What you need to know
- A new change that may be introduced in Android 14 may prevent users from sideloading older apps onto their devices.
- Google is said to be planning to enforce stricter API limits, blocking apps that don’t meet the minimum requirements.
- Third-party app stores may also block installation of apps that do not meet future guidelines.
The old practice of sideloading older apps on older versions of Android often leads to the spread of malware, but Google may be trying to stop it in the next version of its mobile operating system.
Code research on 9to5Google (opens in new tab) I found a change in AOSP (Android Open Source Project). This indicates that successor versions of Android 13 will block the installation of older apps targeting older Android versions, regardless of source. This means that when Android 14 rolls out, users will not be able to download or sideload certain older apps from the Google Play store or third-party app stores.
Developers should constantly update their apps to meet the Play Store’s minimum API level requirements. Play Store guidelines now require new apps to target at least Android 12, in line with a recent policy change introduced earlier this month.
This prevents developers from releasing apps that target older Android versions, but allows users to freely sideload older apps. This is because these requirements only apply to apps in the Google Play Store. Older apps installed at some point in the past can be downloaded again from the Play Store even if they do not comply with the minimum OS requirements.
However, this may change completely in Android 14 if code changes are okay. Google seems keen to tighten up the API requirements a bit with his next-generation Android version, effectively preventing older apps from being downloaded from the Play Store or sideloaded.
The goal is clearly to stop the spread of malware, at least on Android phones. This is often done by sideloading older apps. Google seems to block apps targeting older versions of his Android first. After that, it is expected that the threshold will be gradually raised to Android Marshmallow and the minimum requirements will be updated as new Android versions are released.
That said, future changes won’t ban the ability to sideload apps outright. This is still possible via the command shell using a new flag. However, this process is much more complicated than simply sideloading his APK.
