Apps that don’t meet certain specific standards will be not be available for discovery or installation for new users on Google Play from November 1, 2022
Google is strengthening user security by blocking apps on Play Store that have not kept up with the latest Android operating system (OS) updates.
“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,” Google said in its Android Developers Blog post.
“The good news is that the vast majority of apps on Google Play already abide by these standards,” the blog post said.
According to Krish Vitaldevara, Google’s Director of Product Management, these measures are additional steps to protect users from installing apps that may not have the latest privacy and security features.
“Google already requires new apps and updates to existing apps to target a recent Android release, which is currently set at Android 11 (API level 30) and will be increased to Android 12 (API level 31) in August 2022,” XDA developers reported.
The company has also published a technical guide for developers to migrate apps to the target API levels.
According to a Tech Crunch report, Google will also roll out Play’s new billing payments policy this month.
Published on
April 07, 2022
