Pixel 7/8, S24 and the sh*t idea of supporting only 64-bit architecture. What does that mean for mod users?

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G-Bo ッ

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Dear Guests and Platinians,

some of you might know already, some of you gonna know now. Google took the (sorry to say) extreme dumb decision to drop 32 bit architecture support on them Pixel 7/8. Later Samsung followed the idea with the S24.
This makes not much sense for the most of you, but you should read this article carefully to understand what that means for you in the case you have a Pixel 7/8 or Samsung S24 or want to buy a Pixel 7/8 or Samsung S24 phone.


What is the difference between 32-bit and 64-bit?

Similar to computers, there are multiple architectures running the system. On Android there are more then just 2. The main architectures are:
  • x86 (old and outdated but still used by many emulators) - 32 bit
  • armebi (old and outdated, a love partner of x86 to awake the ARM arch but by today less used then x86) - 32 bit
  • ARMv7 (modern & very common, used since years and still being used by every device [except of Pixel 7 by now] - 32 bit
  • ARM64 (not "new" in the sense of being created fresh, iOS uses it since iPhone 5, but being forced by Google Playstore since a while now to be used at least simultaneous to ARMv7) - 64 bit
Now, it does not mean that an APK file must be made in only one of that architectures. Actually, 1 APK can support all of them the same time. But since a while now, Google forces every developer to support ARM64 at least as one of the active options if they want to update them APK files on Playstore. However, still nearly every game provides ARMv7 support as it works usually on everything, old phones, new phones, emulators & co. While ARM64 is only working on modern phones and 64bit emulators.


What does that mean for me as a mod user?

Let's keep it simple. For now (changed! Read the info at the very end), Pixel 7/8 & Samsung S24 users are doomed.

Approx 70% of the mods currently existing in this world are made with ARMv7 (32-bit) architecture because ARM64 is pretty new in the Android world + ARMv7 is supported by both, 32-bit devices AND 64-bit devices. That means if you make a mod in ARMv7, it can be used on pretty much every device existing. While if someone would make the mod in ARM64, it could be only used on modern phones & emulators supporting 64-bit.

In short: 64 bit devices can handle both, 32 bit devices can only handle 32 bit.

Of course, as explained above, both can be used simultaneous in 1 APK, but that means double work for the modder and it was never necessary to provide ARM64 support as ARMv7 worked on both devices. Modders usually only choose to make ARM64 mod if the developer decided to release that game only with ARM64 arch.

But Google crashed that with them decision to kill ARMv7 support for the Pixel 7+. Same did Samsung with the S24.



Don't modders then should start to make mods with ARM64 support?

Yes and no.

First of all, for example this website here (platinmods.com) does offer you thousands and 10 thousands of mods. It is impossible to overwork all mods already existing.

For new mods it could be wise to offer it, but as said earlier, this means double work for the modder. And at this point it is simply still not necessary. By now, it is only the Pixel 7/8 and Samsung S24. As long as the other brands do not follow, the modders will not put that extra work on them shoulders just to cover 1 device. Not even the series of the device, its just that one device. Pixel 6 and lower works fine with ARMv7.

For VIP MODs tho, we upgraded already 95% of the vip mods to support ARM64 fine tho! Those few left are games which probably cannot be upgraded at the moment because the game never updated since release or the code of the mod makes it pretty much impossible.

You will find the information about every single vip mod 64-bit support in the top of the mod description in the
VIP MOD List =)



Conclusion:

If you want to use mods, forget about getting a Pixel 7/8 or Samsung S24 (and other devices might follow) and if you have one already, get rid of it and get another phone of your choice.

For the case more brands follow this dumb idea, the modding world will go with the flow and offer ARM64 widely too, but most likely only on new created mods, not on already existing ones as long as they do not require an update anyways.



New information as of 2024:

There is a solution now for Pixel 7. It seems the 32-bit support is only blocked by software, not by hardware. You can get access again to the 32-bit support on Pixel 7 if you root it. Sadly, we cannot give you advise how to do that. Rooting your device has a risk to brick it and we do not want to encourage you to try it. If you really want to go that way, we ask you to do the research on how to do that yourself. You will find tutorials and videos on the internet.

This trick will not work on devices where the hardware is full ARM64 like Pixel 8. However, there is a solution to run 32-bit mods on ARM64 with the help of VM Apps:

 
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