Google Play target API 36: what changes and how to upgrade

Anyone who publishes a new app or submits an update on Google Play. Google defines an app update as a new version submitted for review to replace your existing app. If the new version targets less than API 36 and you have no extension, you cannot publish it.

Apps you are not updating are covered by the separate rule for existing apps: below API 35, they stop being available to users whose devices run an Android version newer than the app’s target API level. Apps that are permanently private and used only internally are exempt.

In practice, the requirement hits hardest when you need to ship an urgent fix. A crash fix or a payment fix cannot go out until the target is raised, so the upgrade is best done before the next release you actually care about.

Google offers the extension through Play Console. The extension form is available from the details page of the warning or issue on the Policy status page in Play Console. Open Policy status, find the target API level warning for your app, open its details and submit the request there.

The extension moves the deadline to November 1, 2026; it does not waive the requirement. Use the time to do the upgrade properly rather than to postpone it.

Flutter apps target Android 15 by default starting with Flutter 3.27, so many projects are already one step away. Flutter’s documentation notes that on Android 16 and above you can no longer opt out of edge-to-edge, and that using the opt-out attribute on Android 16 or later might cause the app to crash; if you still need it for Android 15, put it in a version-specific resource directory so it does not apply on 16. Use SafeArea and MediaQuery padding so content avoids the system bars.

For back navigation, Flutter deprecated WillPopScope, Navigator.willPop, Form.onWillPop and Route.willPop in favor of PopScope (canPop and onPopInvokedWithResult), NavigatorPopHandler and Route.popDisposition. The change landed in 3.14.0-7.0.pre and is stable since Flutter 3.16. Replace WillPopScope before raising the target, or back confirmations such as "discard changes?" will stop working.

React Native 0.81 makes Android apps target Android 16 (API level 36) by default. The release notes repeat that Android 16 requires edge-to-edge with no opt-out, and add a Gradle property, edgeToEdgeEnabled, to turn edge-to-edge on for older Android versions too, so the app looks the same everywhere.

Predictive back is enabled by default for apps targeting Android 16; the BackHandler API should continue to work for most use cases, but custom native back handling needs checking. React Native’s built-in SafeAreaView is deprecated in favor of react-native-safe-area-context, which is the practical way to handle insets on every screen.