edited by: Shaurya Sharma
Last Update: January 24, 2023, 11:31 AM IST
With this change, users will not be able to sideload specific APK files.
Android 14’s updated API requirements will soon completely ban the installation of older apps.
Developers are now mandated to target Android 12 or later for new apps posted to the Google Play Store, and starting with Android 14, apps targeting older versions of Android to reduce malware concerns Will be totally banned.
According to a report by 9to5Google, until now the minimum API level requirements only applied to apps submitted to the Google Play Store. Developers can still build apps for older Android versions and let users manually install an APK file through sideloading. However, Android 14’s updated API requirements will completely prohibit the installation of older apps, according to a recent code update.
With this change, users will not be able to sideload specific APK files and the App Store will not be able to install those specific apps.
The report further states that Android 14 devices will initially only block apps that are meant for “older Android versions”, but will later be extended to include Android 6.0 Marshmallow. But it’s possible that each device manufacturer will be free to choose the cutoff. old apps or even whether to enable it or not.
“If minimum installable SDK version enforcement is enabled, prevent installation of apps using a target SDK version lower than required. Google said in a developer post that this helps improve security and privacy because malware can target older SDK versions to avoid enforcement of the new API behavior. Google’s primary target is likely to start cracking down on malware infecting devices (including older devices) running Android.
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