The Great App Prunning September 1st at the Play Store

[adams161]

I"ve been aware of the policy and trying to take some steps but google finally mailed me last week:

We've detected that 4 of your apps are targeting an old version of Android. To provide users with a safe and secure experience, Google Play requires all apps to meet target API level requirements before Aug 31, 2023.

Actually two of them i updated, Pulsar Chess Engine and Diamond Chess Online, but i only got to API level 32, so the warning on them is i wont be able to update after aug 31st until I move it to 33. That is fine as they can stay in play store, but other two will only be available on Android 9 or lower as I decided to stop maintaining them.

A million aps could disappear. Probably effect hobbyists a lot. Hobbyists can put out an app, update it a lot 2-3 years then if it works let it stay. Windows works like that with people using old copies of winboard or arena. Not in these app stores anymore. Both Apple and Google have gotten tough.

My pulsar chess engine app is in review now fixing couple of bugs in the api 32 update I pushed out last month. https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... n_US&gl=US Review is going slow. I bet a lot are trying to update.

[towforce]

How difficult is it to recompile your apps to target newer versions of Android?

[adams161]

How difficult is it to recompile your apps to target newer versions of Android?

Well I'd been trying to keep them current. Pulsar Chess Engine and Diamond Chess on android i'd gotten up to 30 ( my other two are on 28), but to get to 32 this time i had to upgrade my Android Studio to this Dolphin app and it upgraded my Java level to a higher level ( luckily my code didn't have huge problems with this). Then there can be something that needs to be fixed, like you have to google why doesn't it work and find we now need this like Exportable tag or something. I did the migration, started looking into it last fall, then did it earlier this year and don't remember all the details. For my apps that didn't face an api deprecation this time around beyond all the steps, it was doable.

But my other app OpeningTree has issues with permissions for things it uses being deprecated. One I can fix because i handled it when i migrated other two apps to API 30, but the other, how it handles files, would take more work. But Openingtree without the ability to open outside PGN will live on as the Explorer Tab of my Diamond Chess Online. https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... n_US&gl=US

[wickedpotus]

For Android users, this is not a significant problem. You can easily link to the APKs from anywhere (like here) and they will install. Additionally, there are alternative app stores to avoid Google's tracking and malicious software. You can explore stores such as APKPure, APKMirror, Galaxy Appstore, Huawei AppGallery, Aptoide, and more.

On the other hand, for iOS users, dealing with Apple's app store and mandatory spyware is a bit more challenging. Due to their closed ecosystem, there are limited alternatives available, which can be likened to a North Korean way of thinking.