Android Question App must target Android 16 (API level 36) or higher

[Alex_197]

I just received an email from Google Play Console.

App must target Android 16 (API level 36) or higher



To provide users with a safe and secure experience, Google Play requires all apps to meet target API level requirements.
From Aug 30, 2026, if your target API level is not within 1 year of the latest Android release, you won't be able to update your app.


Is it safe to do it now?

When I tried to update my API in manifest I've got a message

The recommended value for android:targetSdkVersion is 35 (manifest editor). (warning #31)

 

[aminoacid]

When I tried to update my API in manifest I've got a message

The recommended value for android:targetSdkVersion is 35 (manifest editor). (warning #31)

Same Here!

 

[Alex_197]

Same Here!

Maybe Erel will update the EDI.

 

[Markos]

yep such short notice seems like they found a serious bug to be so sudden with just over a month to comply
OR
Someone clicked a wrong button on googleplay admin alert console lol

 

[Erel]

Working on an update. Beta version is planned to be released next week.

 

[Chris2]

You can request more time in the Play Console:

Doing so moved my deadline to 1st November.
And in any case, it just means that your next update after the deadline must target API level 36 or higher. So if you aren't planning any updates you don't need to do anything (I think!).

 

[aminoacid]

Doing so moved my deadline to 1st November.
And in any case, it just means that your next update after the deadline must target API level 36 or higher. So if you aren't planning any updates you don't need to do anything (I think!).

I believe you are right. You have upto Aug 30th (or Nov 1 with extension) to publish/update Apps with API Level < 36. Then after that if you intend to update your app, it must target 36 or higher. If you don't need to update your App, you don't need to be concerned - I don't think they will be removing your App from the Store because it does not target 36+

 

[Alessandro71]

as far as i understand, apps which are not updated to target 36, won't be visible on the store for phones running Android 16.
they will remain installed on Android 16 phones that already have them installed, but no more new installs.
nothing changes for older phones.
still a major burden for developers.

 

[ema01]

as far as i understand, apps which are not updated to target 36, won't be visible on the store for phones running Android 16.
they will remain installed on Android 16 phones that already have them installed, but no more new installs.
nothing changes for older phones.
still a major burden for developers.

same shit that happens every year.
At least there are not many breaking changes going 15->16, well.. if we exclude adaptive layouts https://developer.android.com/about/versions/16/behavior-changes-16#adaptive-layouts

sigh.

 

[Chris2]

as far as i understand, apps which are not updated to target 36, won't be visible on the store for phones running Android 16.
they will remain installed on Android 16 phones that already have them installed, but no more new installs.
nothing changes for older phones.
still a major burden for developers.

That may well be true.
It is annoying how vague Google are with these warnings.

 

[Markos]

Working on an update. Beta version is planned to be released next week.

Thanx Erel,

Sounds like sdk api36 requires some subtle updates to b4a ide/framework to ensure nothing breaks our Apps much thanx for your Teams vigilence

 

[Computersmith64]

yep such short notice seems like they found a serious bug to be so sudden with just over a month to comply
OR
Someone clicked a wrong button on googleplay admin alert console lol

No - targeting an API within a year of the latest release has been a policy for at least a couple of years now. They probably assume that developers are aware of it & so only send reminders when the relevant date is approaching.

 

[Computersmith64]

as far as i understand, apps which are not updated to target 36, won't be visible on the store for phones running Android 16.
they will remain installed on Android 16 phones that already have them installed, but no more new installs.
nothing changes for older phones.
still a major burden for developers.

All you have to do it change the targetSdk, recompile & submit an update. In some cases you *might* have to make a few minor code changes if there have been deprecations or breaking changes in the latest Android version but regardless, it's hardly a major burden.

 

[Alessandro71]

All you have to do it change the targetSdk, recompile & submit an update. In some cases you *might* have to make a few minor code changes if there have been deprecations or breaking changes in the latest Android version but regardless, it's hardly a major burden.

I think you’re a bit optimistic.
SDK36 changes behavior of the edge-to-edge mode, so a layout rewrite might be necessary.
it also changes the back key behavior: its impact on B4XPages projects that uses the back key to close the page is yet to be assessed for my projects.
I have also received reports from users of Bluetooth misbehaving on some beta releases of Android from Google.
and the changelog of SDK36 lists the Bluetooth stack also.

 

[Computersmith64]

I think you’re a bit optimistic.
SDK36 changes behavior of the edge-to-edge mode, so a layout rewrite might be necessary.
it also changes the back key behavior: its impact on B4XPages projects that uses the back key to close the page is yet to be assessed for my projects.
I have also received reports from users of Bluetooth misbehaving on some beta releases of Android from Google.
and the changelog of SDK36 lists the Bluetooth stack also.

