Category Archives: Android Developers Blog

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Learn Android with Jetpack Compose (no programming experience needed!)

Posted by Murat Yener, Android Developer Relations Engineer

Blue graphic with Android phone and Jetpack Compose logos 

There are many fulfilling opportunities found in Android development: from launching a career, expressing yourself in fun ways, working on an app that makes a difference, or starting a business. At Google, we’re committed to increasing opportunities for anyone to learn Android development, so more people can experience this. As the next evolution of our journey to make Android development accessible to all, we released the first two units of Android Basics with Compose. This is the first free course that teaches Android development with Jetpack Compose to everyone. Compose simplifies and accelerates Android UI development, bringing your app to life faster with less code, powerful tools, and intuitive Kotlin APIs. If you are curious about learning Android development with Android's latest offering for building native UI, this is a great place to start!

Similar to the Android Basics in Kotlin course, Android Basics with Compose teaches the fundamentals of programming in Kotlin; you do not need any prior programming experience other than basic computer literacy to get started with this course. Not only does the course cover the most recent Android app building techniques, it is also designed to make it easier and more fun for you to learn Android. We built this course from scratch, taking into account feedback we received from learners, instructors, and designers from previous Android development courses.

The course contains learning pathways that teach you the basics of programming along with how to use the Kotlin programming language, with additional development topics introduced during your learning journey! If you are familiar with programming or the Kotlin programming language, you can skip ahead and focus on learning how to develop with Jetpack Compose.

The Android Basics with Compose and Android Basics in Kotlin courses will co-exist as our latest Android training offerings. Android Basics with Compose shares a similar course structure with Android Basics in Kotlin; in many cases they share the same sample apps, but are written using different UI toolkits. This allows you to see, compare, and learn the differences between Views and Compose, you can even work with both courses simultaneously.

This course also introduces new content formats such as code-along videos for Codelabs, practice problems to give you more hands-on coding experience, and open-ended projects to unleash your creativity. These two units are just the beginning; more will be coming soon. Check out Android Basics with Compose to get started on your Android development journey!

Learn Android with Jetpack Compose (no programming experience needed!)

Posted by Murat Yener, Android Developer Relations Engineer

Blue graphic with Android phone and Jetpack Compose logos 

There are many fulfilling opportunities found in Android development: from launching a career, expressing yourself in fun ways, working on an app that makes a difference, or starting a business. At Google, we’re committed to increasing opportunities for anyone to learn Android development, so more people can experience this. As the next evolution of our journey to make Android development accessible to all, we released the first two units of Android Basics with Compose. This is the first free course that teaches Android development with Jetpack Compose to everyone. Compose simplifies and accelerates Android UI development, bringing your app to life faster with less code, powerful tools, and intuitive Kotlin APIs. If you are curious about learning Android development with Android's latest offering for building native UI, this is a great place to start!

Similar to the Android Basics in Kotlin course, Android Basics with Compose teaches the fundamentals of programming in Kotlin; you do not need any prior programming experience other than basic computer literacy to get started with this course. Not only does the course cover the most recent Android app building techniques, it is also designed to make it easier and more fun for you to learn Android. We built this course from scratch, taking into account feedback we received from learners, instructors, and designers from previous Android development courses.

The course contains learning pathways that teach you the basics of programming along with how to use the Kotlin programming language, with additional development topics introduced during your learning journey! If you are familiar with programming or the Kotlin programming language, you can skip ahead and focus on learning how to develop with Jetpack Compose.

The Android Basics with Compose and Android Basics in Kotlin courses will co-exist as our latest Android training offerings. Android Basics with Compose shares a similar course structure with Android Basics in Kotlin; in many cases they share the same sample apps, but are written using different UI toolkits. This allows you to see, compare, and learn the differences between Views and Compose, you can even work with both courses simultaneously.

This course also introduces new content formats such as code-along videos for Codelabs, practice problems to give you more hands-on coding experience, and open-ended projects to unleash your creativity. These two units are just the beginning; more will be coming soon. Check out Android Basics with Compose to get started on your Android development journey!

