Have you looked at the beta versions yet? The UI was overhauled over basically the last 1.5 years and the points mentioned in the blog post are the bits missing to release that as a stable version (IMAP IDLE mostly): https://github.com/k9mail/k-9/releases
I've been running the betas since more than a year without any problems whatsoever. (If you don't need push obviously)
Thanks for the tip, the GitHub release makes a real difference compared to the outdated version on the Play Store. It's sad that there is not many reliable email client alternatives to GMail that works with custom server.
> I definitely struggle to understand why IMAP IDLE is critical for a release.
The functionality is present in the latest stable version, but needs to be reimplemented in the new version. As a user I would be upset if the app was updated and that feature taken away, even if it was only temporary.
I am not using the beta version of K-9. I was able to make it work mostly correctly on Android 11 by setting it to "Not Optimized" in the battery power permissions. That will allow it to run in the background. It seems to be able to use IDLE and to also run its periodic polling that way. Otherwise I would open K-9 and it would be hours out of date.
What's a minsdk force? I know what minsdk is but the sentence doesn't compute for me
Edit: oh, randomly spotted this:
> A major factor was the API level requirement by Google Play. It required us to make changes to internals of the app in order to be able to publish updates via the Play Store.
I don't get the problem. Why not do a release? If google doesn't want the hard work and updates yet, fine, you can still tag a new release and people can use f-droid, download the apk, whatever right? (I'm using it via f-droid, thought most people would be doing that since it's an open source client with graphics from the 2009, the kind of thing you only use as foss fan).
Does this also mean older devices are forced into obsolescence? Since this is minsdk and not maxsdk it sounds like it, but there's still many apps that run on my 2018 device with Android 7 (and even 2012 device with 4.4) so that can't really be.
No, they aren't linked. Maybe you are mixing it with compileSdk, that and targetSdk are usually linked but minSdk is almost always considerably behind.
I've been running the betas since more than a year without any problems whatsoever. (If you don't need push obviously)