TL;DR
- Google has announced that Google Play services will discontinue support for Android KitKat.
- The active device count for Android 4.4 has reportedly fallen to under 1%.
- Devices on KitKat will stop being supported by August 2023.
It’s hard to believe, but it has been 10 years since Google rolled out Android 4.4, better known as Android KitKat. A decade is an eternity in tech, and it looks like Google is ready to retire the old operating system to celebrate its 10th anniversary.
Just last month, a report revealed the percentage of devices running on a particular version of Android. The report was rather surprising as it revealed that Android 11 (codename Red Velvet Cake) happens to be the most widely available release of Android as of May 2023. What was even more shocking was that there were supposedly still 15 million devices still using Android 4.4.
However, when compared to the rest of the available versions, Android KitKat only amounted to about 0.5% of the global share. That percentage appears to be low enough for Google to finally throw in the towel.
In a quick post on the Android Developers Blog, Google announced that it is no longer supporting KitKat in future releases of Google Play services. The tech giant highlights the fact that the active device count on KitKat has fallen below 1% as a reason to move on.
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.
If you have one of the devices that is still on KatKit, you still have a little time left. According to Google, Google Play services will be discontinued on KitKat starting August 2023.
