9to5Google Log Out: Android versioning on an infinite timescale

Abner Li | Apr 14 2023 - 12:05 pm PT

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Who are version numbers for? At a high level, I’d say they serve three audiences: the OS maker, third-party developers, and end users.

In the case of Android (taking the current release as an example), there are several version numbers. The platform version codename is T or Tiramisu, while app developers care more about the API level (33). For end users (and OEMs, carriers, and other partners), it’s Android 13.

Android 14 is coming this year, and we’ll reach version 20 before decade’s end. Between Android and iOS (as well as macOS, watchOS, etc.), a big annual software update for your device is more or less an ingrained expectation.

An OS getting to version 20 feels unrelatable from a brand perspective as it becomes harder and harder to associate any particular set of features with a particular release.

For some historical precedent, Apple kept the Mac at major version 10 until 10.15. It decided to go to 11.x in 2020 and is currently on macOS 13, just like Android, but Apple in public copy just associates the OS with the name of cities in California.

Speaking of high numbers, you have Chrome and ChromeOS at the other end of this debate with version 112 and a milestone jump every four weeks. In the case of the browser and operating system, version numbers are effectively meaningless since the vast majority of user-facing features don’t coincide with a monthly release and Google launches them via server-side rollouts.

Comparatively, I much prefer Android’s approach where the annual release is always guaranteed to come with major features. Big annual releases are the right increment for end users getting used to the new features on their phones and for app developers having to support new capabilities, as well as OEMs having to update devices.

If yearly is the set increment, what are the branding alternatives for Android?

The current year: Android 2023? There’s some precedent from Samsung with the Galaxy S series. It’s something that people already know and is easy to remember (well, maybe not in January or February).
Cities: Google likes to pride Android on being a global OS. Keeping the version number but appending a city name has the same fun and enables community guesses, like Android dessert names used to provide.
Major.minor versioning: Instead of jumping a major version number every year, Google could conserve by using minor versions when the release is thematically similar. Changes to the UI (or other system architecture) could be used to make that determination.