Waze is going to soon cut off access to new app updates for older Android devices, as a new update is raising the requirements.
The latest Waze for Android beta updates are getting ready to cut off access to future features for anyone using older Android devices. That’s because Waze v5.9.90 and higher now requires Android 10 or higher, as opposed to the Android 8.0 or higher required by the existing stable update.
Waze has yet to actually roll out any of these higher requirement to the general public, but some beta users have already noted that a pop-up in Waze beta versions now explains that support for Android 9.0 has ended. While the full text of that notice was not shared, it apparently notes that Waze users on older versions will still be able to use the app, they just won’t get new app updates or new features going forward.
This also means that, eventually, the app will stop working altogether, though it’s hard to say how long that will take.
Waze will likely start rolling out this change to non-beta users any day now, as it usually takes about a week or two for a beta version to make its way to stable, give or take, and APKMirror copies of the app show that this change has been floating around now since the end of July, but the Play Store isn’t showing the change on stable releases. As Android Authority notes, Google Maps still supports Android 8.0 or higher.
As of earlier this year, just 5.8% of Android devices were running on Android 9.0 or older.
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