12

I have an older app that gives errors on devices with the new Android 7.0.

The app is published already and I cannot update the app actually.

How can I restrict the app for specific Android versions in the Google Play Console ?

mcfly soft
  • 11,289
  • 26
  • 98
  • 202
  • see this https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/1286017?hl=en – Shubham Shukla Jan 20 '17 at 14:44
  • 1
    [SO is not google's support](http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/255745/why-were-not-customer-support-for-your-favorite-company) ... from the programming side you may do this via setting [max sdk in the manifest](https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/manifest/uses-sdk-element.html#max) ... question: how use to set it in Google Play Console not fits SO – Selvin Jan 20 '17 at 14:45
  • Can the downvoter please tell me, why he downvoted ? – mcfly soft Jan 20 '17 at 14:55

1 Answers1

14

In the play console you can only block apps for regions or specific devices.

If you really can't upload updates your best bet is to start excluding devices of which you know they have received an Android 7 update. Not recommended.

Blocking an app for an API level will require a deploy since it's done in the manifest file (in gradle config). 

<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" ... >
    <uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="4" android:targetSdkVersion="15" />
    ...
</manifest>

From Supporting Different Platform versions.

An overview of all the current API levels can be found at What is API level.

When configured in Gradle it will look similar to the following snippet of a your_app_module/build.gradle file. Note that in the final result, the compile APK this will be part of the manifest.

apply plugin: 'com.android.application'
apply plugin: 'com.neenbedankt.android-apt'

android {
    compileSdkVersion 25
    buildToolsVersion "25.0.2"
    defaultConfig {
        applicationId "your.app.id.here"
        minSdkVersion 16
        targetSdkVersion 25
        versionCode 1
        versionName "0.1.0"
    }
hcpl
  • 17,382
  • 7
  • 72
  • 73
  • Thanks, I suspected this too. THanks for confirmation. – mcfly soft Jan 20 '17 at 14:47
  • Regarding your codesnippet. Does this restrict Android 7.0 ? In my case I have a target of 12 published and I know that there are installations with Android 7.0 and 7.1. Howto restrict with the AndroidManifest.xml – mcfly soft Jan 20 '17 at 14:49
  • no the code snippet is a copy from what is found on the linked documentation. An overview of the API levels can be found at https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/manifest/uses-sdk-element.html – hcpl Jan 20 '17 at 14:52
  • I see , I need to use the Maxsdk. Thanks. – mcfly soft Jan 20 '17 at 15:03