Google Play services discontinuing updates for KitKat (API levels 19 & 20) starting August 2023
android-developers.googleblog.com
The Android KitKat (KK) platform was first released ~10 years ago and since then, we’ve introduced many innovative improvements and features for Android, which are unavailable on KK. 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.
Is anyone here still using KitKat? 🤔
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In terms of vulnerabilities, Even Android 9 is dangerous. Why whould someone use an Android Kitkat device nowadays?
I've seen some old Android based eReaders that people still use, but never got updated beyond Android 4.4. Heck, I used a rooted Nook Simple Touch for years, and that thing was running Android 2.1. I only upgraded when the battery was dying out and most software was dropping support for it, since I was using it to read books and news articles, not to do banking.
I've also seen some older folk that still rock Android 4.x devices. They didn't want to upgrade because they had their phones for so long they missed the incremental Android UI changes and were now confused by newer phones. I had to force a couple relatives to switch to new phones since the networks were shutting down 3G support.
You might be surprised. My father uses a device about that age, but it's a Facebook machine and phone call device. It's fine for the use case if you're not the type to place valuable information on your phone anyways.