Hello Passbolt Community! We’re planning to phase out support for Android 10 (API level 29) in an upcoming release of the Passbolt Android app.
Why this change?
Android 10 reached the end of its official security support lifecycle in February 2023, when Google shipped the last scheduled security patch for that platform version.
Since then, any vulnerabilities discovered in the operating system - including ones that are still unknown today - no longer receive fixes at the OS level. Continuing to ship Passbolt on Android 10 would place responsibility for these platform-level security issues on us as the app developer, even though many of them involve low-level system components that cannot be mitigated reliably from the application layer.
For a password manager, that is a trade-off we are not comfortable making, and it is the main driver behind this decision.
On top of the security angle, maintaining compatibility forces us to carry conditional code paths and workarounds for behaviors that Google has since fixed in newer Android versions. This slows down development and limits what we can deliver to the rest of the user base.
You can review the Android version support timeline in Google’s official bulletin
Who is affected?
This change primarily affects devices that shipped with Android 10 and cannot be upgraded to a newer version - typically devices released around 2019-2020 that never received a major OS update from their manufacturer. Most mid-range and flagship devices from that period have already been upgraded to Android 11 or newer and will not be impacted.
Based on our recent data from the Google Play Console, approximately 1.69% of app installs are currently on Android 10. We recognize that some users, particularly those in high-security environments, may opt out of data sharing, so the actual number may be slightly higher.
Maintenance of current app functionality
Ending support for Android 10 does not immediately disable the application on these devices.
Continued Access: The last version of Passbolt that supports Android 10 and is already installed, will remain usable on these devices.
Server Compatibility: This version will continue to work with Passbolt servers as long as no breaking changes are introduced on the API or server side.
Future Updates: After the phase-out, Android 10 devices will no longer receive application updates. The last Android 10-compatible build may also stop working in the future if any breaking changes are introduced.
Next Steps and Timeline
We are sharing this plan in advance so we can collect feedback from anyone who may be affected. No exact date has been set yet, but the change will be included in one of the upcoming releases. Until then, we are using this time to listen to the community.
If your organization has policies, compliance requirements, or device-fleet constraints that could make this transition difficult, please share your thoughts and concerns in this thread - we want to hear from you before finalizing the timeline.