Lower Android version requirements

[noseshimself]

Don't ask me why but after reinstallation of ChromeOS on my ChromeBook neither version 106 (stable) nor 108 (devel) permit me to reinstall the Nebula Android application. I'm suddenly getting a refusal reasoned "this application is incompatible with your device" yet I know I had it already running on this system.

This usually means that the application has not been compiled for the target CPU (in my case x64), needs a higher version API or installation on non-phones has been forbidden. As it has been working before there must have been a change within the last 18 days that is excluding Android (Intel) now.

Please recompile for Android 9 on 64bit Intel CPU without any restrictions to devices.

[nbrownus]

Who is the manufacturer and what model is the chromebook?

[noseshimself]

Lenovo Thinkpad C13 Yoga

The Thinkpads are still on Android 9 (it's a bit unclear who is deciding which platforms will be upgraded to Android 11 at which point -- and whether that will be before they are rolling out Android as VM-based subsystem next century).

About 75% of the ChromeOS devices are still on ARC+ with Android 9; a number of them will be updated to Android 11 with ChromeOS 108 (not the Thinkpad C13; I have one running the developer branch) but I had serious problems with ChromeOS being unable to distinguish between multiple Linux containers so I returned to the stable branch and will have to wait even longer.

To explain the request a bit better: Side loading Android apps on ChromeOS is a major pain that will break a lot of the security model (it's a trade-off for being able to do things like route the entire network traffic through an Android app) so I'm limited to Ziti or Nebula if I want to be able to use stock company android devices. After trying both we decided to invest our time in Nebula.

[noseshimself]

It would really be nice to push a fast update with lowered API version requirements into the Google Play Store; side loading APKs on ChromeOS has a severe penalty (complete reinstallation) and several users are without any mesh connection for a week now. The alternative would be immediate replacement of the entire mesh...

I have read and understood https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/11926878 ("Target API level requirements for Google Play apps") which requires apps to increase API level to 30

Starting November 1, 2022 if your app doesn’t target API level 30 or above, new users with newer Android OS versions won't be able to discover or install your app on Google Play. You can request an extension if you need more time to update your app. Check your Play Console Inbox Messages for links to each of your app’s extension forms.

but that doesn't mean that you can't set minSdkVersion to the lowest version you're able to support:

Configuring your app to target a recent API level ensures that users benefit from security, privacy, and performance improvements, while still allowing an app to run on older Android versions (down to the specified minSdkVersion).

"Make it so."

[noseshimself]

   minSdkVersion 23 //flutter.minSdkVersion
   targetSdkVersion 31 //flutter.targetSdkVersion

Great. targetSdkVersion 31 will solve my second problem: Getting it as soon as it is pushed to the Play Store because that's a requirement for delivery to current Android versions after 20221101.

Thanks!

[noseshimself]

Would you mind building a new release at least for the Google Play Store and pushing it there?

[nbrownus]

I have submitted build 59 v0.1.1 to the production track. This should resolve your issues with ChromeOS.

[nbrownus]

The new build should be live now, if it does not fix your ChromeOS issues, please re-open. Thanks for reporting!

[noseshimself]

Arrived in the Play Store today. Working.