Making “2.1 Only” Apps Viewable on Android 2.0.1

One of the many frustrations that Motorola Droid users running Android 2.0.1 have experienced lately has been from the release of applications in the market which are “2.1 only” apps.  You might remember when Google Earth was released?  (Luckily we had you covered with a version for non-rooted 2.0.1 users.)    And until the official 2.1 update is sent out, this will likely continue to happen as more and more developers are trying to stay ahead of the game by making apps work on the newest builds possible.

Well guess what?  We’ve got you covered again with a little hack that will make all these 2.1 apps viewable and downloadable on your 2.0.1 Droid…

1.  Root your Droid.
2.  Download and install Root Explorer from the market.  (Yes it is a paid app.)
3.  Use Root Explorer to navigate to the system folder and find a file called build.prop.
4.  Hit the Mount R/W button at the top to allow editing.
5.  Then long press the build.prop file to bring up a menu. Scroll down to ‘open in text editor’.
6.  A few lines down in the file you’ll see “ro.build.version.sdk=6“. Change the ‘6’ to a ‘7’.
7.  Back out and hit MountR/O.
8.  Reboot phone and all will be viewable.

Let me know if you have success or run into issues.