6 mo. ago • 100%

Android 15 is pulling the plug on apps built for Android Marshmallow

www.androidpolice.com Android 15 is pulling the plug on apps built for Android Marshmallow

Google really doesn’t want you to install outdated apps for your own safety

34 comments

Good. Android 6 came out in 2015 and 98.4% of devices in use now are at or above that level.. The only reason developers would have to target an API level that low in 2024 is to exploit something.

33
- It's not good. This affects only apps that have been abandoned for various reasons, such as dead developers, now defunct companies, developers that lost interest etc. There are tons of still very useful apps and of course tens of games that I already lost access to when I bought my S23, and now this means even more apps and games (and this list will only get larger with every new update)
  
  There is no reason to artificially break new apps. Could you imagine if Windows 11 could run only software made in the last 5 years? It would be a nightmare. After all, no new apps can be uploaded to Play store if they don't target a very recent version
  
  14
  
  You seem to be misinformed about what's actually happening here. If there is a super old app you need you can still install it via adb.
  
  This has absolutely nothing to do with the play store and its requirements. This is about preventing malware (which is typically written to target super old API levels to exploit things that weren't patched yet) from being installed unknowingly by the user.
  
  The design here is good. If you are tech savvy enough to use adb you can install anything you want. But this protects somebody that mistakenly thinks they are installing something safe from accidentally infecting their device.
  
  14
  
  One example is JointPics, a really great app that doesn't seem to have any replacement. It's made for joining multiple pictures together, with all the proper scaling options, resolution limiting and output quality settings.
  
  It still works just fine. It does have a border as it's not made for phones with aspect ratio wider than 16:9, but that doesn't limit its use.
  
  Oh, and Android is also used on some embedded devices which may need to use outdated software. Thankfully it can still be installed via adb, so it shouldn't be a big deal. At least until Android drops 32 bit app support.
  
  4
- I wonder if this usage captures vehicles as well. I know the 2016 Honda I owned was running android 4.4 or so.
  
  8
  
  I believe it gathers the data from play store visits so it wouldn't count if you don't go to the play store on the car
  
  7
- @evo
  Android has great backwards compatibility.
  Targeting above that level isn't too much to ask.
  @FragmentedChicken @android
  
  1
I'm glad the adb flag is still an option, I had to use it to install the app for my ebike wheel which is the only way to adjust the assist level / Regen brake strength. Maybe eventually I'll try rewriting the app but I just don't have time.

17
- So with adb I should still be able to install old apps? Also is there a way to back up my apps without root, since there's been some old apps that stopped showing up even for ones I bought when I tried to download them on newer phones.
  
  6
  
  Yep they give the command in the article but to install an APK, all you have to do is plug into a computer that has the APK downloaded and use adb install --bypass-low-target-sdk-block appname.apk
  
  I used it on android 14 and it looks like it'll also work on 15
  
  5
  
  Until someone with a better way responds, you can copy files to your PC with the adb pull command. Here adb is a terminal command you run on your PC. App data files are mostly in /data/data/packagename on the phone.
  
  4
  
  The easiest way I've found without root or ADB is to use Solid Explorer. Well worth the cost.
  
  I select the APK I want and copy it to a different directory. Extremely painless.
  
  2
  
  https://github.com/axxapy/apkExtractor
  But it wasn't updated since 2017. Still works though.
  
  2
What's next?
So far this is how I view all the updates done:
Last good version of Android: 7
Last acceptable version of Android: 13

Linux mobile distributions are probably not yet fully usable and I don't see another alternative. Perhaps it will get better than Android and iOS just due to them getting worse. I wish Nokia kept it going with phones like N900.

10
- Explain? Android 14 is just Android 13+, they actually fixed stuff like the wifi and bluetooth toggle acting the same.
  
  I didnt touch Google Android in years, so Google Android for sure the last tolerable has to be around 9.
  
  But using GrapheneOS or something else, Android is very very nice. It just always works, is fully FOSS, extremely secure etc. When my Linux Laptop crashes, I will always have my phone as backup.
  
  18
  
  Same thing this post is about but with Android 5.1 apps.
  
  0
My keyboard (Minuum) targets Marshmallow 😭

10
- It shouldn't be too hard to work around that by either using dev tools to force the installation or by simply modifying the app to bump the required version number. It sucks that installing unmaintained apps is going to be more of a pain, but it's far from impossible. Android's internal backwards compatibility for this stuff is quite good.
  
  11
  
  Honestly, the app needs some loving anyway. I'm half hoping we end up getting the source code for it as a result of these changes
  
  9
- Then you are fine. Marshmallow, API level 23, is the minimum. This would be a problem if it targeted API 22 or lower.
  
  9
- FYI, Fleksy is up to date, free and uses a very similar concept.
  
  1
  
  Similar in which way?
  
  3
I use an ancient guitar tuner app called Pitch Lab. Tiny, no ads. It's great. If they don't kill it this round it feels like it will be soon.
Anyone have a suggestion for a replacement?

4
- Try Tuner from Fdroid.
  
  4
  
  Thanks. FWIW there are a couple of apps called Tuner on F-Droid. The one by Michael Moessner seems to be better maintained.
  
  1

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