And 57% of our demographics are on 5.0 or newer, with 19+ covering over 80% of users actually using the app.
Perhaps updating your app to the 5.x standard will actually make those users use it instead of running away to other Material apps ;)
Perhaps updating your app to the 5.x standard will actually make those users use it instead of running away to other Material apps ;)
You must have a very unusual user base! We have 11.6% using 5.0 or newer, and apps in our category (Communications) have average of 16% using 5.0+. Our largest user base is for 4.4, at 49%.
Luckily, Android has a great compatibility library so you can still use many of the new features.
This allows you to use the newer features, but also include fallback layouts for lower SDK versions.
EDIT: Yeah, looks like I was mostly right: minSdkVersion and targetSdVersion. https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/manifest/uses-sdk...
That's how they manage to capture a large percentage of the few users who have the latest version of Android. That's how the app builds a strong brand for the "new stuff", and then can usually maintain that brand as all devices start being replaced by devices that support those APIs.
Other time, they don't improve that much on their app, and someone else comes from behind and makes a better alternative with the new APIs, though.