Google Chrome to End Support for Android Jelly Bean

Google Chrome is set to say goodbye to Android Jelly Bean that was released in November 2012. A commit with a "work in progress" tag has divulged the move. However, it is unclear that when Google will formally stop pushing Chrome updates for devices running Android Jelly Bean. The search giant earlier this year ended Android Jelly Bean support for the Google Duo video chat app. Nevertheless, the Jelly Bean platform that includes Android 4.1, 4.2, and 4.3 presently comprises 3.2 percent of the total Android market, as specified in the recent Android distribution statistics.

The commit posted on the Chromium Gerrit site by a Google engineer confirms that the Chrome browser will end support for Android Jelly Bean devices. "Update UI for unsupported Android OS and make Jelly Bean unsupported," the commit reads. There will be a new message and a warning icon in the About Chrome section to warn users when they are using the Chrome browser on the unsupported Android version.

Notably, the commit doesn't confirm any specific timeline, though it certainly means that once the new change will take place, Android KitKat will become the oldest version supported by Google Chrome. The commit was spotted by folks at XDA Developers.

The removal of support for Android Jelly Bean is quite understandable as the Android version has a small percentage of users among other Android versions. However, while Google Chrome is set to leave Android Jelly Bean, Mozilla's Firefox still supports versions as old as Android 4.1. However, considering the latest move by the search giant, Mozilla could soon follow the footsteps and bring Android KitKat as the lowest version supported for the Firefox browser.