Develop Reference

How to set code versions activity in Google Play Console?

Versions 1 to 3 of my app in Google Play have minSdkVersion = 15.
Then, when I published version 4, I changed minSdk to 16. Google Play Console automatically kept version 3 active for users with Android API = 15, with was quite sensible.
In version 57 I chagned minSdk once again, and set it to 26. I expected version 56 (with minSdk = 16) would be still active for users with Android API between 16 and 25. But it didn't happen and version 56 was deactivated automatically.
Now, there are two code versions active:
version 3 for users with Android API < 26
version 57 for users with Android API >= 26
My aim is to have version 56 available for users with Android API from 16 to 25, but I have no idea how to change activity of code versions in Google Play Console. Is it even possible?
Thank you

(I never though PlayStore keeps active an old version for very old SDK users...it's strange Google does it because if you release a newer version it should be take in count about old users in your new code and not by a complete old and separated version.)
At this time you can't change something of previous releases. Unfortunately PlayStore doesn't more accept updates that targets SDK<26 so the only think you can do is take in count SDK between 16 and 25 in your code while targetting 26+.

Google asks to update your Android targetSdkVersion

Google recently announced, that "updates to apps and games on Google Play will be required to target Android 9 (API level 28) or higher". As far as I understand, this does not have any negative consequences (like, the apps are removed from store) to existing apps with a targetSdkVersion lower than 28. Is this true? So, what google wants to say is just that I'm no longer able to update existing apps with targetSdkVersion < 28?

Last year Google notified developers to upgrade your Apps which should be at least API-LEVEL 26.
Now same thing we have to do upgrade API-Level, existing applications will not stop or removed but new builds we can not publish on play store which are below> API Level 28.

Yes you are right, starting from November 1 Google won't allow you to submit to console if the target is less than 28

push update for a specific version of android in the play store

I have an app on the play store that that I am receiving crash reports from and have noticed that there are some crashes that are specific to an android version ( 4.0 - 4.4 ). I want to send out an update to only those android versions. How do I go about doing that because the play store doesn't give me any such option. The minimum api version I am targeting is 16 with a targetSDK version of 27. Do i need to change those values and make a target sdk version of 19 instead and push out the update? If so will it affect the availability of the app to devices with a higher api level?

This can be done in the Play store with a Multiple APK configuration.
Suppose the current version of your app has versionCode 100. You produce a new version with versionCode 101, which has:
minSdkVersion 14 (ICS, version 4.0)
maxSdkVersion 19 (KitKat, version 4.4)
You then create a release which has both version code 101 and version code 100 in it.
To make things slightly more complicated, you should think about a user who has a KitKat phone and upgrades their Android version. They would then be matched with version 100, but this would be a downgrade from versionCode 101 to versionCode 100, and downgrades are not allowed. So you should also produce a version 102 which is exactly the same as 100.
Because this is so complicated, it might be easier to just deliver the update to everyone, and keep a single APK.

Upgrade path: Can Min API "skip" a version?

I have an app which currently supports Android API 17 and above.
My new version requires some calls that were added in API 19. I have finished coding and am ready to release my new version...but only for API 19 and above. I intend to support API 17, but it will take me a little while to write that code.
I would not like to hold up the release my app for my API 19 customers.
If I upload an APK with minimum SDK level set to 19, then I know that my customers with API < 19 will not be able to upgrade. However, if I later upload another APK with my min API now set back to 17 again, will the API < 19 installations be able to "skip" the first APK version and upgrade to the next version that supports their device?

Yes, you can change the minSDK version after the app is published to play store.
Also you need to upgrade the versionCode in build.gradle file higher than the current play store version code.
Once you upload the new apk with minSDK set back to 17, user with API< 19 will also be able to download the updated app.

Android version code for App updating

I read that if we want to update an app in google play, the version Code should be higher than the previous apk file. I've an app with version code: 20 and version name 1.0. So to update the app, how should I increase the version code? Should it increase by 10? or just 1 is enough? ie, version code from 20 to 30 or version code from 20 to 21?

VersionCode
This number is used only to determine whether one version is more
recent than another, with higher numbers indicating more recent
versions. Typically, you would release the first version of your app
with versionCode set to 1, then monotonically increase the value with
each release, regardless whether the release constitutes a major or
minor release. This means that the versionCode value does not
necessarily have a strong resemblance to the app release version that
is visible to the user (see versionName, below). Apps and publishing
services should not display this version value to users.
defaultConfig
{
minSdkVersion 17
targetSdkVersion 23
versionCode 1 // Default , You can increase 1 when update .
versionName "1.0"
}

You can use the Play Core Library In-app updates to tackle this. You can check for update availability and install them if available seamlessly.
In-app updates are not compatible with apps that use APK expansion files (.obb files). You can either go for flexible downloads or immediate updates which Google Play takes care of downloading and installing the update for you.
dependencies {
implementation 'com.google.android.play:core:1.5.0'
...
}
Note that, In-app updates works only with devices running Android 5.0 (API level 21) or higher, and requires you to use Play Core library 1.5.0 or higher.
'
I hope this will help somebody

I increased it from code 1 and version 1.0 to code 2 and version 1.1 . That's also what it says in my developer console. So just do as you wish

Basically, For update your apk you should update version code to 21(just 1 increase) and your version name.