Unfortunately we will soon have to bump minSdk from 21 to 23, effectively preventing NewPipe from being installed on Android 5 devices. The main reason for this is that Google's Jetpack/AndroidX libraries, which are fundamental to any Android project, have been requiring API 23 since June 2025. For roughly one year we decided to just not update those libraries, but this stance is increasingly problematic as old library versions miss important fixes and useful features.
The statistics on how many users are still using Android 5 devices seem to have changed a bit in recent times. But if the latest statistics are correct, we would have to drop <1% of devices.
More than 4 years passed since we had to bump minSdk from 19 (Android 4.4) to 21 (Android 5). Back then, we dropped 1.4% of devices according to Android Studio: #7602. For reference, Google is only providing security updates for Android 14+, and Android 5 last received a security update in 2018 (source).
There are other reasons that would justify increasing minSdk (see #7602, e.g. slightly reduced maintenance burden), but they would be quite minor, and if it wasn't for Google dropping API 21 support for Jetpack/AndroidX libraries we could have waited some more years without major problems. It is sad to have to drop support for some devices.
For comparison:
Unfortunately we will soon have to bump
minSdkfrom21to23, effectively preventing NewPipe from being installed on Android 5 devices. The main reason for this is that Google's Jetpack/AndroidX libraries, which are fundamental to any Android project, have been requiring API 23 since June 2025. For roughly one year we decided to just not update those libraries, but this stance is increasingly problematic as old library versions miss important fixes and useful features.The statistics on how many users are still using Android 5 devices seem to have changed a bit in recent times. But if the latest statistics are correct, we would have to drop
<1%of devices.(image from apilevels.com
but with data from
Statcounter Nov 2025)
More than 4 years passed since we had to bump
minSdkfrom 19 (Android 4.4) to 21 (Android 5). Back then, we dropped1.4%of devices according to Android Studio: #7602. For reference, Google is only providing security updates for Android 14+, and Android 5 last received a security update in 2018 (source).There are other reasons that would justify increasing
minSdk(see #7602, e.g. slightly reduced maintenance burden), but they would be quite minor, and if it wasn't for Google dropping API 21 support for Jetpack/AndroidX libraries we could have waited some more years without major problems. It is sad to have to drop support for some devices.For comparison: