Version 9.6.3353 not compatible with Android 8.1.0

Update:

Your issue has been escalated to our development team with the above reference number. Issues are prioritised based on severity and customer impact. We will discuss your case with development and provide preliminary analysis and next steps by latest end of next week.

Sounds like it's getting somewhere now. Thanks for the update! Greatly appreciated.

@mite3cybersec, do we have any news by any chance? Shweta, perhaps you could help with putting in some pressure with your development team regarding this matter?

No real progress. I got a message back that the problem has likely to due with a X86 processor architecture. I replied that I have ARM 32-bit.

And I also received evasive behavior of Sophos Support, stating that I should contact Google (because Play Store is wrong...). I replied to that that I cannot go to Google, as I do not have support there. In addition, any fix needs to applied by Sophos anyway.

So, no progress and back to square one I guess.

Let's wait and see....

I am horrified (if not just deeply shocked) with what you said, and I quote:

"...I also received evasive behavior of Sophos Support, stating that I should contact Google..."

As you have said before, your ticket stayed open because you are an authorized partner. But despite the fact, they tried to...blame it on Google? I mean, really? That's an awful treatment of an authorized partner, not to mention a lame excuse. Come on, Sophos, you have to do better than that. I've heard of stories where Dell's call center people immediately blame the antivirus program installed on their customer's computer when something doesn't work, and this evasive behavior you mentioned is not very different from that story.

I did some search on the internet. The Android security bulletin shows the updated AOSP versions still include 8.0 and 8.1, so Oreo is still supported. At the time of this writing, I am unable to find the other material I previously read, but what I recall is that this problem may occur if the app developer published an update at a higher API level. Developers may be interested in doing that if they want to publish app features that will not work in lower API levels. I'm no programmer but I think that pretty much translates to "they raised the minimum required operating system version", so older versions end up becoming incompatible.

What doesn't make sense though is that how come Google still releases updates for its apps under Oreo while Sophos appears to just have dropped it? I just updated Files by Google and Carrier Services yesterday. Upon checking right now, Google Go has an update available and waiting for me to install. I also use other non-Google apps like Firefox Lite and Signal Private Messenger, both of which I was also able to update yesterday. So the question for Sophos still stands: what's going on?

Shweta, perhaps you could relay this to your development team? It's very disturbing, especially the kind of behavior witnessed first hand by an authorized partner who is also experiencing the same problem. If Google still makes app updates available to Oreo users, I think it makes sense that you do the same. To the very least, continue to publish updates for Oreo until around the end of the year, which should mark it's third year from date of first release.

Same here!  Lenovo-7" tablet.

Response from Sophos:

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After I discussed the topic with the developers again the affected devices are using Android Go which is not supported since the latest Version.

This is also the release notes to the latest Intercept X for mobile Version for Android : .

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I personally feel sad that this is not mentioned in their Play Store listing for instance. That being said, even more sad that Sophos does not care about customers who have Android Go.

Well, look for a competitor who cares I guess.

In the meantime, I tested the latest APK by downloading it through APK mirror, and the app works perfectly fine om the tablet.

Strange...

Strange indeed. Well, considering that the APK worked on Android Go despite what they officially said on the release notes, I guess that indirectly answers the evasive behavior you experienced previously: they probably don't know what's going on with their own product.

Since quoting the release notes is their proposed solution to your ticket, I guess we have no choice but to stick with that. I agree that they should have mentioned it in their Play Store listing. I mean, how hard is it to include "Sophos no longer cares about Android Go edition users" in the What's New header, right? Anyone can type that in less than 60 seconds before hitting the Publish button. And doing so would have saved them a support ticket because everybody would immediately see the answer. Besides, there's still a market out there for small screen and/or low specs devices, and the default of manufacturers for those devices would be to port Go edition, so supporting it should still make sense.

I don't know what's going on with Sophos these days. First they took away the free edition of their Antivirus for Linux as of July 2, and now this.

I was aiming for Nokia 1 as a replacement because of Nokia's reputation for fast Android updates and that model is the only small screen unit they have. But even if I replace my phone with that by the end of the year, I couldn't use Sophos anymore thanks to their new direction. In case anyone at Sophos is reading this, there are people out there who neither likes nor does have a need for devices with oversized screens because small and compact is just what they need. I mean, you are obviously a business user (and a paying customer for that matter) and yet you use a 7-inch tablet. Google created Android Go for such devices, so I really don't see the rationale for Sophos' direction on this.

Apologies if I had to vent out for one last time. This is just awful and ridiculous. But anyway, I'll take your suggested answer: look for a competitor who cares. I better get started with comparing other options in the market now.

Thanks for all your help, Joram.