Google has kept it going for seven years, but the company has announced it’s time to allow Android Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) to thaw out.
Ice Cream Sandwich (v4.0) was initially released in October 2011 and now has a small number of users.
In a blog post, Google wrote:
“The Android Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) platform is seven years old and the active device count has been below 1 percent for some time.
Consequently, we are deprecating support for ICS in future releases of Google Play services.
For devices running ICS, the Google Play Store will no longer update Play Services APK beyond version 14.7.99.”
Of the over two billion active Android users, those running ICS only represent 0.3 percent according to Google’s latest distribution information as of October 26th, 2018.
The most popular Android version, for reference, is Marshmallow (v6.0) with a 21.3 percent share.
Developers are now required to ensure their apps target a minimum API level of 16 for their apps. Those which target under the new minimum level will encounter build errors.
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