Google Stops Supporting Android 5 Lollipop with Play Services after Ten Years

Ten years after launch, Google is stopping the Google Play Services update for Android 5 devices, according to 9to5Google. Known by another name, Android Lollipop, the release of this version occurred in 2014. Google stopped providing official Android upgrades five years ago. Officially, Play Services updates for Android 5.0 and 5.1 APIs are currently being discontinued.

The backend service that enables many first-party features, like backup and two-factor authentication, as well as additional functionality for app developers, is Google Play Service updates for Android OS. Devices running this Android version "won't receive any new features, important security updates, and may not be compatible with some apps" as a result of Google discontinuing Play Services upgrades for Lollipop.

Currently, this 10-year-old version is used by roughly 1% of Android smartphones. In July of last year, Google stopped supporting Android 4.4 KitKat with Play services.

According to a Google representative, "Since Android Lollipop's first release in November 2014—nearly ten years ago—we've added several cutting-edge enhancements and capabilities for Android that aren't accessible on Lollipop. As less than 1% of Android devices are still in use, we are now stopping Google Play Services updates for Android Lollipop devices. Although they won't get any significant security upgrades or new features, Lollipop devices will still work and might not work with all apps. In order to take advantage of the newest features and security improvements, we highly advise customers to update to newer Android versions.”