Mobile Foundation compatibility for Android Q Beta version

Google has announced the next version of Android, which is Android Q. The developer preview of Android Q was launched in March 2019 and has been available for a while now for testing, development, and feedback. Android Q introduces a variety of new features and capabilities for end users, which gives security enhancements (such as improved biometric authentication dialogs, improved fallback support for device credentials), TLS 1.3 support, connectivity, system-wide dark mode, permissions usage, built-in screen record features and many more.

We have been testing the developer previews of Android Q Beta 2. We have verified various features of Mobile Foundation on the developer previews of Android Q for Mobile Foundation. v7.1 and v8.0.

Mobile Foundation Support for Android Q(Beta 2)

This post provides details about Android Q support in Mobile Foundation v7.1 and v8.0, and the steps that developers and IT administrators might need to take.

Here are some notable feature compatibility tests that were performed using Android Q with Mobile Foundation v7.1 and v8.0.

Mobile Foundation v8.0:

  • Invoking backend procedures through adapters
  • Application Authenticity
  • Application management
  • JSONStore
  • Direct Update
  • Oauth Flow
  • Certificate pinning
  • Device SSO
  • Analytics
  • Push Notifications

Mobile Foundation v7.1:

  • Adapter Integration
  • Direct Update
  • Application Management
  • Application Authenticity
  • Certificate Pinning
  • JSONStore
  • Authorization Flow
  • Analytics

Existing applications

Our tests have also ensured that native Android and hybrid/Cordova apps built on older versions of Android work on the developer previews of Android Q. We have also ensured the integrity of apps on devices that upgrade from Android P to Android Q.

Known Issues

After upgrading to Android Q if the targetSdkVersion is set to API Level ‘Q’, the application will crash by throwing an exception java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError:failed resolution of :Lorg/apache/http/ProtocolVersion, which is an Android bug, find the issue tracker here. The applications that are built using MobileFirst 7.1 version are affected by this. You should be able to workaround this issue by adding this line to your AndroidManifest.xml under <application> tag.

  <uses-library android:name="org.apache.http.legacy" android:required="false"/>

We encourage you to start testing your applications with the developer previews of Android Q. We would love to hear back from you.

Watch this post for more updates, as we continue to update our findings on the future developer previews of Android Q.

Inclusive terminology note: The Mobile First Platform team is making changes to support the IBM® initiative to replace racially biased and other discriminatory language in our code and content with more inclusive language. While IBM values the use of inclusive language, terms that are outside of IBM's direct influence are sometimes required for the sake of maintaining user understanding. As other industry leaders join IBM in embracing the use of inclusive language, IBM will continue to update the documentation to reflect those changes.
Last modified on May 15, 2019