Google to Finally Drop Remaining Support for Android 4.4 KitKat

Google is dropping support for Google Play services for devices running Android 4.4 KitKat, which means that people still using these devices will no longer be able to install apps from the official store.

Google Play services support is not to be confused with support for the OS version, which is Android 4.4 KitKat in this case. Google released that version of Android on Oct. 31, 2013, and the last security patches arrived in October 2017.

Even if Google dropped support for that version of the operating system, it doesn’t mean that devices running it stopped working. They simply became vulnerable to attacks. Unfortunately, this doesn’t stop people from using devices with ancient operating systems. In fact, in October 2022, 1.39 percent of Android devices were still running KitKat.

Now that those usage numbers dropped below 1 percent, Google is finally pulling the plug on Google Play services.

“The Android KitKat (KK) platform was first released ~10 years ago and since then, we’ve introduced many innovative improvements and features for Android, which are unavailable on KK,” said Sarat Tummala, product manager of Google Play services, in an official statement.

“As of July 2023, the active device count on KK is below 1% as more and more users update to the latest Android versions. Therefore, we are no longer supporting KK in future releases of Google Play services. KK devices will not receive versions of the Play Services APK beyond 23.30.99,” Tummala added.

It takes resources and developers to continue to support these devices, not to mention that improvements to Google Play services can no longer be adapted to these old Android versions. As other old versions fall below the 1 percent threshold, the same fate will befall the as well.