Android was already a platform on life support. Google has wielded its authority to dictate how apps should behave such that even 3rd party stores do not stray far from Google's rules. Users of android phones have little hope to run a program from 5 years ago, or to roll back a bad update in an era full of bad updates.
Android is actually much much better than iOS. For some older unmaintained apps I've dug out the APKs and most of them run without major issues, though a scary warning saying it's designed for older versions of Android.
- Unless you don't want Google to know your location constantly, no matter what setting you use for the GPS chip.
- Unless you want security updates past a year.
Ironically Googles Pixel phones have the longest support of any phone OS with guaranteed at least 7 years of security updates.