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Google added support for 64-bit Android apps back in 2014 with the launch of Android 5.0 Lollipop, but it has continued to offer tacit support for 32-bit apps ever since. The end of the 32-bit era may be coming soon, though. Hints in the Android 13 source code show that Googles upcoming Pixel Tablet may be the first Android hardware to specifically disallow 32-bit apps, and the next version of Android may do the same.<\/p>\n
At the dawn of the smartphone era, the apps on Android, iOS, and dearly departed platforms like webOS were all 32-bit. We didnt even have 64-bit hardware support on smartphones until the ARM v8 architecture arrived in 2011. Slowly but surely, developers have moved to 64-bit apps, leaving some 32-bit software in the dust. There are still plenty of these abandoned apps lurking in the Play Store, but maybe not for long.<\/p>\n
Android is an open-source project, so the release of Android 13 earlier this week also came with a big dump of code. Hidden inside are a few commits that may reveal Googles app plans. One comment mentions a device called Tangor, which is the code name for Googles upcoming Pixel Tablet. Move tangor to 64-bit only, it reads. If indicative of the final device, this would make it the first known Android device to disallow loading 32-bit apps.<\/p>\n
Another commit talks about ARM v9 CPU cores, which are the latest revision in chips like the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. The code discusses a test to verify devices only execute 64-bit code, but this only applies to Android U. If Google continues with the pattern it has used so far, that means Android 14 could drop support for 32-bit apps entirely when it launches in about a year.<\/p>\n
A 64-bit app is more efficient and improves memory usage, which is why both Android and iOS have worked so hard to prod developers to make the change. Apple dropped 32-bit support entirely several years ago, and now it looks like Google is doing the same. And not a moment too soon.<\/p>\n
The move to eliminate 32-bit apps should not come as a surprise. The latest high-end smartphone processors, like the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, only have three CPU cores that are even capable of executing 32-bit apps. Apps developed in Java or Kotlin for Android are already 64-bit, and Google started to require native 32-bit apps to include a 64-bit package in 2019. Thus, the only apps in the Play Store that are only 32-bit are those that havent been updated in several years. Perhaps not coincidentally, Google recently announced plans to hide old, abandoned apps in the Play Store.<\/p>\n
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