Motorola recently launched several phones with no Android updates but five years of security patches in Europe.
This could be due to the company’s interpretation of EU regulations regarding software updates.
It seems like the regulations don’t actually force smartphone makers to offer software updates at all.
So you don’t get a newer (not better) OS version that runs slower on old hardware… but instead they patch the original OS for security vulnerabilities. Where’s the issue?
One potential problem is apps could stop working if they target a more recent version of Android.
To my knowledge, has any Android API version been deprecated in under 5 years?
It doesn’t require deprecation. It could just be an app updating to use new APIs.
I read something about google’s play store requiring an API update every 2 years since late 2022, but i don’t know specifics.
I’m not sure, but even if that’s true, there are other stores available on slightly older versions (fdroid, obtainium, aurora). Note, however, that some newer versions of android will prevent app installation outside of their official play store (they tag it as "side loading, but it’s actually just installation).
Edit. Spelling.
even Android 8 (2017) runs all the latest apps in 2026, it’s totally fine.
New versions of chrome require Android 10 from what I understand. Presumably apps that are less essential will be more likely to remove support for older versions sooner.
EDIT: I’ll also note here that even if an app “works,” it may be with degraded functionality (where the missing functionality is increasingly important). For instance, passkey support in external password managers requires Android 14.
oops you’re right, seems like they killed A8/9 with Chromium v139. damn :/
That’s quite good to be honest
this, i love LTS
But, but… what about AI ? Noooo
that’s not a regulatory loophole, that’s how it’s supposed to be. The phone needs to be securely usable for 5 years. That means security updates, not OS updates.
It is a regulatory loophole. Read the quoted law in the article. No updates have to be provided.
what does the new shiny android version has that is worth it? nothing, security fixes is enough, I am tired of shit updates the fuck with everything by oems that have shit QA and provide little to none security updates and often quite late, LOOKING AT YOU SAMSUNG, I swear if i have to factory reset my phone AGAIN because an update fucked something up again
what does the new shiny android version has that is worth it?
oems that have shit QA
That’s it in a nutshell. Recent Android versions added really nice features and APIs that app devs won’t bother implementing for a while, because even for the small percentage of users running recent Android versions, OEMs always find clever ways to fuck up their implementation of said APIs.
which is peachy because the full source code is released with all the fucking features functional.
so much so 16year old lone rommers can get this shit to work
Samsung is trash.
Yes, fuck them. Samsung does random popups of an app that asks you if you want to update to their new OS.
If you’re in the middle of something and accidentally press the update button when it pops up without warning, your phone will reboot and start updating.
Samsung follows the Microsoft version of consent where your phone will update and the best you can do is delay a couple of times.
Business and governments don’t want new major updates. They want the same thing they originally deployed with security updates.
Not only businesses and governments, me too.
Actually, that sound fine to me. Just make sure software updates don’t break app compatibility.
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Android … improving privacy
Hate to break it to you, but google doesn’t allow any privacy on their ad-serving os.
I would agree that some version jumps do offer material improvements in feature sets, but they also come with further erosion of your privacy.
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I’m ok with this. I don’t need breaking updates. I need security fixes on a working OS.
This is because Motorola want it this way. It’s not EU law that make them not provide os updates.
That’s a pretty big loophole. And it encourages manufacturers to stop providing security fixes altogether. The commission fucked up pretty bad on this one.
The law says they can’t sell updates and they’re not. Barely a loophole
Operating system updates: from the date of end of placement on the market to at least 5 years after that date, manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall, if they provide security updates, corrective updates or functionality updates to an operating system, make such updates available at no cost for all units of a product model with the same operating system;
The only thing this quoted law stipulates is that you provide any updates, if you released them, for at least 5 years after the phone stopped selling. So this law is completely pointless.
It seems like the regulations don’t actually force smartphone makers to offer software updates at all.
As far as I know, it was never supposed to. It’s just supposed to force them to disclose exactly how disposable their trash is.
