Provide a solution for older Android #577
Comments
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I feel you should provide more information on your unsupported devices. I need to guess you are using Android < 6.0, since the app is compatible with Android "6.0 and up" [1]. The COVID-19 Exposure API by Google is only available for these newer Android versions [2]:
As far as I can see, there is no way for the developers to use this API on Android < 6.0. [1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.rki.coronawarnapp |
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I am using Android 4.4.2. Corresponding phones are still sold nowadays, e.g. Sony Xperio Z1. |
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My point is that the decision of using an API requiring Android 6.0 was wrong, ruling out many phones in use. |
Unless I am mistaken, that phone received its latest security update (on Android 5.1.1) in December 2015, with version 14.6.A.1.236. Your latest security update is likely even older. Not supporting devices that include 5+ years worth of security holes for the sake of not having to implement the API on one's own is not a decision I would plainly call "wrong". |
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As you can see in the list of android versions here, Kitkat is unsupported since long. How should the cwa developers consider to use those old versions? IMAO it was a good compromise to set the requirement to Android >=6.0. |
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Generally, I think it's a shame that Android phones typically only receive software support up to two years after their release date. In fact, it's a terrible state of affairs and manufacturers should be obligated to change their behavior. That being said, there's nothing the developers of this app can do about that and, as @bersbersbers already said, it isn't feasible for support older OS versions right now. |
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The goal here was not to create a fancy new app, which could be used by some people if they like. This was going to address the majority of people in Germany! If common apps like WhatsApp are able to support an OS as old as KitKat, then the Corona app should do as well. If we don't reach a decent coverage within the population, this app will be kind of useless. |
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See #165 |
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Thanks fo your comment. Neither of the apps you mentioned uses the Exposure Notification Framework, which is a prerequisite for the current app. As Google made the decision to provide this for API versions 23+, we cannot fix this issue by ourselves w/o reimplementing the ENF. |
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Hi Robert,
it's not only the OS version the device itself has to provide
bluetooth chips that can work with the low energy profile.
You mentioned that the app has to target the majority of the country's
population. Yes that's right!
Here you can find some data about the installed versions of Android:
https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/180113/umfrage/anteil-der-verschiedenen-android-versionen-auf-geraeten-mit-android-os/
and IOS:
https://t3n.de/news/verbreitung-ios-12-70-prozent-1130480/
On the other hand supporting older versions would increase the budget
needed a lot. So in the end it's not a simple question and I'm sure this
was not an easy decision.
Am Mi., 17. Juni 2020 um 10:04 Uhr schrieb Robert Haschke <
notifications@github.com>:
… The goal here was not to create a fancy new app, which could be used by
some people if they like. This was going to address the majority of people
in Germany! If common apps like WhatsApp are able to support an OS as old
as KitKat, then the Corona app should do as well. If we don't reach a
decent coverage within the population, this app will be kind of useless.
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@mahoe thanks for this great statistics link. According to this, we will achieve at most 75% coverage, which is a pity. According to #165 (comment), it is Google to blame for providing the Exposure Notification Framework only for Android >= 6.0. |
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There are brandnew smartphones with Android >=6.0 available for around 70€. This might be a better solution, than fighting against Google's policy. |
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@speedy-1702, actually I'm looking for a new phone since years, but I want to have a small one (less than 4,5") but the market only focusses on large phones >> 5". Hence, I'm still stuck with an old one. |
Maybe this is something for your taste. Regarding the topic in general: Android Version 5 on the other hand has a bigger, significant market share and maybe Google could backport the changes in Play Services for those devices if they support BLE. PS: @rhaschke great seeing another CITEC member here. :) |
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There's actually a question about whether Android 5 is not enough on the Google API repo, Google's reference implementation needs only Android 5: google/exposure-notifications-android#16 |
Obviously the app is designed to work only on the latest Android versions.
It's completely unclear to me, how we want to achieve a high usage across Germany's population, if this app essentially requires many people to buy a new phone! All 5 phones in our family are not supported. Did the developers think about this at all?
IMHO, such an app should target phones as old as 5 years - or even older, definitely everything which is still supported by popular apps like WhatsApp.
I understand that you wanted to use the latest OS features for highest security, but if that renders the app unusable for most of the people, this is defeating the idea of the app.
Maybe think about another version for older Android system, that in turn relaxes some security concerns (of course informing the users about that fact).
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