Spotted in now private code, it appears that Android 14 won’t play nicely with outdated apps. In what’s being reported as a plan to help curb malware that targets outdated Android apps, Google may put a very strict requirement on app installation beginning with Android 14.
While this makes sense, it’s big news in our eyes because this change can also affect a very basic feature of Android — that being the ability to install any app you’d like via the act of sideloading. According to the code, Android 14 could block the installation of any app, whether it be from Google Play or sideloaded, if it doesn’t meet the API requirements.
The way app installation works now is relatively loose. For example, even if an app is outdated but the user has previously installed it before, it’s still made available on Google Play so long as it hasn’t been pulled from Google’s servers. The same goes with sideloading. Right now, you’d have no issue sideloading nearly any app you’d like, but with this change and if you’re device is running Android 14, it appears that the app will need to target Android 6.0+ (Marshmallow) at least. The code apparently made it clear that Google would be able to ramp up restrictions at any given time, too.
For me, I don’t go around downloading and sideloading random apps anymore. Those days are long behind me. However, I know there are still plenty of folks out there that do, and with that being said, I’ll ask you to stay vigilant and be sure to only download and install apps from trusted sources.
// 9to5Google
Worth noting that Marshmallow released in Sept 2015, over 7 years ago. While a lot of apps get abandoned, hopefully the impact won’t be too great.
It does say you can get by the restriction by using “a new flag”. Likely using ADB or something to do the install. It would require a higher level of knowledge so advanced users can still install the app but will keep the average user from hitting problems.
That’s unfortunate. I’ve been avoiding updating Pocket Casts to the version that has the new interface because the old interface is much better, in my opinion.
If I’m understanding this, if it works on Android 6.0 it’s still good? That is pretty far back.
Ugh. I’ve been using Better DashClock for ages and it’s not supported or developed anymore. This is going to hurt…
I feel you. A while back I moved from BetterDashClock to Chronus, which got me most of the functionality I wanted. I haven’t used that for a year or two, but I assume it hasn’t changed or become unsupported in that time. May be worth a look.
I’ve tried Chronus and none of the current offerings hold a cancle to DashClock or Better DashClock. Really sucks those apps were abandoned.