Unable publish app as it is blocked by Alpha testing - android

Currently, I have a production app, which is using SDK 21.
Since it requires a huge engineering work, to port the app to SDK 23, we make another unstable Alpha release, by using SDK 23
Today, I need to make a critical bug fix release, for our production app.
However, since we have an Alpha app with SDK 23, it prevents us from publishing the new production app, which is using SDK 21.
I try to de-activate Alpha testing, but it just won't help. Please see my screenshot.
Anything I do, so that I can publish my critical bug fixed production app, with SDK 21?
Thanks.

I get pretty useful advice from ianhanniballake
You upload a new prod build to prod (target API 21, higher version
than current alpha version number - what you're showing us) and a new
alpha build to alpha (target API 23, higher version than new prod
build), then publish both simultaneously.
That way alpha users get updated to a new API 23 build and prod users
get updated to a new API 21 build and importantly no API 23 using
alpha build is offered an API 21 build.
alpha > beta > prod always - remember it is set up so you can promote
alpha to prod eventually (which wouldn't work if prod's version number
was larger than alpha)
In short, switch to advance mode, upload 2 APKs which targets different SDK. Make sure alpha version code is higher than production version code.
A very lengthy explanation can be found in http://developer.android.com/google/play/publishing/multiple-apks.html
Also, don't forget to click on deactivate button, of current alpha and current production before publishing.

Related

Downgrading Minimum API version?

I am having problem pushing my build to Google's Play Store.
I suspect the recent lowering the minimum version from 23 to 22. I have published quite a number of beta releases (no prod release yet).
Is it possible to lower the minimum API version after we publish a beta release?
How do I invalidate all the beta releases?
Is it possible to lower the minimum API version after we publish a beta release?
You need to change the minimum API version in the AndroidManifest.xml and update the apk to Google Play Store.
You could refer to this article for how to update the apk.

Warning : Deactivation of this APK will result in your app being available for new installs on fewer types of devices

I have one version of app uploaded on Playstore with different architecture and now I want to upload my app with new version but getting.
Error:
You can't rollout this release because it doesn't allow any existing users to upgrade to the newly added APKs.
And also getting some warning error like
Device support removed
Warning
Deactivation of this APK will result in your app being available for
new installs on fewer types of devices.
Tip
If this is an unintended change, then retain this APK in the new
release or ensure that your new APKs support all currently supported
devices.
Right now,
Minimum API level : 16
Maximum API level : 26
and Earlier, it was
Minimum API level : 11
Maximum API level : 21
Anyone have any idea how to resolve this error ?
It is because you increased minimum api level from 11 to 16, so some of your potential users with android 16- can not update their application.
Update
I cannot decrease the api level due to some library used Is there any solution to resolve this error
To answer your question, you can upload multiple apk in play store. One with old libraries that support minSdk 11 and one with new libraries and possibly new functionalities that supports minSdk 16. You can find the required guides here

How do I roll back Gradle SDK settings on a published Play app? What is Target SDK and minimum SDKs?

As I was developing, I published to SDK 21, Lollipop, and I'm not able to use it on my KitKat device. The applications are really simple and I only used the SDK for the animations and for material design, however two things come up when I try and make changes to the play store.
I'm not sure what to set for my app. There is target SDK, minimum sdk, and such. I set all of these to 21 to 22. Now, if I try and publish an app that uses SDK minimum 11, Play gets mad and says that it cant roll back on devices. I don't care to update the users phones. Its a simple application that doesnt require that, but it won't let me update and replace the primary apk.
What should I do? What should I change? Apps are posted here under Thered Software on Google Play.
You can publish multiple apk's for different api-levels: http://developer.android.com/training/multiple-apks/api.html
First you should make sure you understand the difference between the compile SDK, minimum SDK, and target SDK versions. These are explained well in What is the difference between min SDK version/target SDK version vs. compile SDK version?.
Now, if I try and publish an app that uses SDK minimum 11, Play gets mad and says that it cant roll back on devices.
It would help if you posted the specific error message that the Play Store shows you, but it sounds like you are trying to upload an APK with a lower version code than an existing version of your app.
For example, let's assume you previously uploaded an APK that had a min SDK of 21 and you labeled that APK as version 56 of your application. Any version you upload now needs to have a version code of 57 or higher. This is because Android uses this version code to determine which version of an application is "newer."
This is specified in your build.gradle, as below:
android {
defaultConfig {
versionCode 56
}
}
Change your minsdk requirement in the manifest.
Do a new release (don't forget to increment the version code).
That is all.

Google Play app update - can't publish a new apk

I am getting the following error when trying to publish a new APK in Google Play:
It is forbidden to downgrade devices which previously used M permissions (target SDK 23 and above) to APKs which use old style permissions (target SDK 22 and below). This occurs in the change from version 2645 (target SDK 23) to version 2648 (target SDK 11).
I previously published only on Beta channel an APK with a target SDK of 23 in the manifest, just for testing.
I assume this is what causing the issue.
Does this mean I can't ever publish another APK with my regular manifest, which has a lower target SDK?
Did anyone encounter this and know of a way around it?
i want to show you something. hope you understand!
I've hit the same thing. I'm stuck on Marshmallow because I upgraded my target SDK in Beta.
One would think that you can back out as far as you want on a beta or alpha channel as long as it has not been published to production. That is the way it would work in the real world.
You only have a hind-site workaround.
The workaround is to not to develop for Marshmallow in Beta on your production app. Create a new application in Google Play and develop there until it is ready. This will also let you update the production code if a bug fix comes up before your marshmallow release.

Android APK file: Re-activate older APK file in Google Play Store

I have uploaded two APK files into the Google Play store. One is a newer version and one is an older version. The newer version is the active one since it has a higher versionName and Code. Now I found some bugs in the newer version and I want to delete it from the Play Store and activate the older version. Google Play won't let me deactivate the newer one and activate the older one again, since it has a lower versionName and code.
The problem is that I'm am not the developer and did not build the app. The developer is in another country and it is difficult to get hold of them.
What can I do to reactivate the older version again? I know one solution would be to change the versionName and Code. I only have the apk file, can I change those details in Eclipse with only the apk file and very little experience in eclipse or developing android apps?
Thank You
You can't rebuild a new version of an apk from the apk itself.
Have the app developer do the following:
Rebuild project in its previous state with higher version number (must be higher than all previously submitted versions)
Resubmit
From Google's Android "Developer Console" page:
Note that rollbacks aren’t supported due to the app versioning
requirements of the Android platform. If you need to rollback,
consider launching a previous APK with a new version number. However,
this practice should be used only as a last resort, as users will lose
access to new features and your old app may not be forward-compatible
with your server changes or data formats, so be sure to run alpha and
beta tests of your updates.
A good strategy is, when creating a build, modify the manifest to build say a version 2.0 = 39 AND again 2.05 = 45 and generate these two apks which will obviously do the same thing.
Later, when build 2.01 = 40 is in production and you find an error, you can jump back to the old version by uploading the 2.05 = 45 you created earlier.
You have 5 opportunities to back track while releasing 40, 41, 42, 43 and 44 to go back to earlier functionality!
Do this for each build and you can always go back to an earlier version which has been pre compiled and built but with a higher version number than currently in production.
You will not be able to change the APK file without having the signing certificate.
You should be able to revert to an older version, assuming you didn't change the level of API support.
Presumably, go to the Dev console, select the APK tab, hit the "Advanced Mode" option, deactivate the current version and hit "Reactivate" for the version you want.

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