It’s also offering developers the ability to request a six month extension if they need more time for their migration through a form that will be availalbe in the Play Console later this year.

To aid developers in the transition, Google published a technical guide to help migrate apps to the target API levels, along with Help Center documentation which includes the exact timelines for the changes. For other apps, this notification serves to allow reputable developers the time to make the necessary updates. Google notes the “vast majority” of Google Play apps already meet the new requirements and won’t be impacted by the policy change. However, Google’s goal was similiar to Apple’s in that outdated apps not only offer a poor expeirence they’re also a potential security risk.Īs Google explained in its announcement about the new policy, every Android OS update brings “privacy, security, and user experience improvements.” This is perhaps more consumer-friendly than simply yanking apps off the app store, as Apple had done. In fact, Google explains that the existing users of the older apps impacted by the new policy will still be able to discover them, re-install them, and use them on any Android OS version the app supports. Since the apps aren’t entirely removed from Google Play, this won’t be a direct equivalent to the great App Store purges in years past where Apple pulled down tens of thousands of outdated, abandoned apps. And any app updates submitted that also don’t meet this requirement can’t be published on Google Play.īut the change would impact fully abandoned apps or those where the developer is still serving their users but no longer keeps up with the latest Android API updates. This should not be a significant adjustment for any active developers building for Android, as Google already requires new apps and app updates to target an Android API level within one year of the latest major Android OS version release. In short, this means that Android users who are keeping up with the latest software or those who’ve just purchased new Android phones will no longer be able to find or download old, out-of-date apps. Specifically, Google said apps that don’t target an Android API within two years of the latest major Android release version will no longer be able to be discovered or installed by new users whose devices run Android OS versions that are higher than the apps’ target API level.

The company warned Android app developers that starting on November 1, 2022, it will hide apps and block their installation to users’ devices if developers haven’t kept up with the latest Android OS releases. Google is preparing to clear its Play Store of outdated apps.

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