Architecture MAD Skills series wrap up

Posted by Manuel Vicente Vivo, Developer Relations Engineer

MADSkills Jetpack DataStore 

Now that our MAD Skills series on Architecture is complete, let’s do a quick wrap up of all the things we’ve covered in each episode!

Episode 1 — The data layer

Learn about the data layer and its two basic components: repositories and data sources. We'll also cover data immutability, error handling, threading, testing and more tricks and recommendations with Jose Alcérreca.


Episode 2 — The UI layer

Learn about the UI layer and its state. Tunji Dahunsi covers UI state representation, production and consumption all within the context of a unidirectional data flow app!


Episode 3 — Handling UI events

Learn all about UI events. I—Manuel Vivo—cover the different types of UI events, the best practices for handling them, and more!


Episode 4 — The domain layer

The Domain layer is an optional layer which sits between the UI and Data layers. Don Turner explains how the domain layer can simplify your app architecture, making it easier to understand and test.


Episode 5 — Organizing modules

Emily Kager shares a tip around organizing modules in Android apps.


Episode 6 — Entities

Garima Jain shares a tip about creating separate data models based on various Architecture layers in your project.


Q&A

Tunji Dahunsi, Miłosz Moczkowski, Yigit Boyar, and I hung out together in a live Q&A session to answer all the questions you had!

The first developer preview of Privacy Sandbox on Android

Posted by Fred Chung, Android Developer Relations

Blue graphic with privacy icons such as an eye, a lock, and cursor 

We recently announced the Privacy Sandbox on Android to enable new advertising solutions that improve user privacy, and provide developers and businesses with the tools to succeed on mobile. Since the announcement, we've heard from developers across the ecosystem on our initial design proposals. Your feedback is critical to ensure we build solutions that work for everyone, so please continue to share it through the Android developer site.

Today, we're releasing the first developer preview for the Privacy Sandbox on Android, which provides an early look at the SDK Runtime and Topics API. You'll be able to do preliminary testing of these new technologies and evaluate how you might adopt them for your solutions. This is a preview, so some features may not be implemented just yet, and functionality is subject to change. See the release notes for more details on what's included in the release.


What’s in the Developer Preview?

The Privacy Sandbox Developer Preview provides additional platform APIs and services on top of the Android 13 Developer Beta release, including an SDK, system images, emulator, and developer documentation. Specifically, you'll have access to the following:

  • Android SDK and 64-bit Android Emulator system images that include the Privacy Sandbox APIs. See the setup guide.
  • Device system images for Pixel 6 Pro, Pixel 6, Pixel 5a (5G), Pixel 5, Pixel 4, and Pixel 4a. This preview release is for developers only and not intended for daily or consumer use, so we're making it available by manual download only.
  • Developer guides for the SDK Runtime and Topics API.
  • Sample code that demonstrates the implementation of runtime-enabled SDKs and usage of the Topics API, available on GitHub.
  • Privacy Sandbox API reference.

Things you can try

When your development environment is set up, consider taking the following actions:

  • Familiarize yourselves with the technical proposals on the SDK Runtime, Topics, Attribution Reporting, and FLEDGE on Android.
  • Topics API: Invoke the API and retrieve test values, representing a user's coarse-grained interests. See the documentation for detail.
  • SDK Runtime: Build and install a runtime-enabled SDK on a test device or emulator. Create a test app to load the SDK in the runtime and request the SDK to remotely render a WebView-based ad in the app. See the documentation for detail.
  • Review and run the sample apps.
  • For details on capabilities and known limitations in this Developer Preview release, check out the release notes.

Over the coming months, we'll be releasing updates to the Developer Preview including early looks at the Attribution Reporting and FLEDGE APIs. For more information, please visit the Privacy Sandbox developer site. You can also share your feedback or questions, review progress updates so far, and sign up to receive email updates.

Happy testing!

