• GenderNeutralBro@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    2·
    8 months ago

    This is functionally similar to what Apple and Google do with their app stores. They don’t explicitly ban certain devices, but they mandate minimum API targets, which means they stop allowing apps that support older OSes. This effectively blocks old devices as well once they stop getting OS updates.

    See: https://developer.android.com/google/play/requirements/target-sdk

    This is part of the problem with walled gardens. There is inherently a conflict of interest when the same company operates the marketplace, creates the OS, and even sells devices that run that OS. If the marketplace were independent, they would not have the incentive to block new games for old devices.

    • cornshark@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      8 months ago

      targetSdk is different than minSdk.

      targetSdk means the app is aware of newer devices and is used to make sure the app is updated and supports new security features, like runtime permissions and scoped storage, when run on newer devices. This is to get out of a state where newer devices have to emulate skipping all those protections to keep apps running that were built without knowledge of them.

      minSdk is the minimum android version an app needs to function. To my knowledge there’s nothing stopping apps from declaring any minSdk, even 1, and continuing to install and function on Android from 2007 if they choose.

      • zarenki@lemmy.mlEnglish
        1·
        8 months ago

        There is one caveat: Google Play Services and by extension Google’s Play Store stopped receiving updates on Android 4.4 (released late 2013) last August, just before that OS hit 10 years old. Even so, the servers still work with that old app in the short term and there are alternatives for installing apps without relying on Google Play at all.

        That 10 year age is for the OS, not the device. Nexus 4 for example launched in 2012 with Android 4.2 and got updates up to Android 5.1.1 in 2015. So it still gets Play Store updates now. You can install apps from other sources, and you don’t need to rely on internet or servers for initial setup if you don’t want to, and you can even install a custom OS like Lineage’s build of Android 8.1.

        Nexus 4’s 2.5 years of OS updates was still abysmally low compared to how long phones should be perfectly usable for. Yet that 12 year old phone remains far more usable this year than a <5 year old Oculus Quest soon will be.