It’s wonderful how easy it is for us to manage our finances today. We constantly have the ability to send and receive money almost immediately and all thanks to banks’ mobile apps. However, this has become a double-edged sword and that is why this possibility is currently being talked about Banks will restrict their apps on outdated Android phones.
The reason is very simple and before you get scared and run to the store to spend money on a cell phone of the year, wait a little while we explain something more about this topic. This is just one option that Google offers to many banksbut it’s a little more complicated than it seems at first glance, so let us develop this news a little more in depth.
Play Integrity, Google’s weapon to fight fraud and security breaches
Android phones have an API, which is a function called Play integritywhich is a Google tool designed to detect suspicious activity on a mobile phone and thus prevent any kind of fraud or bot abuse. That is, this API is directly linked to improving 80% of the security-related functions of the device.
The problem is that to have full access to this API, your device must have at least one version of Android 13. In other words, older cell phones will not be able to enjoy the same level of security and will therefore be more vulnerable to cyber attacks and security errors.
Google offers the possibility of limiting some functions of banking apps to old cell phones
With the help of the APIs we talked about earlier, apps can know which security update a mobile phone has and thus decide which functions will be allowed for that particular device. Google’s proposal is this Apps that handle the most sensitive information are the ones that perform this practicei.e. banking, finance, business or government apps.
This new feature will be available in May 2025 and the plan is to be able to protect, with multiple levels of security, important information and prevent it from falling into the hands of any malicious agent who wants to take advantage of other users. However, this is not as simple as Google wants to make it seem, because there are many other factors at play.
Many banks will likely decide not to follow Google’s advice
While the idea sounds great on paper and the intentions are pretty good, the truth is this The interest of banks is that many people can use their services online. If they started limiting major usage of their apps to older cell phones, it’s very likely that they would lose a lot of business – in other words, it would be a waste of money and users.
Considering that the vast majority of people in the world do not own the most up-to-date cell phones, It is logical to assume that banks will not want to risk limiting the use of their applications. The truth is that this is a rather controversial issue and part of the blame also falls on Android, which insists on fragmenting its operating system and continues to release new versions, as with the Developer Preview of Android 16, when the public has not still used to it. still Android 15.
Only time will tell what role these new features will have in the use of banking apps, for now we just have to wait. For now we say goodbye, everything is over with our news Banks will restrict their apps on outdated Android phones. If you have any questions, please let us know in the comments section and we will be happy to help you.
