**
+
+[SPTDataLoader GitHub repository](https://github.com/spotify/SPTDataLoader) will remain available in an archived state after September 30, 2025\.
+
+**Legal Disclaimer:**
+
+Spotify assumes no responsibility for the inclusion and/or use of SPTDataLoader in third-party software or otherwise \- such inclusion and/or use is at one’s own risk. Spotify makes no warranties before or after the depreciation date for its current or archived state of SPTDataLoader.
+
+**Acknowledgements:**
+
+We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the entire SPTDataLoader community for your contributions, feedback, and support over the years. Your enthusiasm and collaboration were instrumental in the project's development.
+
+We appreciate your understanding as we transition away from active maintenance of SPTDataLoader.
+
+Sincerely,
+
+The Spotify Open Source Team

README.md

@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 <img alt="SPTDataLoader" src="banner@2x.png" width="100%" max-width="888">
 
+# THIS PROJECT IS DEPRECATED
+## 🚨🚨🚨 Please, read the [Deprecation Notice](DEPRECATED.md) 🚨🚨🚨
+
 [![Coverage Status](https://codecov.io/github/spotify/SPTDataLoader/coverage.svg?branch=master)](https://codecov.io/github/spotify/SPTDataLoader?branch=master)
 [![Documentation](https://img.shields.io/cocoapods/metrics/doc-percent/SPTDataLoader.svg)](http://cocoadocs.org/docsets/SPTDataLoader/)
 [![License](https://img.shields.io/github/license/spotify/SPTDataLoader.svg)](LICENSE)