Kicking off Google Play Coffee breaks, with Jimjum Studios

Posted by Leo Olebe, Managing Director, Games Partnerships, Google Play

Today we are launching Google Play Coffee breaks, a new series where members of our partnerships team get together with apps and games companies to exchange tips and personal lessons gained from the industry, as well as insights gained from participating in some of our Play programs. All in enough time to fit into your coffee break!

To kick it all off, I enjoyed a virtual coffee with Nimrod Kimhi, Co-founder & CEO, at Jimjum Studios, a small games company from Israel. They participated in the 2021 edition of the Indie Games Festival, making it into the top 10 finalists, and later took part in the Indie Games Accelerator. We felt it was time for us to check back in on the growth they’ve been achieving.

Watch the full Coffee breaks episode and read my reflections below:

Launching their first game, Froglike: The Frog Roguelike, just one year ago in 2021, the team of five friends have already made an impact on the mobile game ecosystem early on in their business journey.

Nim described how their studio is composed of two brothers, two childhood friends, and a musician who they convinced to get onboard their team. Each has a mix of talents and expertise which compliment each other and fit together. And I think this is one of the most important parts of succeeding in this industry. A great team is able to challenge each other and put new ideas on the table, but also come together and agree on those big decisions that are going to move your business forward.

I really enjoyed catching up with Nim during our first Google Play Coffee breaks. What I found most rewarding was to hear directly from Nim about his experience of the Indie Games Accelerator and Festival. It was actually Jimjum’s chief game designer who initially convinced Nim to sign up for the contest. Despite his initial hesitations of how the competition might interrupt their progress with building the game, Nim says now that the learnings they got from the program saved their team three years worth of mistakes.


Illustration of two people next to a giant clipboard 

Lessons learned in the game industry

The first? Test early. Nim couldn’t have said it better - make the MVP of your product and get feedback from the gaming community as soon as possible. This is even more important with games because you do have that abstract and subjective layer of what it means to be ‘fun’. You must go through that constant loop of feedback from players and iterations of your game, even though it can be tempting to just push forward with your artistic vision.

I think this is a really important insight to highlight. From my own experiences here at Google Play and in the mobile gaming industry, one of the most exciting parts about growing a games business is handing your game to the players and discovering ideas that you hadn’t considered yourself. It’s about being flexible, rolling with the punches, and being open to the learning journey rather than rigidly sticking to your original blueprint. Learning from others is what is going to take your game from good to great.

The second? Don’t lose the core heart of your game. Nim described how every team should know and agree on their Northstar when designing the game, and stick to it. It is easy to get distracted by all the analytics and feedback - and also just through the noise that is the mobile industry and the commercial pressures of making a game. But I agree with Nim, it is so important to never lose the heart of what you are building, and your passion behind it, in order to create a truly unique experience for your users.


Illustration of two people high fiving 

Success for small Indie studios

After participating in our Indie Games Accelerator, I was interested to hear from Jimjum about the learnings they had gained, and how they were able to use them to build such a solid foundation on Google Play and beyond.

One of the main areas that Nim raised was the need for every game to have a solid marketing strategy. Nim’s key focus is to work on a distribution plan, using channels like online communities to drive awareness of their title. A big part of the strategy is to find key influencers in the field and get them involved with their game. It is also about having a launch phase that allows them to take it step-by-step, rather than one big launch. This meant waiting until they were confident their game was ready, prioritizing certain geographical locations before others, and - of course - testing every step of the way.

As well as a marketing strategy, I’d add that it’s also about being open to the learning journey. Absorb as much knowledge as you can. There are so many others out there who have been down this road before, so learn from their successes and (perhaps more importantly) their mistakes. As you grow, use your unique perspectives and ideas to then share what you know with others and help build that circle of reciprocity.

Finally, in a world of millions of gamers, you can find your audience. It may take longer than you imagine, it may be harder, but they are there.

