Edited by: Shaurya Sharma
Last update: January 24, 2023 11:31am IST
This change prevents users from sideloading certain APK files.
Android 14’s updated API requirements will soon completely restrict the installation of older applications.
Developers are now required to target new apps posted to the Google Play Store to Android 12 or higher. Also, starting with Android 14, apps targeting older versions of his Android will be fully restricted to mitigate malware concerns.
According to a 9to5Google report, previously the minimum API level requirement only applied to apps submitted to the Google Play Store. The developer can still create apps for older versions of his Android and have users manually install her APK files through sideloading. However, according to a recent code update, Android 14’s updated API requirements completely restrict installation of older applications.
This change prevents users from sideloading certain APK files and app stores from installing those specific apps.
The report further states that Android 14 devices will initially only block apps for “older versions of Android”, which will later be expanded to include Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Older apps, or even whether to enable it at all.
“If minimum installable SDK version enforcement is enabled, block the installation of apps that use a target SDK version lower than the required version. This allows malware to target older versions of the SDK. This helps improve security and privacy by avoiding forcing new API behavior, Google said in a developer post.Google’s main goal is to help devices running Android (older to start cracking down on the malware that infects your computer (including your device).
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