Google continues supporting older Android versions several years after their release. However, supporting old versions is both time-consuming and costly for developers, with many phones lacking the processing power to run newer apps.
According to a recent blog post by Assemble Debug, a user who often uncovers new flags in popular Google apps, the tech giant is considering dropping support for Google Calendar and Chrome on Android Nougat 7.1.
If you are still using a device running on the now seven-year-old operating system, Chrome v119 will be the last compatible version. Google is dropping support for the popular web browser with Chrome v120, which will be launched next month.
As for Google Calendar, the blog suggests that Google has added a new “UnsupportedOperatingSystem__enabled” flag to the latest version of the app. When enabled, the flag will show a pop-up message that asks users to upgrade to Android Oreo 8.0 or higher if they want to continue using the app.
While Google hasn’t officially revealed when it will end Calendar support on Android Nougat, continuing support for older operating systems can be a financial drain for developers, especially if they have a handful of users.
Earlier this year when Google updated its Android version distribution statistics on Android Studio, it was revealed that Android Nougat 7.1, the operating system was running on roughly three per cent of total Android devices.
If you want to continue using Chrome and Calendar on Android Nougat 7.1, you might have to stay on the current version of the app and exclude them from the update list. However, we recommend against doing so since using older versions of apps may make your device susceptible to attacks and compromise the security of your phone.