It was a genuine pleasure to chat to Nim about his experiences. I can’t wait to see Jimjum’s continued growth and new gaming adventures. It is studios like Jimjum that inspire me and my team to keep supporting indies in all ways that we can - whether that’s through programs like the Indie Games Accelerator and the Indie Games Festival (you can sign up now to hear when submissions open for the 2022 editions) or through more resources and tools to help them grow even further.

We are looking forward to continuing to learn from more businesses, and see what you all do next. Stay tuned for the next episode of Coffee Breaks.

Do you have any questions for Jimjum? What are your own tips for other indie studios? Share them in the comments below.

Kicking off Google Play Coffee breaks, with Jimjum Studios

Posted by Leo Olebe, Managing Director, Games Partnerships, Google Play

Today we are launching Google Play Coffee breaks, a new series where members of our partnerships team get together with apps and games companies to exchange tips and personal lessons gained from the industry, as well as insights gained from participating in some of our Play programs. All in enough time to fit into your coffee break!

To kick it all off, I enjoyed a virtual coffee with Nimrod Kimhi, Co-founder & CEO, at Jimjum Studios, a small games company from Israel. They participated in the 2021 edition of the Indie Games Festival, making it into the top 10 finalists, and later took part in the Indie Games Accelerator. We felt it was time for us to check back in on the growth they’ve been achieving.

Watch the full Coffee breaks episode and read my reflections below:

Launching their first game, Froglike: The Frog Roguelike, just one year ago in 2021, the team of five friends have already made an impact on the mobile game ecosystem early on in their business journey.

Nim described how their studio is composed of two brothers, two childhood friends, and a musician who they convinced to get onboard their team. Each has a mix of talents and expertise which compliment each other and fit together. And I think this is one of the most important parts of succeeding in this industry. A great team is able to challenge each other and put new ideas on the table, but also come together and agree on those big decisions that are going to move your business forward.

I really enjoyed catching up with Nim during our first Google Play Coffee breaks. What I found most rewarding was to hear directly from Nim about his experience of the Indie Games Accelerator and Festival. It was actually Jimjum’s chief game designer who initially convinced Nim to sign up for the contest. Despite his initial hesitations of how the competition might interrupt their progress with building the game, Nim says now that the learnings they got from the program saved their team three years worth of mistakes.


Illustration of two people next to a giant clipboard 

Lessons learned in the game industry

The first? Test early. Nim couldn’t have said it better - make the MVP of your product and get feedback from the gaming community as soon as possible. This is even more important with games because you do have that abstract and subjective layer of what it means to be ‘fun’. You must go through that constant loop of feedback from players and iterations of your game, even though it can be tempting to just push forward with your artistic vision.

I think this is a really important insight to highlight. From my own experiences here at Google Play and in the mobile gaming industry, one of the most exciting parts about growing a games business is handing your game to the players and discovering ideas that you hadn’t considered yourself. It’s about being flexible, rolling with the punches, and being open to the learning journey rather than rigidly sticking to your original blueprint. Learning from others is what is going to take your game from good to great.

The second? Don’t lose the core heart of your game. Nim described how every team should know and agree on their Northstar when designing the game, and stick to it. It is easy to get distracted by all the analytics and feedback - and also just through the noise that is the mobile industry and the commercial pressures of making a game. But I agree with Nim, it is so important to never lose the heart of what you are building, and your passion behind it, in order to create a truly unique experience for your users.


Illustration of two people high fiving 

Success for small Indie studios

After participating in our Indie Games Accelerator, I was interested to hear from Jimjum about the learnings they had gained, and how they were able to use them to build such a solid foundation on Google Play and beyond.

One of the main areas that Nim raised was the need for every game to have a solid marketing strategy. Nim’s key focus is to work on a distribution plan, using channels like online communities to drive awareness of their title. A big part of the strategy is to find key influencers in the field and get them involved with their game. It is also about having a launch phase that allows them to take it step-by-step, rather than one big launch. This meant waiting until they were confident their game was ready, prioritizing certain geographical locations before others, and - of course - testing every step of the way.

