Bolt Android 4.0 features some significant under-the-hood changes aimed at bringing it in line with the latest Android technologies, guidance and best practices. This document explains what those are, given that while they may not be immediately apparent, they are notable in their improvements.

Firstly, 4.0 targets API level 34 (Android 14), this is a requirement for app submissions after 31/8/2024. We update this every year as a matter of course, conducting a full regression pass of the platform as part of this, so 4.0 also fixes a lot of smaller bugs we came across during this testing!

Secondly, 4.0 changes the underlying navigation framework of the app. This is where we've adopted Android's latest technologies, and in many cases this simply brings Bolt Android closer to Bolt iOS. These changes will present themselves in the following ways:

1. Certain locations that were screens are now modals, such as the subscription modal. These are the same screens that are modals on iOS. 
2. Tapping the hardware back button now correctly navigates you through your last activities, rather than taking you out of the app
3. We now build navigation stacks in a more logical way. For example, when tapping a link to another article from an article you were reading, we'll now always remember the prior article so you can tap back to get to it. This could be inconsistent on prior versions.
4. Screen state is better preserved so, for example, if you scroll down a timeline in one tab then quickly navigate to another tab then back again, you'll return to the first tab in the state you left it.
5. You can now optionally present the tab bar in the content view, this has been an option on iOS for some time, and is most useful for helping users quickly get back to the timeline/storefront after adding a lot of articles to their stack 

As a whole these changes should result in a smoother, more intuitive app experience, albeit one that presents itself subtly. Bolt Android should now behave more like Google's own apps and best practices. It's likely you won't receive any feedback from your users on this, but if you do, as ever, please pass it on to us.