Not sure if its Google or the ACLU, but infuriating nonetheless.
It’s a Google thing, not necessarily an app thing. Apps will have a minimum SDK level (basically the oldest Android version the app can run on) and a target SDK level (the Android version that the app is optimised for, which is usually the latest Android version). Google keeps increasing the SDK level requirements for apps to be published on the Play Store, so if an app is too old and hasn’t received any updates, you will see that message. But chances are that the app will run just fine if you install it from an APK file.
It may seem ridiculous but it’s good because it prevents people from installing super old apps, which may leave room for exploits in modern versions of Android.
This means the app devs refused to make their app work with modern phones for YEARS. no real excuse there.
Less than 2 years since the last update here.
The phone I currently use is more than 2 years old.
I’m gonna go with more than mildly infuriating.
It’s not about when the app last updated, it’s if they updated the code to use the modern interface.
They didn’t.
App updates must specify a target SDK of >= 31 which has been out for 2 years. There are lots of reasons around security and privacy mostly. https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/11926878?hl=en
You can still have a minimum of API 21 (Lollipop from 2014) and ship to those older devices.
To get that warning, they’d have to have a target of <=30 and less than your device. I don’t know what phone you have, but 30 is 3 years old.
The app publisher needs to step up their game.
I guess ACLU ran out of funding to pay the developer.
Or the developer completed the terms of their contract in developing and publishing the app. Maintenance may not have been part of the deal.
Just ran into this as well with a different app.
I wonder if the organizations the old apps are associated with even know.
I imagine whoever did the app dev and publishing knows, but I bet a lot of them are contracted developers (and who knows if they’re even still around)
The ACLU is still around, but I suspect they might be prioritizing women’s access to abortion more than updating tools for police accountability.
Right of course. But I doubt they developed and published their app in-house is my point. If they contracted some developer, who knows if the ACLU themselves or some formerly contracted developer gets notified that the app is “old” (if anyone at all is notified).
Edit: I was right. This is the app developer for the ACLU app you screenshotted - https://www.quadrant2.us/
Maybe someone should email them this thread.
Maybe!
…are you telling me to?
We believe in you!
That’s the first time i see that
It’s a good UX improvement imo. Previously it just didn’t show unavailable apps, leading people to install fake clones.
Ooh, yeah that’s nice!
My preferred Gameboy advance emulator, My Boy! doesn’t work on my new phone either. Was really disappointed, I had paid for it years ago.
I still don’t understand why Nintendo don’t make an official Game Boy emulator and then sell all the old games. I was a little bit too young for Zelda, and by the time I was old enough to really play it we’ve moved on to other platforms so I feel like there’s a gap in my cultural knowledge that needs to be filled.
A lot of them are coming to switch
They probably don’t think they will make a lot of money doing that.
Tears of the Kingdom is my first Zelda game and I’m enjoying it.
I have seen it too many times. I tried to install many apps from the google play store and it shown me that it was unavailable. When i installed it from an APK file, it was on the play store, and it would work fine.
this is mostly a security thing, because old apps lack granular permission system that modern apps have.
(you can still pick perms on first start but it’s kinda messy and breaks apps
