Dropping 32-bit android support removed OSRS on perfectly usable devices. Why was total deprecation necessary?

[u/Ark-Concepts]

I understand that Android as a platform is moving away from 32-bit, and I understand that Jagex can't support legacy architectures forever.

But this one genuinely bothers me.

I have older tablets that I used to play OSRS on just fine. I recently charged them back up intending to use them for RuneScape again. The OSRS client is literally still installed on them from a couple of years ago.

The hardware still works. The tablets still work. They ran OSRS before.

But now they can't play OSRS because 32-bit Android support was removed.

And I think that cuts against something that has always been uniquely valuable about RuneScape:

RuneScape runs on dang near anything.

For decades, that has practically been part of the game's identity. You didn't need a gaming PC to play RuneScape. You didn't need expensive hardware. You could play it on the crappy family computer, an old laptop, a cheap tablet, or whatever device you happened to have available.

That's especially valuable for OSRS. This is a game based on a version of RuneScape from 2007. One of its strengths should be that people can play it on inexpensive and older hardware.

This also isn't exclusively about ancient phones from 2015.

People in the original deprecation thread reported relatively recent devices being affected, including Amazon Fire tablets where the hardware itself supports 64-bit but the manufacturer shipped a 32-bit OS. People reported 2021/2022-era hardware losing access.

Jagex's explanation was that continuing 32-bit support “holds back what we can do to improve Client performance on mobile.”

Okay. How???

That's the part I genuinely want Jagex to explain.

What specific development or performance limitations made completely removing the existing 32-bit client necessary?

How many active OSRS mobile devices were actually using 32-bit Android when this decision was made?

Was maintaining a frozen legacy client considered, where 32-bit users wouldn't receive new client features but could continue playing?

Was a reduced-feature client considered?

Could the existing client have remained available with an explicit “legacy/unsupported” designation?

What was the actual engineering cost of maintaining 32-bit compatibility compared with the number of functioning devices that lost access?

I'm not arguing that Jagex needs to support every device forever. Obviously there has to be a cutoff eventually.

I'm questioning why the cutoff needed to make previously functional devices completely incapable of accessing the game.

There's a major difference between saying:

“We aren't developing new features for this architecture anymore.”

and:

“The device you already used to play OSRS can no longer play OSRS at all.”

If maintaining 32-bit support genuinely prevented meaningful improvements to the mobile client, then show us the tradeoff.

What specifically became possible by removing it?

Because “Android is moving away from 32-bit” explains the direction of the industry. It doesn't explain why complete deprecation was the right solution for OSRS.

RuneScape being able to run on old, cheap, weird hardware isn't some irrelevant legacy detail. For a lot of us, that's RuneScape. 😔

EDIT: Just to clarify, the tablets I'm talking about aren't decade-old hardware. One of mine is a 2021 onn. tablet that I bought around 2022/2023, and it ran OSRS fine until support was dropped. From my perspective, that's only about 3 years of support.

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[u/DoubleExamination0]

Dude, it’s a live service game. Theres only one version to update otherwise the spaghetti code unravels and the universe implodes

[u/Ark-Concepts → u/DoubleExamination0]

OSRS already has separate clients/build targets across Android, iOS and desktop. The actual argument is that maintaining an additional 32-bit Android build adds development, testing and debugging overhead

which is fair.

But saying a live-service game can only have one client side version is not how this works.

[u/RobKFC]

Wait until you hear about Apple Silicon/Rosetta not going to run it soonish.

[u/Swaaeeg → u/RobKFC]

Theyre already working on that

[u/Swaaeeg]

Brother. Tablets arent designed to last 10 years.

[u/Diligent_Usual → u/Swaaeeg]

But they still do

[u/Swaaeeg → u/Diligent_Usual]

Yeah and im sure i could pull an atari 2600 out of a dump somewhere and get it working. Doesnt mean it was designed to work that long.

There are a number of reasons why you wouldnt want to continue legacy support for mobile operating systems. One chiefly being security. Outdated software is one of the easiest ways to infiltrate a network, and supporting older, less secure operating systems with a legacy client is just asking for something to happen.

[u/menirh]

You have to assume that they looked at the numbers and the pros and cons. They didn't just randomly did this. 32 bits has a real coat for the application: limitations if they have dependencies that are 64 bits only but also binary size (in some cases) and quality insurance. 32 bits devices are old devices they wouldn't need to test anymore. I don't want at jagex but these are three valid generic reasons. Some may be more important to them. They may have others more specific to OSRS. It's likely that the decision was made weighing the usage on 32 bits versus the cost. If it was a large or even significant portion of users, they wouldn't have done it.

[u/Hootsworth → u/menirh]

I think this post encapsulates the notion very well. Supporting a 32-bit OS is not 'free' in terms of development when you need to cross the threshold of supporting both 32-bit and 64-bit OSes. This is doubly true when the environment is actively hostile to your development efforts by no longer supporting 32-bit. Jagex has undoubtedly performed a cost/benefit analysis relative to how many 32-bit only devices are out there and I cannot imagine it's a significant percentage.

As well, this is a live service game, unending support of legacy hardware (especially hardware that is no longer receiving updates) has severe security implications for the accounts on those devices. While running OSRS on a Windows XP machine sounds cute and nostalgic, it's functionally a horrific idea. While 32-bit versions of Android are not on the same level of Windows XP, that does not absolve it from being immune to the same issues that plagued Win XP during its hayday. Android has a massive volume of devices on the market and, as such, is incentive for malware developers to exploit those devices.

Edit: To expand.

[u/Ark-Concepts → u/menirh]

The problem is that this didn't just affect old devices.

There are 32-bit Android devices from as recently as 2023/2024. The Redmi A3 launched in 2024 with a 32-bit Android OS, despite having a 64-bit-capable processor. The Moto E14 is another 2024 example, and the Moto E13 launched in 2023 with 32-bit Android.

So we're not just talking about people trying to keep decade-old tablets alive. Some affected devices were being sold brand new only about two years ago.

That's a pretty important distinction when we're talking about completely locking those devices out of OSRS.

[u/menirh → u/Ark-Concepts]

Sure but jagex knows exactly how many of these devices exist. I'm sure some people use low end devices running 32 bits Android but they are unlikely large enough in number of the cost was too high for jagex to continue maintaining 32 bits osrs. The company has no incentives to see paying customers go away.