Google’s dessert-themed Android update has become stale. Well, not really. It’s just that Google Play is officially ending support for devices running Android 4.4 KitKat. This doesn’t come out of the blue as Google has been actively retiring support for older versions of the OS to ensure that the OS platform and the Play Store remain secure.
Android 4.4, aka Android KitKat, has been around for nearly 10 years already. The update was one of the most significant updates for the Android operating system at the time. The update brought an overhaul and standardization to the design language of Android at the time.
According to the latest breakdown of Android versions on the market, Android KitKat stood at 0.5% of devices currently available globally. It seems like it’s enough for Google to finally end support for the version on the Google Play Store. The same report also indicated that Android 5.0 and Android 6 are at 1.8% and 2.3% respectively.
It goes without saying, if you have a device running Android KitKat you may want to update it before August 2023 if you can. Otherwise, you won’t be able to use the Play Store anymore. If there’s no official updates, many Android smartphones and tablets are well supported by the community with more updated versions of the OS based on the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) that you can sideload.
