Google might drop Chrome support for Android Jelly Bean devices

Google might soon drop the support for Chrome on the devices that are running on the Android Jelly Bean platform. The information comes from a commit spotted in the code of Chrome. The commit suggests that going forward Chrome will not receive any updates on the devices that are currently running on Android Jelly Bean OS v4.1, v4.1 and v4.3 and older.

The maximum API level that will be required to run Chrome on Android devices will soon be bumped to Android 4.4 KitKat, meaning, the Chrome browser will not be in line to receive the updates. The versions older than the Jelly Bean will also not receive the updates. The commit also reads that 'By default, only Android KitKat and above is supported'.

The Jelly Bean OS was introduced by Google around six years ago which makes it a bit dated and that is the primary reason that Google has decided not to roll out further updates for the same. This will make accessing Chrome less secure on these platforms. Considering that a huge a base of users might have already updated to higher versions of Android the usage ratio on the devices running on Android Jelly Bean or older is fairly low.

If go as per the new Android Distribution Report for the month of September then all the three build versions of the Android Jelly Bean OS accounts for a total of 3.3 percent which is fairly low. This also included the users who visited the Play Store to download an app. However, no matter how low this percentage sounds there are still around a million smartphones which are running on Android Jelly Bean. Therefore this decision by Google will impact a vast majority of the users.

To recall, Google has also recently introduced a new feature for its voice-based digital assistant which will allow the users to book the cheapest cab for any desired destination. Upon firing up the Google Assistant and giving a voice command that "Hey Google! Book a ride to (destination name) the users will be presented with a list which will show all the information on the fares cabs and the estimated arrival of the cabs.