Since 31 August 2026, Google Play has applied a rule that is easy to state and expensive to ignore: to publish a new version of an app, it has to target Android 16, what developers call API 36. Apps that stayed behind do not disappear from the Play Store, but they lose something quieter and more damaging.
The two rules, plainly
To publish. Every update sent to the Play Store must target API 36. A one-line bug fix counts as an update: if the app has not been moved to the newer Android version, it cannot ship that fix at all. Google allowed extensions to be requested, and those extensions end on 1 November 2026.
To be found. An app already on the store that still targets Android 14 (API 34) or lower is no longer offered to new users whose phone runs a newer version of Android than the app targets. Existing users keep it. New users on recent phones no longer see it.
The second rule is the one that hurts without warning. Nothing breaks, no alert arrives, and installs quietly dry up, which is easy to blame on the market.
How to tell whether this is you
Without access to the code, the "last updated" date on the Play Store listing already tells you a lot. An app with no update since the summer of 2025 very probably targets API 34 or lower, because the previous rule (API 35) took effect on 31 August 2025.
With access to Play Console you can be exact: each release shows the API level it targets, and the console flags releases that no longer meet the requirements.
What the upgrade actually costs
Rarely what people expect. Moving from one Android version to the next is not a rewrite: it is a project version bump, dependencies that follow, and then the behaviours Android has tightened along the way. The real work, in order:
- permissions and file access, which have narrowed with every version;
- background work and notifications, now far more constrained;
- abandoned libraries with no compatible release, which have to be replaced;
- the build pipeline itself, often stuck on a Gradle or plugin version that is too old.
On a healthy mid-sized app this is a matter of days. On an app left alone for three years, with dead dependencies, it can take two to three weeks. The difference is not the Google rule, it is the debt that built up before it.
What if the app is not evolving any more?
That is a fair decision. An app at the end of its life can stay in place for its current users without updates. But it should be a decision rather than a drift: until something is done, it keeps losing installs, and the day a blocking bug appears, no fix can ship.
If you want help
I bring iOS and Android apps back into compliance: a current build, an update accepted by the store, and a clear report of what was touched. The rules and dates are summarised on the store compliance page, and a five-day health check answers the wider question of what shape the app is in.
Official sources: Target API level requirements for Google Play and the Google Play developer help page.