eli5: When an app updates, how are people on the old version still able to use it?

Question

I know this isnt the case 100% of the time but could someone pls explain. sorry im dumb and bad at tech

In: 0

Answer 1

You’re not dumb. Let’s start with that.

A lot of the time, like say here on reddit, the app is just a different way to access the service. Like, you can access reddit via the web, or through a third party app like /r/ApolloApp, or even through some really weird interfaces that require more brains than I got.

But the app is only the front end. It’s where the human interacts with the service. The app then connects with that service.

Unless the service itself changes radically, old apps and new apps use the same basic way to connect with the service.