14 DAY TRIAL // The update process for the mobile variant of the Chrome web browser will be interrupted for the Android Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0) operating system when the product reaches version 43; this includes security patches, which sometimes are delivered for a while longer.
The decision has been made because the number of devices running ICS has decreased by 30% over the past year, making it too costly and challenging for Google to develop new features that would work on the old OS version.
Development for Chrome for Android freezes at build 42
According to statistics from Google, ICS runs on 5.9% Android devices (about one billion) and has a user base smaller even than that of Gingerbread (Android 2.3).
Instead of spending time ironing out quirks popping up on older platforms, Google can focus on improving the experience for the newer versions of the mobile operating system.
The developer has made it clear that Chrome 42, scheduled for release in mid-April, will be the last supported build of the web browser on ICS.
“We will continue to issue patches while Chrome 42 is the most recent Chrome version. Once Chrome 43 is released, we don’t plan to issue further updates for ICS devices,” Google explains on a FAQ page for ICS support deprecation.
This does not mean that the browser becomes non-functional when the development cycle stops. It can still be used, but should security or performance issues occur, they will not be fixed.
Users who want the updates for the next browser releases can upgrade to Jelly Bean (4.1), Kitkat (4.4) or Lollipop (5.0) by the end of May, when Chrome 43 is expected to appear.
Firefox is an attractive alternative at the moment
Those who are not willing to upgrade to a newer operating system version but still want to maintain the security standard have the option to use Firefox for browsing activity.
Given the discovery of the FREAK attack that downgrades the SSL/TLS cipher suites in OpenSSL (available in Chrome) to use a breakable RSA key, choosing Mozilla’s browsing solution, which works on Android 2.3 and up over Google’s would be a better idea at the moment.
Firefox integrates NSS (Network Security Services), Mozilla’s cryptographic libraries for providing encrypted communication between a client and a server, which is not affected by FREAK.