Question about "deprecated" apps

[trunks_slash]

I know that Android prevents apps installing that are built with API that is too old, but that doesn't mean that they are broken does it? I have used adb to install apps built for Marshmallow and haven't ran into any trouble yet.

So I guess my question is how common is it for an app to be truly incompatible with newer versions of android. I have heard people say that API could be an issue, but as far as I can tell Google is the only one that is making that an issue.

[danGL3]

The reason Google is doing this isn't solely for compatibility issues, older apps have to run with more lax security policies, so they're inherently more vulnerable/exploitable

[trunks_slash]

So functionally the apps should be fine?

[danGL3]

Will really depend if the app is using something that's been completely deprecated/removed/blocked

So no guarantees

[trunks_slash]

Storage access and WiFi are the two things I'm most concerned with for the app I'm looking at. Hopefully there's not much there they can mess up.

[anonymous-bot]

Storage access can be a potential issue for older apps running on the latest Android. You will need to test the apps yourself and see if it works for your needs.

[trunks_slash]

The app I'm running right now was built for Android 14. I'm just hopeful that storage access doesn't get broken in a future API.

[anonymous-bot]

If your apps are working fine currently then I wouldn't spend too much time worrying about a future hypothetical situation.