Google Play Services will stop on Android 4.4 KitKat

Google Play Services will soon no longer be available on Android 4.4 KitKat. Google has announced that it is ending support. It is now also 10 years later.

Android KitKat

Google posted a note: “The Android KitKat (KK) platform was first released ~10 years ago and since then we have introduced many innovative improvements and features for Android that are not available on KK. As of July 2023, the number of active devices on KK is less than 1% as more and more users update to the latest Android versions. Therefore, we will no longer support KK in future releases of Google Play Services. KK devices will not receive versions of the Play Services APK after 23.30.99.”

It’s been some time since KitKat stopped receiving operating system updates, and it’s usually a while before Google Play ends support as well. It often continues to receive new updates for a while and that was also the case with 4.4 KitKat. But now that less than 1 percent still has KitKat running, that doesn’t seem so relevant anymore.

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Google Play services

The same thing happened in 2021, when support for Android Jelly Bean was dropped. After all, it takes a lot of developers’ time to add new features and every version of Android is one to be reckoned with. So it makes a difference that every now and then a version is said goodbye. After all, another one is added every year, albeit without the sweet names.

Incidentally, Google Play is not only dealing with the app store as we know it on the Android front. It’s about the underlying services that developers can implement in their apps, such as two-step verification and backups. Anyway: you will certainly notice it at the front of Android, the disappearance of the Google Play services. At least if you still have an ‘old beast’.

Do you still have devices – and in use – on Android 4.4 KitKat? Leave it now in the comments.