Android 14's Compatibility Shake-Up: What Apps Will be Affected?
With Android 14, Google plans to introduce a policy change that prevents the running of certain older applications.
Android 14 is the next major release of the operating system. If things go as planned, Android 14 will become available later this year. New devices may be sold with it installed already, and older devices may be upgraded to the new version.
Google announced a new requirement for application developers that restricts the APIs that applications may target. The updated guidelines require that applications that are added to the Google Play store target Android 12 as the minimum version.
Google notes on the Meet Google Play's target API level requirement website: "New apps must target Android 12 (API level 31) or higher; except for Wear OS apps, which must target Android 11 (API level 30) or higher".
Developers could target older API levels in the past if they did not want to publish their applications to the Google Play Store. Third-party store and direct distribution did not have the same restrictions as Google Play's Store.
A new code change to the Android 14 code, discovered by 9to5Google, suggests that Google is enforcing API level restrictions on the device level. Android 14 devices would block the installation of apps that target certain older API levels, regardless of the installation source.
The initial target for the blocking is Android 6.0, but Google seems to plan to increase the blocking gradually over time to newer API levels.
Old Android versions are less secure
Google cites security as the primary reason for the change. Newer Android API versions offer better protection against malware. Until now, attackers could exploit security issues in older Android versions to infect devices.
Android users won't be able to install apps on Android 14 anymore that target a blocked API level. The device-wide block prevents the installation of the application on the device.
Google does not plan to integrate an option in the user interface to bypass the blocking. While there is a way to disable the blocking, it requires connecting the device to a computer and running a command from the command prompt. Most users won't know about this method and won't be able to unblock the functionality on their devices.
Android users may check the target Android version of applications on Google Play and most other stores. To do that, they need to open the application on the store and select "about this app" on Google Play.
The App info section on the page that opens lists the required OS.
Closing Words
Android 13 is the latest official version of Android. It is on less than 6% of all Android devices at the time of writing, but many manufacturers have not rolled out the upgrade to all their devices. A good portion of Android devices won't receive the Android 13 upgrade and the same will be true for this year's Android 14 release.
Thanks for the tip Martin.
It is for these kinds of posts that I follow GHacks.
What’s up with the generic comment, are you a bot?
2G?
Where on the planet is that still in use? I was forced to give up using my RAZRV3 years ago because 2G was phased out by AT&T.
Everywhere 3G has been turned off and you don’t have LTE coverage, and believe me there are many developed countries where this is the case and if it weren’t for 2G you wouldn’t even be able to make a phone call.
Maybe I missed it, but I don’t believe tha term “2G” is in the article. Perhaps you are referring to “AGM G2”??
@Martin
Your website has gone insane.
When I the post button I then saw my comment posted on a different article page. When I opened this article again, it is here.
@Tachy @Martin Brinkmann
” Your website has gone insane. ”
Same here. Has happened several times.
@Tachy,
@Martin P.,
For over two weeks now,
I’ve been seeing “Comments” posted by subscribers appearing in different, unrelated articles.
https://www.ghacks.net/windows-11-update-stuck-fixed-for-good/#comment-4572991
https://www.ghacks.net/windows-11-update-stuck-fixed-for-good/#comment-4572951
For the time being,
it would be better to specify the “article name and URL” at the beginning of the post.
@tachy a lot of non-phone devices with a sim in them rely on 2G, at least here in europe.
Usually things reporting usage or errors/alarms on something remote that does not get day to day inspection in person. They are out there in vast numbers doing important work. Reliable, good range. The low datarate is no problem at all in those cases.
3G is gone or on its last legs everywhere, but this stuff still has too much use to cancel.
Anyhow, interesting that they would put that in. I can see the point if you suspect a hostile 2G environment (amateur eavesdroppers with laptop, ranging up to professional grade MITM fake towers while “strangely” not getting the stronger crypto voip 4G because it is being jammed, and back down to something as old ‘stingray’ devices fallen into the wrong hands).
But does this also mean that they have handled and rolled out a fix for that nasty 4G ‘pwn by broadcast’ problem you reported earlier this year? I had 4G disabled due to that, on the off chance that some of the local criminals would buy some cheap chinese gear, download a working exploit and probe every phone in range all over town in the hope of getting into phones of the police.
>”While most may never be attacked in stingrays, it is still recommended to disable 2G cellular connections, especially since it does not have any downsides.”
The downside would be losing connectivity. I spend a lot of time way out in the countryside where there’s often no service or almost none. My network allows 2G, and I need it sometimes. I have an option on the phone to disable 2G, I may do that when I’m in the city and I have good 5G connectivity, but not out in the country.
I would imagine that the stingray exploits, like most of the bad things in this world, are probably things you will run into in the crowded big cities.
I stopped using it in a mobile (Wi-Fi line) environment, so I’m almost ignorant of the actual situation,
But the recent reality in Japan makes me realize that “the infrastructure of the web is nothing more than a papier-mâché fiction”.
https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/17/google-chrome-to-enable-https-first-by-default-for-all-users/#comment-4572402
It is already beyond the scope of what an individual can do.
What we should be aware of is the reality that “governments and those in power want to control the world through the Web”, and efforts to counter (resist and prevent) such ambitions are necessary.
Why do you want people to disable the privacy features? Hmmmmm?
Now You: do you plan to keep the Ads privacy features enabled?
I’d like to tell you, but apparently if you make a post critical of Google, you get censored. * [Editor: removed, just try to bring your opinion across without attacking anyone]
@Martin
You website is still psychotic. Comments attach to random stories.
@Martin please do fix the comments, it’s completely insane commenting here! :[
@Martin
The comments are seriously messed up on gHacks now. These comments are mixed with the article at the below URL.
https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/18/android-how-to-disable-2g-cellular-connections-to-improve-security/
And comments on other articles are from as far back as 2010.
What does this article has anything to do with all the comments on this article? LOL I think this Websuite is ran by ChatGPT. every article is messed up. Some older comments from 2015 shown up in recant articles, LOL
The picture captioned “Clearing the Android Auto’s cache might resolve the issue” is from Apple Carplay ;)
How about other things that matter:
Drop survival?
Screen toughness?
Degree of water and dust protection?