Tech

Google Play will limit access to “old” apps

How many times has it happened to you, when accessing the Google Play Store or the iOS App Store, that you have come across apps that have not been updated for years? This may seem like a minor detail, but it is not at all, because said “abandonment” by its developers can translate, and on many occasions it does, into security deficiencies. And it is that, who tells us that some security problem has not been detected in them and that it is being exploited, without those responsible having published an update that corrects it?

As a general rule, stores recommend users to use recent and/or recently updated apps, which also incorporate the latest requirements set by those responsible, Google and Apple, to offer better performance, be more secure, use functions of the latest operating system versions, etc. That was the case until now, but it seems that those of the seeker have decided to go a little furtherchasing down old and outdated apps on Google Play.

To this end, as we can read on the official blog for Android developers, as of November 1, all existing applications on Google Play should point to, at the API level. to one of the “major” versions of Android released in the last two years. In the event that, after that period, the developer has not uploaded an update that points to a more recent version of the operating system, Google affirms that it will limit its visibility.

Google Play will limit access to apps "ancient"

These changes, according to Google, seek to ensure that the apps available on the Google Play Store make use of the latest privacy and security features of Android. Device Owners «they hope to harness the full potential of all the privacy and security protections that Android has to offer“, they state in the blog post. “Expanding our target level API requirements will protect users from installing older applications that may not have these protections in place”.

I think it is quite a success by Google, and it is that as we have already been able to verify, both Apple and Google have stepped on the accelerator both in terms of security, and also, perhaps even more markedly, in privacy, something for which they need apps and their developers fit the new frames. With this measure, while still waiting to find out the specific strategy to limit the visibility of old apps on Google Play, we are undoubtedly facing another measure in the right direction.

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