Does Android 8.0 support legacy apps?

[anon(10181084)]

I am wondering whether Oreo supports legacy apps that are designed to work on Android 1.5-2.3. I am still to this very day using such apps, many of which have been entirely abandoned and forgotten. Most of the ones I use work on my Galaxy Tab S3 running nougat and on my KitKat-powered Alcatel Idol X+. What got me worrying here was the fact that even some modern apps are being reported to not run on Oreo. Has Oreo retained the infamous compatibility layer that allows me to run legacy apps or will I be forced to give up using such apps when my tablet gets the 8.0 update? I still still have KitKat on my phone, so as long as my phone lasts it won't be a TOTAL disaster...

 

[jasonandrews25788]

oreo is just another backward compatible android version!

 

[anon(10181084)]

Yeah, but why are more and more old apps quitting on me as I use newer and newer Android versions? Why don't they keep compatibility with EVERYTHING? It is annoying when I get an old version of some app for nostalgia reasons and it doesn't work on my tablet (and then I am sometimes lucky if it works on my phone and I do not have to whip out my old tablet and install adequate Android version on it). Could there also be hardware incompatibilities that are causing said trouble with old apps or are my issues due to Google throwing old APIs down the garbage chute? Is Oreo less backwards compatible than Nougat?

 

[hallux]

Sometimes it's just not possible. Some of it is related to the way in which the app was developed. Oreo made a move to supporting 64-bit primarily. In fact - a recent article even said there is going to be a push on the Play Store to support only 64-bit apps. If the developers of your apps are not updating them, they won't be available much longer.

The same complaint was/is heard in Windows forums. People complaining that Microsoft is dropping support for legacy apps, or making a change that will force legacy apps to not work unless they get updated. At some point, the OS developer needs to make the difficult decision to drop support for really old apps in order to provide the speed and stability the OS users demand. Google is making that decision. Including the code to support those legacy apps adds complexity, instability, bottlenecks and is sometimes just plain not possible as the OS matures.

 

[anon(10181084)]

So you are saying:

1) That my 32-bit phone will be useless soon?

2) That old java-only apps that appear with the gray Android 2.x/1.x namebar on top will not be useable?

 

[hallux]

The phone will still work, until the carriers shut down whatever networks it uses. Your phone is likely no longer receiving security updates (KRACK being a big one that should be patched and is likely not).

Depending on that app function, the developer will prevent the app from connecting to servers if you don't have the most recent version, and you lose some capability if you're not on a newer OS. For your current device, it may be OK.

https://www.androidcentral.com/google-play-updates-2018

 

[anon(10181084)]

Off topic: I don't have ANY security patch.

What are the risks I am facing?

 

[hallux]

What are the risks I am facing?

Your device is subject to any vulnerabilities discovered between when the last update was released and now.

Here's AC's info on KRACK - https://www.androidcentral.com/krack