Google Play latest privacy and security features

[Lam_Henry]

Google Play announced that they're expanding their target API level requirements to protect users from installing apps that may not have the latest privacy and security features.
Starting Nov 1, 2022, apps that don't target an API level within 2 years of the latest Android release won't be available to new users with devices running Android versions newer than our app's API level.
So what should we do to meet the requirements ?.

[Anke]

How to upload and publish an app in the Play Store → AAB or APK

If you want to upload and publish an app in the Play Store, the following should be observed: Apps that were published in the Play Store before Aug 1, 2021 can still be uploaded as APKs in the Play Developer Console (even after Nov 2021) and therefore do not need to switch to Google App Signing (which simplifies it). Apps that were published in the Play Store after July 31, 2021 must use AABs and also Google App Signing. To test such apps in advance, you should always have an APK generated…

[Lam_Henry]

@Lam_Henry

have the latest privacy and security features

How to make the app fulfill the latest privacy and security features

[ewpatton]

As long as you are publishing updates regularly you will be fine. Every year we update App Inventor during the summer to target the latest Android SDK in compliance with the Google Play Store requirements. All this policy change is doing is making it so that the store will no longer allow people to install apps that are at least 2 years out of date with the current Android version.