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From: The Real Bev <bashley101@gmail.com>
Newsgroups: comp.mobile.android
Subject: Re: Couldn't Update Message
Date: Tue, 27 Aug 2024 19:13:52 -0700
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On 8/27/24 3:23 PM, VanguardLH wrote:
> tb <nospam@example.invalid> wrote:
> 
>> I have an ASUS Zenfone M1 with Android 8.1.0.
>> Frequently I get a "Couldn't Update" message visible in Manage Apps &
>> Device -> Updates Available.
>> Is it a sign that my cell phone's OS is too old for some app updates?
> 
> I've had apps that worked, and then they updated while requiring a later
> Android version than I have (Android 8.0.0).  I will never get an OS
> update: LG, my phone maker, discontinued the phone back in 2019, and
> then they left the smartphone market in 2021.  For example, I had a
> Great Clips apps to help schedule check-in for a haircut.  Suddenly it
> starting puking out a message about the OS version not supported.  I saw
> no changes in their app that would require a later version of Android.
> When I notified them, they said they supported Android 9, and up,
> despite their app page at the Google Play Store said 8.0, and up.  Soon
> afterward they updated their app page to say Android 9, and up.  Their
> app's check on OS version self-crippled their app, so now I have to use
> a web browser to use their check-in web site.
> 
> I've had other apps that stopped working when they decided to require a
> later OS version.  Same thing happened way back on an old phone running
> Kitkat (Android 4.4): some car monitoring apps using Bluetooth to an
> OBD2 dongle plugged into the car stopped working, but those same apps
> worked when I later bought an Android 8.0 phone.
> 
> Eventually old phones running old OS versions get left behind as apps
> require later OS versions, even if nothing was really changed in the
> apps that the user can view.  Anything beyond the current and just-prior
> major version of Android is considered legacy hence unsupported.
> Android 8.0 (Oreo) was released back in August 21, 2017: 7 years ago.
> Requiring a new OS version can render apps unusable despite the phone is
> perfectly functioning hardware.  If you can't get an automatic OS
> upgrade, and if you don't want to root your phone to let you install a
> new OS version, you're stuck having to buy a new phone.
> 
> Besides my old phone using an old and unsupported Android 8.0, it also
> doesn't support 5G, and sometimes I definitely wish the phone was faster
> for Internet speed.  I get envious of my friends who can do Web stuff a
> *lot* faster than I.  Wait, wait, I'm still getting it, wait, I'll catch
> up in a moment, or two, for dozen.  Just wish the toy mobile computers
> weren't so farking expensive.

My Pixel2 (born in 2017) runs Android 11 and they're under $100 now.  It 
cost me $60 to have the battery replaced 1.5 years ago.  I'd like it to 
have a telephoto lens, but that's my only gripe.  If I REALLY wanted 
that I could probably buy an acceptable clip-on (the cheap ones are 
worthless) for it.  So far I haven't had any too-old problems with apps, 
but I seem to remember seeing something that I vaguely wanted that 
demanded Android 12.

-- 
Cheers, Bev
   "My life outside of USENET is so full of love and kindness that I have
    to come here to find the venom and bile that I crave."   --R. Damiani