Technical and Background Information About the HESS Apps
WARNING - PLEASE READ: You should never try to use a HESS App or APK downloaded or acquired from ANY source other than www.BetterNurseEducation.com.
APK files can be deceiving and can contain malicious content. The genuine HESS Apps contain no ads or malware and will never ask for
personal information or payment of any kind. The genuine HESS Apps use only Bluetooth BLE Beacons to communicate during operation and require
no cloud connection or cloud credentials/login. Please be careful.
The HESS Apps are developed with a minimum target Android API of 21. This version of Android is commonly called V5.0 or "Lollipop".
However, there are only a few Android Lollipop tablets that use the appropriate Bluetooth BLE support and/or chipset to run the HESS Apps.
So, from Android V5 through Android V7 ("Nougat"), the ability to run the HESS Apps - especially the HESS Instructor App - is
"hit or miss".
Starting with Android Version 8 ("Oreo"), most tablets could run the HESS Apps properly.
Starting with Android Version 10 ("Quince Tart"), Google began to display warnings when installing apps with a target API such
as level 21. The Google Play Store preferred that app developers target newer versions of Android. The challenge that app developers faced
from this was that existing user's tablets could not run the apps anymore if the minimum required API was raised to a higher level to appease
the Google Play Store.
Along the way, the Google Play Store began to exclude apps that were not developed for newer versions of Android. However, app developers could
still provide APK files directly to users - outside of the Google Play Store - that could be installed as apps from "Unknown Sources".
Installation warnings about installing apps targeting older Android versions continued through Android Version 13 ("Tiramisu") - with
installation of the older apps still permitted. However, starting with Android V14 ("Upside Down Cake"), Android began prohibiting
the installation of older apps to try to force developers to target newer versions of Android.
As far as the HESS apps are concerned, the requirement to move to newer Android API levels presented several major challenges:
- Newer API levels would require existing users to acquire new tablets or not be able to use the HESS Apps.
- Newer API levels were generating thousands of development errors as Android development libraries had changed - resulting in a major development
workload to attempt to re-code the HESS Apps.
- Newer API level libraries had deprecated support for key HESS functionality - and not replaced it with new functionality - meaning
the HESS Apps would actually LOSE functionality by targeting the newer Android APIs.
Even with these challenges, The HESS Team continued to refine and enhance the HESS Apps and provide them to be installed as apps from
"Unknown Sources".
While the changes being made to the Android platform were attempts to make apps safer to download from the Google Play Store, the decision
by Google as of Android Version 14 to actually prohibit the installation of older apps - even by the intentional choice of tablet owners themselves
- and even not through the Google Play Store - has made the continued development of the HESS Apps infeasible.
The HESS Team was disappointed by the decisions made by Google regarding discontinued support for installation of older apps and, regrettably, made
the difficult decision to make HESS V4.0 the final release of the HESS Apps.
The HESS Team hopes that the HESS V4.0 release can serve Healthcare Educators into the future as freeware - for as long as some tablets
are available to run the HESS Apps.