As well as a marketing strategy, I’d add that it’s also about being open to the learning journey. Absorb as much knowledge as you can. There are so many others out there who have been down this road before, so learn from their successes and (perhaps more importantly) their mistakes. As you grow, use your unique perspectives and ideas to then share what you know with others and help build that circle of reciprocity.

Finally, in a world of millions of gamers, you can find your audience. It may take longer than you imagine, it may be harder, but they are there.

It was a genuine pleasure to chat to Nim about his experiences. I can’t wait to see Jimjum’s continued growth and new gaming adventures. It is studios like Jimjum that inspire me and my team to keep supporting indies in all ways that we can - whether that’s through programs like the Indie Games Accelerator and the Indie Games Festival (you can sign up now to hear when submissions open for the 2022 editions) or through more resources and tools to help them grow even further.

We are looking forward to continuing to learn from more businesses, and see what you all do next. Stay tuned for the next episode of Coffee Breaks.

Do you have any questions for Jimjum? What are your own tips for other indie studios? Share them in the comments below.

The Beta for Android 13 is out now: Android 13 Beta 1

Posted by Dave Burke, VP of Engineering

Android13 Logo

It’s already April and we’ve been making steady progress refining the features and stability of Android 13, building around our core themes of privacy and security, developer productivity, as well as tablet and large screen support. Today we’re moving into the next phase of our cycle and releasing the first Beta of Android 13.

For developers, there’s a lot to explore in Android 13, from privacy features like the new notification permission and photo picker, to APIs that help you build great experiences, like themed app icons, quick settings tile placement, and per-app language support, as well as capabilities like Bluetooth LE audio and MIDI 2.0 over USB. In Beta 1, we’ve added new permissions for more granular access to media files, improved audio routing APIs, and more. We’ll have more to share at Google I/O, coming up on May 11-12, so please save the date!

We’re inviting you to give Beta 1 a try as we welcome more early adopters to give us feedback on this release. You can try Android 13 Beta 1 today on supported Pixel devices by enrolling here to get the update over-the-air. If you’re already running a developer preview of Android 13, your device will automatically get this and future updates over the air. As always, downloads for Pixel and the Android Emulator are also available. Visit the Android 13 developer site for details on how to get started developing and testing your app.


What’s new in Beta 1?

We’re continuing to focus on privacy and security, while giving you new APIs to help you build great experiences for your users. Beta 1 includes the latest updates to features we announced earlier, like the new notification permission, photo picker, themed app icons, improved localization and language support, and more. Beta 1 also introduces a small number of new features, so give these a try and let us know what you think!

More granular permissions for media file access - Previously, when an app wanted to read shared media files in local storage, it needed to request the READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission, which gave access to all types of media files. To bring more transparency and control to users, we’re introducing a new set of permissions with more granular scope for accessing shared media files.

With the new permissions, apps now request access to a specific type of file in shared storage:

Allow My App to access music and other audio files on this device

When the permissions are granted by the user, apps will have read access to the respective media file types. To simplify the experience for users, If an app requests READ_MEDIA_IMAGE and READ_MEDIA_VIDEO at the same time, the system displays a single dialog for granting both permissions. If your app accesses shared media files, you’ll need to migrate to the new permissions when your app targets Android 13. More here.

Better error reporting in Keystore and KeyMint - For apps that generate keys, Keystore and KeyMint now provide more detailed and accurate error indicators. We’ve added an exception class hierarchy under java.security.ProviderException, with Android-specific exceptions that include Keystore/KeyMint error codes, and whether the error is retryable. You can also modify the methods for key generation, signing, and encryption to throw the new exceptions. The improved error reporting should now give you what you need to retry key generation.

Anticipatory audio routing - To help media apps identify how their audio is going to be routed, we’ve added new audio route APIs in the AudioManager class. The new getAudioDevicesForAttributes() API allows you to retrieve a list of devices that may be used to play the specified audio, and we added the getDirectProfilesForAttributes() API to help you understand whether your audio stream can be played directly. Use these new APIs to determine the best AudioFormat to use for your audio track.

