I don't really agree with the whole "iOS updates are so fast, so I just drop support for older versions, Android developers have to support all versions of Android" thing.
I've released an Android 7.0 only app, and because it's targeted at enthusiasts I never had any issues. Just like the those indie iOS developers. I know that apps like Facebook have to support to support multiple versions of Android because they're not targeting enthusiasts, they're targeting everyone. But guess what, Facebook has to support multiple versions of iOS, because they're targeting everyone too.
However today I received an automated email from apkfiles.com asking me to upload my app to there site, I don't really have a problem with those types of sites so I went to upload it.
Bham I'm hit with an ugly PHP error:
Unknown API Level: 24. The error is from a
library
to parse apk files. It doesn't support apps built with anything newer than "M"
not "Marshmallow"… It hasn't been updated since the Android 6 beta.
This site, that want's to archive all apps doesn't even support apps built for the version of Android, the version that's about to be replaced.
Is it the sites fault? The author of the library seems to have abandoned it, is it his fault? I don't care. The fact that I'm the first person to encounter this issue means those indie iOS devs are right, nobody supports the latest Android APIs. Not even the enthusiasts.