Google Play target API 36: what app owners must do

The rule in one minute

Google Play raises the minimum target API level every year. The target API level is the Android version your app says it is built for. Google’s current rules, starting August 31, 2026:

• New apps and app updates must target Android 16 (API level 36) or higher to be submitted to Google Play.
• Existing apps must target Android 15 (API level 35) or higher to stay available to new users.
• Wear OS and Android Automotive OS apps must target API level 35 or higher. New Android TV apps must target API level 34 or higher.

Google let developers ask for an extension until November 1, 2026. That date has passed, so any update you send now has to target API level 36.

What happens if you do nothing

Your app is not deleted. The people who already installed it keep it. But two things stop:

• You cannot publish updates. Not even a small bug fix or a new price, until the app targets API level 36.
• New users may not find it. If your app targets lower than API level 35, Google stops showing it to new users.

For a business app, the first one hurts the most: the day you need an urgent fix, you also need the full API update.

What changes when your app targets API 36

Raising the number is one line in the project. The real work is checking how Android 16 treats your app once you do. The changes that affect most apps:

• Edge-to-edge can no longer be turned off. On Android 16 phones your app draws behind the status bar and the navigation bar. Check that no header, button or text hides under them.
• Predictive back is on. The back gesture shows a preview animation, and the old onBackPressed is no longer called. If your app catches the back button, move it to the new back API. A temporary opt-out exists:

  android:enableOnBackInvokedCallback="false"

• Tablets and foldables ignore orientation locks. On large screens (smallest width 600dp or more), Android ignores portrait-only, landscape-only and aspect-ratio settings, and your app fills the window. Games are an exception. A temporary opt-out exists, but it stops working when apps have to target API level 37.
• Some text looks different. The elegantTextHeight setting is ignored, which can change text in Arabic, Thai, Tamil and a few other scripts.

Also check: 16 KB memory pages

A second rule arrives soon. Apps that target Android 15 or higher must support 16 KB memory page sizes on 64-bit devices. From February 1, 2027, Google Play will not accept an update that does not.

This matters if your app contains native code: C or C++, the Android NDK, or an SDK that uses them. An app built with Flutter always contains native code (the Flutter engine), so check it. In Android Studio, open Build › Analyze APK and look at the lib folder: the Alignment column warns you about any library that is not ready.

Step by step: update your app

1. Update your tools. Install the latest Android Studio and the Android 16 (API 36) SDK. In a Flutter app, update Flutter first, then your plugins.
2. Raise the numbers. Set compileSdk and targetSdk to 36 in android/app/build.gradle (or build.gradle.kts). Many Flutter projects read flutter.targetSdkVersion there, which depends on your Flutter version, so write 36 directly if needed.
3. Update every library. Ads, analytics, payments, maps and login SDKs often need a newer version for Android 16.
4. Test on Android 16. Use an Android 16 emulator for a phone and one for a tablet or foldable. Check the top and bottom of every screen, the back gesture, rotation on the tablet, and every permission prompt.
5. Check 16 KB support with the APK Analyzer, as above.
6. Release in steps. Raise the version code, build a release app bundle, upload it to internal testing first, read the pre-launch report in Play Console, then send it to production.

Want us to do it?

We build and publish Flutter apps on Google Play and the App Store, so we go through every store rule change ourselves. If you would rather not spend days on this, we can update your app for you: we check the code, update Flutter or the Android project, test it on Android 16 phones and tablets, and publish the update.

Need more than a check? Tell us about your app and we reply within 24 hours.

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