Google Play Store Policy makes app incompatible with newer Androids

[c-mauderer]

Hello,

On Android 12 or newer, the play store shows "This app isn't available for your device because it was made for an older version of Android".

Seems that Google changed a policy and this policy change is causing the problem. See https://stackoverflow.com/a/75515891/2229658 and https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/11926878. Basically every App that has a targetSdkVersion that is older than two years, it will show a "is incompatible" message in the play store.

Would it be possible to get a new version with a recent targetSdkVersion pushed to the play store so that the app is usable on Android 12 and 13?

Best regards

Christian

[ligi]

on master I target 33 now - alongside a lot of other modernisations - will upload a new version to beta soon - but it needs a lot of testing before I can move it to mainline

[c-mauderer]

on master I target 33 now - alongside a lot of other modernisations - will upload a new version to beta soon - but it needs a lot of testing before I can move it to mainline

Great. Thank you. Take your time.

[ligi]

I uploaded 3.7.0 to open testing in the play store - please test it and I will roll out to public

[c-mauderer]

I uploaded 3.7.0 to open testing in the play store - please test it and I will roll out to public

Thank you.

On my private phone, I had some trouble installing the app. I'm running /e/ OS from the e.foundation (an Android without Play services; the version I use is based on Android 12). I had to install it via Aurora Store because I don't have another possibility to get the version from open testing. Sadly the app crashes during start.

On my work phone (which has a vanilla Android), we have a mobile device management system. I'm trying to get clearance from my IT that I can try the app from open testing phase. I'll report back as soon as I have tested it.

[kpiris]

The app also forceclosed on me just after opening it. I cleared the app storage and it continued forceclosing on startup. In my case it's a pixel7.

I had an upcoming flight, so I had to opt out from beta testing and install the non-beta playstore version.

[ghost]

#431

3.7 from Fdroid.

[c-mauderer]

If that was a question: 3.7 from F-Droid seems to work fine. The 3.7 from Google play crashes on start on a phone with MicroG instead of Google Play services. I can't try on my work phone (which would have play services) because it seems that IT can't allow apps from the testing phase. They tried but it seems that they just can't select a version that isn't released in the mobile device management system.

[novocaiin]

I uploaded 3.7.0 to open testing in the play store - please test it and I will roll out to public

How do I install the Beta if I can't install the regular app (due to the aforementioned issue)?
I enrolled in Beta but nothing has gotten installed.

[ligi]

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.ligi.passandroid

https://play.google.com/apps/testing/org.ligi.passandroid

can you test any of these links?

[tinsukE]

I have successfully become a tester of the app via the second link and, after some time, it reflects on the store listing (first link), but I'm still not allowed to install the app:

Android 13. LineageOS 20 + GApps.

[ligi]

Sorry - but then I really do not know what to do there. You will need to wait until I roll it out fully on play - or install via f-droid.
Hope to be able to do it soon - but want to wait a wee bit longer to see if the new version introduced more bugs.

[Phylu]

I just built the current master myself and installed it on a Pixel 7a with Android SDK version 33. So far, I can't find any issues.

[matbadev]

Hi all, I'd like to use PassAndroid on my Pixel 7 Pro. I joined the beta program and Google Play is showing me version 3.7.3 but it's labelled as incompatible:

I tried installing PassAndroid 3.7.3 from F-Droid and it runs fine so the problem doesn't seem to be the app itself but something PlayStore-related. Does anyone have an idea what could be the issue there? Is there maybe some restriction in PlayStore that prevents installations on the Pixel 7 Pro specifically?

[duerrhannes]

Same issue with Google Play Store incompability here, as well:
"Diese App ist für dein Gerät nicht verfügbar, weil sie für eine ältere Android-Version entwickelt wurde."

Running Android 13 on Samsung Galaxy A52 EE. Being a work phone, access to app sources other than Google Play Store is disabled by my employer.

Could this again be the same issue related to targetSdkVersion?

[markusschloesser]

I have version 3.4.7 installed from the play store on my pixel 8 pro with Android 14 running nicely