Version 6.5.2 (April 2024)
- 28 Oct 2024
- 3 Minutes to read
- DarkLight
Version 6.5.2 (April 2024)
- Updated on 28 Oct 2024
- 3 Minutes to read
- DarkLight
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Supported platform versions
App Shielding version 6.5.2 was successfully tested with Android 14.
Android 5.0 (API level 21) – Android 14 (API level 34).
Shielding Tool:
Windows 10: 64-bit Java 17
Mac OSX (10.9+)
Ubuntu Linux 20.04 LTS or 22.04 LTS
The App Shielding Gradle plugin version 2.0 and later is supported.
The App Shielding Gradle plugin 2.0 supports Android App Bundles and newer Android build versions.
The plugin and documentation can be downloaded from:
Android platform updates
The Android minimum supported version is 5.0 (API level 21). This version of App Shielding supports Android 14.
As of March 1, 2024, App Shielding for Android version 4.3.11.78273 and earlier are no longer supported. For more information, refer to the OneSpan Customer Portal at https://cp.onespan.com/.
Deprecations
Platform minimum supported versions
Android 4.4 (API levels 19 and 20) are no longer supported by App Shielding. The new minimum supported version is Android Lollipop 5.0 (API level 21).
Android Native Development Kit (NDK)
Google has announced that Android Native Development Kit (NDK) (r26) will no longer support KitKat (API levels 19 and 20). The minimum version supported by the NDK for r26 will be Lollipop (API level 21).
App Shielding switches to NDK r26 after its release as LTS version.
Fixes and other changes
SHAND-4015: Shielding Tool keeps ProGuard mapping numbers
Description: When protecting the app, the Shielding Tool calculates a new ProGuard mapping file which contains both the obfuscation from ProGuard/R8 and the obfuscation from the Shielding Tool. The input ProGuard/R8 mapping file might include line number information about methods that have been inlined by ProGuard/R8. Previously, the Shielding Tool removed any information about such inline methods and their line numbers.
Status: This issue has been fixed. The Shielding Tool now keeps that information in the output mapping.
SHAND-4182: Improved repackaging detection
Description: App Shielding now has an improved repackaging detection.
SHAND-4186: Shielded app showed blank screen
Description: In specific scenarios, a shielded app showed a blank screen. This was caused by the App Shielding runtime performance improvements implemented in versions 6.5.0 and 6.5.1. These improvements moved some screenshot blocking to a background thread. However, some Android versions require some of the work to be done on the UI thread.
Status: This issue has been fixed.
The default configuration in App Shielding is to block screenshots.
SHAND-4192: Shielded app did not block untrusted screen reader application
Description: In specific scenarios, a shielded app did not block an untrusted screen reader application. This was caused by the App Shielding runtime performance improvements implemented in version 6.5.1. These improvements moved some screen reader protection to a background thread. However, some Android versions require some of the work to be done on the UI thread.
Status: This issue has been fixed.
The default configuration in App Shielding is to block untrusted screen readers.
Known limitations
The limitations described here have not yet been solved for the current Mobile Application Shielding version. Possible workarounds are described where available.
Magisk and root hider tools on new Android versions
Root hider tools such as Magisk Hide are designed to hide the fact that the device is compromised (rooted). Android has been increasingly restricted in what can be inspected and observed of the system from inside an app. This means that a rooted system with a root hider tool can be hard to detect due to missing privileges.
On Android 8+, App Shielding may not able to reliably detect a rooted device with Magisk Hide depending on the version of these tools.
New Android version with 16k page size
Google announced that Android is moving from a 4KB page size to a 16KB page size in Android15. 16KB page hardware will be available in the market in the future, as well. The current version of App Shielding does not yet run on the new Android 15 images with a 16KB page size, but OneSpan is working on updating the App Shielding native libraries to no longer assume that the page size is 4K.
Android App Bundles
The OneSpan Customer Portal support for Android App Bundles does not yet include instant-enabled app bundles.
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