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Seems that it’s happening on many different phones. If you go over and read through the threads on the Airbnb Community forum, you’ll see several threads on this. (You don’t have to sign in just to read posts there).
Seems like one of those glitches that happen every time they update their software.
What’s ridiculous is that in the past, I’ve read hosts saying that Airbnb told them that their app isn’t supported on their phone, because it’s too old. Like you are supposed to go out and spend hundreds of dollars on a new phone, when your phone works perfectly well for all the other apps people use.
I messaged them a few hours ago & they said ‘their techs were working on it’. It will be a problem I understand on most phones but us ok on your laptop.
When there was an overnight app update (unannounced, just before Easter), it completely disappeared off my phone. The phone app was pretty critical as we had lots of bookings and guest communication. After thinking I was going bonkers and a fraught week, I eventually found a thread saying that Airbnb no longer supported Android 8. Obviously it didn’t occur to them that some hosts might still use that tech because it still works just fine for everything else.
I sent some feedback to host support about this, politely, but suggesting that some warning at the very least would have been helpful. There was no reply as expected, but interestingly I did not get another booking nor any enquiry through the platform for the next 6 months during the summer. Luckily I ended up with plenty of direct bookings anyway so it didn’t matter but I do wonder if there may have been an element of punishment for complaining.
It’s absurd that they update the app so it no longer works if you have an older phone that works just fine. Just because Airbnb is run by the kind of people who run out to buy the latest iphone every year.
Android 8, also known as Android Oreo, was released to the public in 2017. Google support for Android 8 ended in early 2021.
Operating systems age out and new systems offer many improvements and features. While it is easy to point fingers at big bad airbnb, as new systems come online, all service providers and apps need to decide if supporting an obsolete system is worth the tradeoff in abilities.
An android phone is still usable to receive phone calls, but to expect it to run all apps and programs indefinitely will only bring pain. Apps basing their abilities on certain chips, for instance, may need entire new code just to run on later systems. And while there may be a significant user base of old android phones, it is tiny compared to the total in use.
Just because hardware exists does not mean it will always be supported. When analog over-the-air television went dark a few years ago, it made hundreds of millions of tvs obsolete.
I still have an iPhone 5. Battery life is short and most apps no longer run on it, but I still keep it around ‘in case’ - it can still call 911. But I do not expect it to run the latest software…
I have an Android 8. It isn’t an “old” phone- it’s 3 years old. And it works fine for all the apps I use, not just “phone calls”. I don’t need new “improvements and features”.
I’ve never used the Airbnb app, so I really don’t care whether they expect users to all go out and buy a new phone.
All this business with unsupported systems is just a ploy to get people to buy new stuff, planned obsolesence.
Yep - that’s what happened to us. iPhone 7, still going strong, excellent for making phone calls and receiving messages etc!! However, it is in deep trouble because it doesn’t support anything later than 15.8.3 and the Air BnB app requires 16.0 or later so that’s us consigned to the web version…but that’s fine cos my 13" MacBook Air has a bigger screen and I don’t need my glasses to read it…
These tekkie companies, huh?