Google Play Services Drops Support For Android Ice Cream Sandwich (venturebeat.com)

Google is pulling support for Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich more than seven years after it was first introduced. The company announced in a blog post that Google Play services will no longer provide updates for the APIs (14 and 15) used by applications running on ICS. VentureBeat reports: Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS), as Android 4.0 to 4.0.4 is more affectionately known, was a landmark operating system in many ways, ushering in a whole new set of interface guidelines -- with a more minimalist design, not to mention groundbreaking features such as near-field communication (NFC), lockscreen support for camera and music controls, and facial recognition smarts for unlocking devices.

App developers who currently offer minimum support of API level 16 (Android 4.1 Jelly Bean) and over won't have to do anything as a result of these changes. However, if their apps currently support API level 14 or 15, they will encounter a build error when updating to a newer SDK version. Google is now recommending that all developers target API level 16 as the bare minimum, which means those still using Ice Cream Sandwich on their Android device won't even see the app update in Google Play, let alone be able to download it.

Comments

That seems like a fair amount of time...

[SuperKendall]

To me seven years seems like a good amount of time to keep something supported.

I think Apple still supports the App Store even for older devices (they can download the last version of apps that support the version of iOS they are on), but not entirely sure if that goes all the way back down the full line at this point.

Nice sentence

[Anonymous Coward]

Now there's a headline that would have been completely incomprehensible sense 30 years ago.

Re:why can't phones get updates?

[Shikaku]

This one's easy but you're not gonna like the answer. The drivers aren't open, usually ever, so you're fucked because only the manufacturer could update or supply the newer versions. Also the RAM usage and feature creep is very high on later Android versions, so for example anything not 4.4 requires 2GB or a lot more RAM. If you need such a feature, get a device that supports LineageOS, which fixes the problems you just outlined. The device support is kind of limited however: https://download.lineageos.org...

They came for the ice cream sandwiches

[Anonymous Coward]

They came for the ice cream sandwiches, but I said nothing for I was not an ice cream sandwich.
Then they came for the jelly beans (4.2.2), and I said nothing because the chat apps no longer supported my phone.

This wouldn't be such bullshit if...

[ckatko]

This wouldn't be such bullshit if you could actually CHOOSE to upgrade your operating system the way you can upgrade Windows or Linux to the newest (or at least much newer) versions.

I've got a Samsung S5 with Android 5... how long before they kill off my only phone? A $650 (no contract) flagship phone. I dare you to find a 2014 laptop that cost SIX-HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS that can't run any new applications because "it's too old."

Imagine if Windows made any application compiled on an OS earlier than Windows 10, not supported. Not because of a missing feature (like their arbitrary disabling of DirectX ~11/12 on Windows 7)... not because of hardware specs... no, just a complete cutoff based on version number. No 7zip. No VLC. No Chrome. Unless it's recompiled with a "new enough" SDK. All those Steam games that weren't compiled in 2018 because the developer moved on? Gone. Got that great 2017 game? Too bad, it's still not 2018. Battlefield 1 is officially legacy.

If that happened, there would be rioting on the streets and Steve Ballmer and Nadella would be forced to dig their own graves with boxed sets of Microsoft Dynamics NAV as shovels.

WTF are you supposed to do when your CARRIER arbitrarily decides to not offer updates to a phone that costs over half a grand?