OK - well all my apps are now running on 37 & despite the warnings in the console I haven't had to make any changes to E2E as the layouts still work fine. The only other changes I've had to make (apart from a few minor syntax updates for deprecations) are updating Play Billing to v9.x. There's also the new GMA Next-Gen SDK, which I've implemented in some of my apps, but at this stage it's not compulsory to migrate to it. All in all it hasn't been a major drama.

I don't have Bluetooth in any of them - but reading the documentation it seems that the changes are pretty minor & focus mainly around 2 new intents that it doesn't appear have to be implemented. There's pretty good documentation on how to add support for the predictive back gesture & if you don't have the time to do it now you can opt out & continue to use the existing behaviour.

I guess you have to decide whether it's worth investing some time in continuing to update your apps to be compatible with ongoing Android releases, but a lot of the changes can be copied & pasted once you've implemented them in one app. I decided a while back to unpublish about a dozen apps because the ROI wasn't there for the amount of time I was spending on updates on the total of 26 apps. Now I just concentrate on the ones that actually generate income & regularly review whether to retire the ones that aren't. I guess it's just part of publishing apps & I admit that sometimes it seems daunting, but generally it's not too bad.

 

[Dr_JU]

OK - well all my apps are now running on 37 & despite the warnings in the console I haven't had to make any changes to E2E as the layouts still work fine. The only other changes I've had to make (apart from a few minor syntax updates for deprecations) are updating Play Billing to v9.x. There's also the new GMA Next-Gen SDK, which I've implemented in some of my apps, but at this stage it's not compulsory to migrate to it. All in all it hasn't been a major drama.

I don't have Bluetooth in any of them - but reading the documentation it seems that the changes are pretty minor & focus mainly around 2 new intents that it doesn't appear have to be implemented. There's pretty good documentation on how to add support for the predictive back gesture & if you don't have the time to do it now you can opt out & continue to use the existing behaviour.

I guess you have to decide whether it's worth investing some time in continuing to update your apps to be compatible with ongoing Android releases, but a lot of the changes can be copied & pasted once you've implemented them in one app. I decided a while back to unpublish about a dozen apps because the ROI wasn't there for the amount of time I was spending on updates on the total of 26 apps. Now I just concentrate on the ones that actually generate income & regularly review whether to retire the ones that aren't. I guess it's just part of publishing apps & I admit that sometimes it seems daunting, but generally it's not too bad.

So your APKs don't interact with the system itself (sensors, etc). Is it like a PWA/web? Because in testing I did have problems with the back button (especially on Android GO on an Itel A90)

 

[Markos]

OK - well all my apps are now running on 37 & despite the warnings in the console I haven't had to make any changes to E2E as the layouts still work fine. The only other changes I've had to make (apart from a few minor syntax updates for deprecations) are updating Play Billing to v9.x. There's also the new GMA Next-Gen SDK, which I've implemented in some of my apps, but at this stage it's not compulsory to migrate to it. All in all it hasn't been a major drama.

I don't have Bluetooth in any of them - but reading the documentation it seems that the changes are pretty minor & focus mainly around 2 new intents that it doesn't appear have to be implemented. There's pretty good documentation on how to add support for the predictive back gesture & if you don't have the time to do it now you can opt out & continue to use the existing behaviour.

I guess you have to decide whether it's worth investing some time in continuing to update your apps to be compatible with ongoing Android releases, but a lot of the changes can be copied & pasted once you've implemented them in one app. I decided a while back to unpublish about a dozen apps because the ROI wasn't there for the amount of time I was spending on updates on the total of 26 apps. Now I just concentrate on the ones that actually generate income & regularly review whether to retire the ones that aren't. I guess it's just part of publishing apps & I admit that sometimes it seems daunting, but generally it's not too bad.

I think.I have to do the same re- retiring some apps. So focus on the more revenue / nostalgic ones to make these updates less tedius.
I'm tempted to just set new min/target sdk recompile see what needs fixing and submit. But Im weary of some potential issues I dont identify/fix b4 its faced by users. So should I await Erels update of b4a to play it safe or be aggressive and go use current b4a version?

 

[Computersmith64]

I think.I have to do the same re- retiring some apps. So focus on the more revenue / nostalgic ones to make these updates less tedius.
I'm tempted to just set new min/target sdk recompile see what needs fixing and submit. But Im weary of some potential issues I dont identify/fix b4 its faced by users. So should I await Erels update of b4a to play it safe or be aggressive and go use current b4a versio

I think you need to wait for Erel to update B4X to be compatible with whichever SDK he's planning on using (36 or 37).

 

[Erel]

Updates about targetSdkVersion=36 will hopefully be released in a day or two. The behavioral changes are not significant and will not require big changes to your code, especially if using B4XPages. Without B4XPages, it will require some changes related to edge to edge behavior.

 

[ema01]

There's pretty good documentation on how to add support for the predictive back gesture

such as? i did a check on the forum and didn't find it, and google's documentation didn't tell me much either.. it points me to https://developer.android.com/guide/navigation/navigation-custom-back which is basically what we're doing right now, nothing about predictive