Android x64 release is problematic

[Amethysts]

Hello !

I have some problems with the Android deployment of my game Coalescence. When I use Ren'Py 's Android builder, it creates 3 different APK files, with 3 problems.
In April I released a version of my game (with the "armeabi" file) and it was available on 6,500 differents devices.

Now :

• com.coal-20-armeabi-v7a-release.apk -> not possible to upload this version due to the x48 "ban"
• com.coal-100000020-arm64-v8a-release.apk -> available on 1,500 device types only (only the recent smartphones I think)
• com.coal-800000020-x86_64-release.apk -> available on 15 device types only (ridiculous)

This reduces considerably the range on my potential players !!!

Is the Play Store not cool or did I do something wrong ? (I admit I'm a little lost with Android environment)

Thank you

[Imperf3kt]

From what I recall, Google requires the API target is aimed at API level 28 and 64bit compatible.
When PyTom implemented this required change, he also shifted the min API to level 19 I believe, meaning devices older than Android 4.4 are no longer compatible.

I personally don't think this is a problem really, last I looked the Play store reported one of my apps as compatible with almost 14,000 devices. That was three years ago. I can't even find that information now, but imagine the number of people still using Android 4.3 or lower is exceedingly small (I was forced to update my Android 4.4 phone nearly a year ago because it quite literally died due to the onboard ROM corrupting after reaching EOL) and those who are will soon be forced to update their phones anyway as the Play store will soon be updated to a state where such old devices won't be supported anyway.

[trajano]

@Imperf3kt you'd think that self-destructing phones would be a cause of a lawsuit considering they're already sued apple for slowing down phones as they go older.

[rames44]

Google publishes the distribution of Android versions at https://developer.android.com/about/dashboards

This is based on stats of phones hitting Google Play.

@Imperf3kt is correct - the percentage of phones below 4.4 totals only something like 3% of the base, and about 90% are at 5.0 or above. Note that using “models” as your stat is misleading - there are a few models that are wildly popular (think “Samsung”), and many that are so-so. My own sense is that looking at percentage of users (which is pretty much what the dashboard gives you) is more meaningful.

[Imperf3kt]

@Imperf3kt you'd think that self-destructing phones would be a cause of a lawsuit considering they're already sued apple for slowing down phones as they go older.

It's not self destruction I was referring to by EOL.
I meant that the onboard flash has a limited use - it eventually cannot read/write any more data, this is normal and all media eventually succumbs to it. It's not some conspiracy or corrupt company trying to vendor lock you.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_memory

[trajano]

Considering I still have a working iPhone 3GS just for my son to play some small games, but my wife's Note 2 died 1 month after the warranty ran out, I think much less of Android devices compared to [[Steve Jobs-era]] phones . BTW not making the same claim of quality for the [not-Steve Jobs] products.

However, based on what you said it would explain why I have 3 dead Samsung tablets now and a busted Galaxy Nexus (the Samsung-Google collab a while back). While my mom still uses her iPad 2.