App developers have to get with the 64-bit programme!

Developers to Build only 64-Bit Apps for Android


Over the period of the next year and a half, Android developers must make sure their applications are 64-bit and able to support the most recent versions of the Google mobile operating system, according to the company itself.


The Deadline is August 2019


Google will be requiring Android developers to start making 64-bit versions of their apps available from August of 2019, and this is part of a broader effort to improve both safety and performance of the applications. This won’t, however, interrupt the pokies New Zealand provides that you enjoy, thankfully!


The second half of 2018 will see Google requiring Android developers to ensure that the apps they create are designed with the latest versions of the operating system in mind as well. Furthermore, from the early parts of next year, Google is going to begin adding what is described as a minute amount of security metadata on top of Android app kits, to verify the authenticity of the apps.


Impending Change Announced by Android Product Manager


Edward Cunningham, the production manager for Android, released the news of the impending changes in a blog post on the 19th of December, saying that Google was making the info available so that developers had enough time to comply with them.


The post spoke of Google’s relentless focus on performance and security that ensured that everyone had a good experience discovering and installing the apps and games they loved. The changes were designed to advance this goal, he stated.


For example, ensuring that Android developers were writing for the latest versions of the operating system meant that new apps could take advantage of the fresh security and performance enhancing features that Google was currently building into the operating system.




Users are Given More Control Over What’s Shared


As an example, Cunningham went on to note how applications that had been written for the Android 6.0 operating system and higher gave users additional control over what kind of private data the app was able to access during runtime.


Other enhancements in the more recent Android versions include those that disallow apps from accidentally overusing system resources, like battery power and memory, and those that make certain that user-added digital certificates are not simply automatically taken to be trustworthy for secure connections.


Changes Afoot for August of Next Year


In order to make sure that users are able to reap the benefits of these kinds of enhancements, Google will require that developers target their applications for the Android version 8.0 or higher as of August 2018. All updates for existing applications will need to meet this requirement as of November next year, too, and developers will have to ensure the apps they release are written for the most recent version of the Android OS from the start of 2019, according to Cunningham.


The 64-bit requirement has been designed to make sure that new Android apps are better able to take advantage of the performance enhancements offered by this technology, says Cunningham. Google introduced support for 64-bit architectures with the Android 5.0 OS, and, currently, over 40% of Android devices support 64-bit apps with Android 5.0, and over 40% of Android devices support 64-bit apps and software whilst also maintaining backward compatibility with 32-bit systems.