App compatibility

If you haven’t tested your app for compatibility with Android 13 yet, now is the time to do it! With Android 13 now in Beta, we’re opening up access to early-adopter users as well as developers. This means that in the weeks ahead, you can expect more users to be trying your app on Android 13 and raising any issues that they find.

To test for compatibility, install your published app from Google Play or other source on a device or emulator running Android 13 Beta and work through all of the app’s flows. Review the behavior changes to focus your testing. After you’ve resolved any issues, publish an update as soon as possible.

Timeline

With Beta we’re getting closer to Platform Stability in June 2022. Starting then, app-facing system behaviors, SDK/NDK APIs, and non-SDK lists will be finalized. At that time, you should finish up your final compatibility testing and release a fully compatible version of your app, SDK, or library. More on the timeline for developers is here.


Get started with Android 13!

Today’s Beta release has everything you need to try the Android 13 features, test your apps, and give us feedback. Just enroll any supported Pixel device here to get this and future Android 13 Beta and feature drop Beta updates over-the-air. If you’ve already installed a developer preview build, you’ll automatically get these updates. To get started developing, set up the SDK.

For even broader testing on supported devices, try Android 13 Beta on Android GSI images, and if you don’t have a device you can test on the Android Emulator -- just download the latest emulator system images via the SDK Manager in Android Studio.

For complete details on how to get the Beta, visit the Android 13 developer site.

Twitter going all in on Jetpack Compose for feature development: greater productivity, less bugs

Posted by The Android Team

Twitter going all in for Jetpack Compose feature development 

As one of the most widely used social media platforms, Twitter is always hunting for ways to better connect its users. At the same time, in order to efficiently build new features while maintaining existing ones, developers need supportive infrastructure. The Twitter engineering team turned to Jetpack Compose to kick-start a much needed overhaul of the app’s UI foundation. With Compose, developers can easily find and use the right APIs, fluidly style and modularize components, and ultimately build more with less code.

Twitter launches UI overhaul

A handful of teams such as the Android Client UI team, Customer Acquisition, Twitter Blue, and Communities teams revamped their development processes, inspiring excitement among Twitter’s engineers. “Several teams at Twitter have adopted Compose in their daily workflows,” said Sneha Patil, senior software engineer and technical lead on the Communities team for Twitter for Android. By removing the work of creating and setting up custom theming and attributes, Compose made writing functions and implementing design requirements significantly faster and more simple than what they experienced with Views. Jetpack Compose enabled these teams to work faster and more effectively, ensure reusability in their code, and easily onboard new engineers.


Revitalizing the development process

Creating dynamic content is straightforward with Compose. The Twitter team used the LazyColumn composable to build UI without the need for an Adapter or ViewHolder, simplifying the process of writing code that seamlessly brings layouts, themes, and styles to life. With fewer lines to write, development teams at Twitter decreased their boilerplate, experienced less bugs during development and releases, enabled UI experimentation, and sped up the testing processes. These improvements heightened productivity so developers could spend more time building what makes Twitter unique.

They also used Compose to build stateless components that are reusable across the app. The flexibility of Compose made it easier and faster to meet design requirements, making the setup of theming and styling easier for both new and experienced engineers to work with.


Building new features using Compose

Given the improvements experienced, they decided to build an entire new feature using Compose. They built the Communities feature, Twitter's dedicated space where users can engage in discussions they care about most, from the ground up using Compose. Based on the teams’ previous experience using Views for other features, building with Compose was much faster and they had less bugs. “It was like magic,” said Sneha, “It’s a game changer for how we can develop on Android with Compose.”

Quote from Yoali Sotomayer Baqueiro 

Compose boosts development output

Compose boosted the velocity and efficiency of Twitter engineers’ UI development. Developers easily incorporated and built with Compose, which made it easier for them to modularize code, reuse components, and break down dependencies. The team regularly utilizes UI experimentation, and Compose helped increase their confidence in knowing what the components that react to user interactions, data updates, and different screen sizes will look like in production.

