Android P will prohibit developers from using Undocumented/Hidden APIs

Ddos January 18, 2018 2 minutes read

According to the XDA developer forum, a recent submission to the Open Desktop Project (AOSP) found that Android 9.0 may limit applications from accessing unregistered APIs in the Android SDK. First to explain what is called API (Application Programming Interface, application programming interface), give a simple example, such as Weibo public API, developers can be based on these APIs to get the Weibo data, and then develop a third-party Microblogging client, developers only need to call these interfaces directly from the program on it, without having to think about how to achieve this function.

This is something very useful for developers, and the Android Software Development Kit (SDK) gives developers the API libraries and tools they need to test and build new Android applications, and with each and every Android The new version has a series of new APIs for developers to use through the Android SDK.

However, this development kit is managed by Google and not all APIs are submitted to Google. Many of the useful APIs are either unauthenticated or hidden and now there are many forums or forums for game lovers Personalized software developed using these APIs. But with the Android 9.0 update, Google may have completely banned access to hidden APIs.

The most obvious change in the trend is that in the future, Android may reduce the accessibility of much third-party software developed by third-party developers, such as ad plugins, keymaps, sign-in assistants, etc. In fact, Google last November Start cleaning up this type of software for the Play Store.

Indeed, many people use this API for malware that is virus-laden, but most applications that do not have a certified API are benign and are platforms for Android developers to showcase their ideas and promote Android systems. Like the early state Bar immersion plugin, and now has been integrated into the Android phone factory system.

Android’s openness is a double-edged sword and we understand that Google may lock access to all the hidden APIs in Android P to protect users from junk applications that abuse these APIs. However, to limit the openness of Android, therefore, Google still need to measure it? A developer at the XDA Forum bluntly said that Android is now more and more like the second iOS.

Source: xda-developers