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Popular Navigation App Gives Up on Old Android, Upgrades Now Mandatory

Sygic has recently released a very important announcement for users of its truck navigation software, as the company prepares to drop support for an old Android operating system version.
Sygic Truck Navigation 9 photos
Photo: Google Play Store
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In other words, users would be required to upgrade their devices to a newer Android version to continue to receive support for Sygic Truck Navigation.

The change is scheduled to take place on September 30 this year, so beginning with October 1, users whose devices run Android 4.x wouldn’t receive any new updates.

Sygic explains this change is needed to deprecate old security standards, so its GPS navigation app for trucks and fleets would make Android 5 the oldest supported version of Google’s mobile operating system.

Without a doubt, this upgrade makes perfect sense, and it’s not just Sygic doing it, as the entire software industry regularly updates the minimum requirements just to make sure their products embrace the latest technology and offer improved compatibility and security.

The good news, however, is that not a lot of Android 4.x devices are still in use today, so theoretically, only a few users would be impacted by this decision.

On the other hand, the bad news is that some super-old devices, some of which are specifically used for navigation, may not support newer versions of Android, in which case buying a new model is the only way to go.

Android 4.0, also known as Ice Cream Sandwich, was released in October 2011, so it’s nearly 10 years old. The first major update landed in July 2012 as Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, while Android 4.2 got to see daylight in November of the same year. Android 4.3 received the green light for the production rollout in July 2014, while Android 4.4, codenamed KitKat, reached the first stable devices in late October 2013.

Android 4.4 KitKat eventually became one of the most popular versions of the operating system.
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About the author: Bogdan Popa
Bogdan Popa profile photo

Bogdan keeps an eye on how technology is taking over the car world. His long-term goals are buying an 18-wheeler because he needs more space for his kid’s toys, and convincing Google and Apple that Android Auto and CarPlay deserve at least as much attention as their phones.
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