Develop Reference

In appgyver, How to change app build target to 8.0 (Android)?

In August 1, Google Play requires new apps to target at least Android 8.0 (API level 26). But in appgyver, I notice the latest available version is 4.5.3. Is there any way to upgrade it? Thanks!

I having the same issue, which is the maximum API level which appgyver supports is 21 only. GooglePlay required at least API Level 26 on August 2018 onward.

AppGyver just officially answered this question here.
TL;TR AppGyver is using Crosswalk, an Intel product, to build Android apps, and Intel has shut down Crosswalk over a year ago, now it is not possible for AppGyver to update their Build Service without rewriting the entier Android part, which would cost them too much, Supersonic and Steroids being depreciated, Android is officially abandonned by AppGyver, the Build Service will stay as is for apps that are internally distributed but won't allow to build apps destinated for Play Store.
Edit: I found a solution that allow me to get the app accepted on the Play Store, but app will crash on Android 8.
I then tested to install my app from the Play Store on a Android 6 with success but as we could expect it crashes on Android 8, the edited Target SDK number dupes the Play Store so it lets the APK in, but in the end it hasn't been built with Android 8 capabilities, so it won't work on that version.
All I had to do was to import my APK in APK Icon Editor, go in the Properties tab, change the Target SDK value to 26 (be sure to keep a lower value in the Minimum SDK field as it's the one telling what Android version can actually instal your app, if it's high then older phones won't have access to your app), and click on Pack APK to generate a new signed APK that is accepted by the Play Store!
Its as easy as this:
I then tested to install my app from the Play Store on a Android 6 with success but as we could expect it crashes on Android 8, the edited Target SDK number dupes the Play Store so it lets the APK in, but in the end it hasn't been built with Android 8 capabilities, so it won't work on that version.
Edit: it seems like it also crashes on Android 7 :(

Appgyver is constantly working on their platform and bringing latest updates. hopefully soon this issue will be resolved as well.. try contacting their support

Increased minSdkVersion, now older devices can't install the older app version that supported them

I increased the minSdkVersion from 16 to 21. I thought that when a user with an old device visits the play store, they will be able to download the previous APK that has it set to 16, and only the new devices will see the latest version.
However, when I visited the play store with a device running sdk 16, I just see "your device is incompatible with this version"
How do I make it so that the older devices are able to download the older version?

You need to revert minSdkVersion value to 16 again.

Below happens on minSdkVersion change
On apk upload, Google plays warns you on minSdkVersion telling how many users will be affected.
Existing users lower than minSdkVersion won't get update and cannot see app in PlayStore
Existing users lower than minSdkVersion, if they uninstall, cannot reinstall the application.
I suggest you use multiple apk option in PlayStore and continue to update your newer apk. Just keep the old one as it is.
Refer this : https://developer.android.com/training/multiple-apks/api

Getting Android app to run on more devices?

This is a beginner question, but what are the steps needed to get my app to run on more devices? I noticed that my new update (on beta) is running on fewer devices. Do I just need to update the targetminsdk version in build gradle or is there anything else I need to do? I think I should be aiming for minsdkversion 18?
My versions in gradle are here
compileSdkVersion 23
minSdkVersion 21
targetSdkVersion 22

Min sdk version : Is the earliest release of the Android SDK that your application can run on. So this is what you want to change if you want more devices supported for your app.
Target sdk version : The version your application was targeted to run on. Ideally this is because of some sort of optimal run conditions.
Android Developers forum says :
The dashboard for Platform Versions is updated regularly to show the distribution of active devices running each version of Android, based
on the number of devices that visit the Google Play Store. Generally,
it’s a good practice to support about 90% of the active devices, while
targeting your app to the latest version.
For more details, go through : Supporting Different Platform Versions
For API 18 : your app will run on approximately 76.9% of the devices that are active on Google Play Store.
For API 21 : your app will run on approximately 40.5% of the devices that are active on Google Play Store.
Now that is a huge difference, that you may not really want for your app. So you need to weigh your pros and cons of having Latest API support to getting more users. I would infact recommend you to go for API 18 instead of 21, unless you have some very important functionality that necessitates API 21 and above and can't be done without.

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.

Can change minsdkversion from 5 to 8 while updating the app on google play?

I have an Android app on Google Play market. I have added some features and also I want to change minsdkversion 5 to 8. Will Google play accept the new apk or reject due to increase in minsdkversion?

Google Play will accept it, just as long as the package name and the signing certificate are the same, doesn't matter if the minSDK, targetSDK or maxSDK is changed within the manifest.

it will accept and give you a warning letting you know how many users won't be able to update it.

The devices from API version <=7 will not get any update but the devices >=8 API version will get update as usual.