These teams’ initial success with Compose inspired other development teams at Twitter to follow suit. Now, even engineers working on complex legacy components are looking into adopting it.

Overall, Compose has not only removed many of the obstacles the team experienced in Views — it also added enjoyment into the workflow, with some developers ready to abandon old methods for good. “I’m excited to write more Compose and never touch an XML layout again,” said Yoali Sotomayor Baqueiro, software engineer for Android Client UI at Twitter. “It makes developing UI not just easier but also much more fun and intuitive.”


Get started

Optimize your UI development with Compose.

Things to know from the 2022 Android App Excellence Summit

Posted by The Google Play Team

Android App Excellence Summit 

Creating a consistent and intuitive user experience is more important than ever to grow your audience and scale your business. To help you, Google Play, Android, and Firebase shared the latest insights and best practices on building high quality Android apps, improving developer productivity, and creating the best possible experience across all Android devices at the 2022 Android App Excellence Summit.

If you missed any sessions, we have you covered! You can watch all the content from the summit on our #AppExcellenceSummit playlist here.

Some highlights include;

Curious for more? Get additional resources of everything we shared at the 2022 Android App Excellence Summit by visiting g.co/android/appexcellence.

We are committed to empowering the developer ecosystem to build high quality experiences across all Android devices. We greatly appreciate all that joined us during our App Excellence Summit and we’re looking forward to hearing your feedback. Keep in touch with us on Twitter with #AppExcellenceSummit.

Expanding Play’s Target Level API Requirements to Strengthen User Security

Posted by Krish Vitaldevara, Director, Product Management

API Requirements 

Google Play helps our developer community distribute the world's most innovative and trusted apps to billions of people. This is an ongoing process and we're always working on ways to improve app safety across the ecosystem.

In addition to the Google Play features and policies that are central to providing a safe experience for users, each Android OS update brings privacy, security, and user experience improvements. To ensure users realize the full benefits of these advances—and to maintain the trusted experience people expect on Google Play—we collaborate with developers to ensure their apps work seamlessly on newer Android versions.

We currently require new apps and app updates to target an Android API level within one year of the latest major Android OS version release. New apps and app updates that don’t meet this requirement cannot be published on Google Play. For exact timelines, please refer to this Help Center article.

Current target API Level requirements for new apps and app updates

Current target API Level requirements for new apps and app updates


Today, as part of Google Play’s latest policy updates, we are taking additional steps to protect users from installing apps that may not have the latest privacy and security features by expanding our target level API requirements.

Starting on November 1, 2022, existing apps that don’t target an API level within two years of the latest major Android release version will not be available for discovery or installation for new users with devices running Android OS versions higher than apps’ target API level. As new Android OS versions launch in the future, the requirement window will adjust accordingly.

Target API Level requirements for existing apps, starting November 1

Target API Level requirements for existing apps, starting November 1


The rationale behind this is simple. Users with the latest devices or those who are fully caught up on Android updates expect to realize the full potential of all the privacy and security protections Android has to offer. Expanding our target level API requirements will protect users from installing older apps that may not have these protections in place.

The good news is that the vast majority of apps on Google Play already abide by these standards. For other apps, we know this will require additional attention, which is why we are notifying developers well in advance and providing resources for those who need them.

We encourage you to:

  • Review our technical guide on migrating your app to meet Google Play's target API level requirements.
  • Review our Help Center article on the target API level requirements by Android OS.
  • Request an optional 6 month extension if you need more time for migration. The form will be available in your Developer Play Console later this year.

Current users of older apps who have previously installed the app from Google Play will continue to be able to discover, re-install, and use the app on any device running any Android OS version that the app supports.

This strengthened Target Level API policy is just one of the policy updates we announced today to expand user protections and improve user experiences on Google Play. We’ll continue to share updates about this important work that will help raise the bar for app privacy and security across the board, making Google Play and Android a safer place for everyone.

For more resources: