Your Android app's extension runs out November 1. Which of these five situations are you in?

The date, and the one number that matters

Every Android app declares a target API level, called targetSdkVersion in the build, that tells the phone which version of Android's rules the app was built for. Google Play raises the minimum every year.

According to Google's Play Console Help page, since August 31, 2026, new apps and app updates must target Android 16, which is API level 36, to be submitted. Wear OS and Android Automotive apps need API level 35, and Android TV and Android XR apps need API level 34. Developers who needed more time could request an extension to November 1, 2026, through forms in Play Console.

That extension is about to end. The risk isn't that your app disappears on November 2. It's that the one update you need in December can't go out. A holiday promotion, a payment fix, a change your support team has been begging for all wait behind a build that targets the new level.

So the first thing to find out is simple: ask your developer what target API level your latest release on Google Play uses. Then find yourself below.

Situations 1 and 2: already on API 36, or internal only

Situation 1: you already target API level 36. You're done with this deadline. Your updates go through as normal.

It's still worth asking whether anything else on Google's list affects you. The policy deadlines page lists changes due January 27, 2027, including new rules for broad contacts access and for precise location. If your app reads a user's whole address book, we wrote about that one in your app asks for every contact.

Situation 2: it's an internal app. Google makes an exception for permanently private apps that are restricted to users in a specific organization and intended for internal distribution only. If your app is a staff tool distributed only inside your company, confirm it's set up that way and you can stop worrying about this particular deadline. Be careful with the word permanently. A staff app that you might one day open to customers or partners would fall back under the normal rules the day it does.

Situation 3: you got the extension and haven't shipped API 36 yet

This is the urgent group. You have about a week.

If your developer is close, the goal is to submit a build targeting API level 36 before November 1 and get it through review. If they aren't close, plan for the gap: after November 1, Google Play won't accept an update from you until it targets the new level. Your existing app keeps running for current users, and if it targets API level 35 it stays available to new users too. You just can't change it.

Ask three things this week. How far along is the API 36 build? What has testing found, especially in areas Android tightens each year like background work, notifications and permissions? And is there anything you must ship before the holidays that would be blocked?

If the honest answer is that the build won't be ready, decide now whether any urgent fix should go out first, while the extension still holds.

Leave room for review. A build submitted on October 31 is a bet that nothing comes back with a question. Aim to submit several days early, and have someone watching Play Console for a response rather than assuming silence means approval.

Also ask how the upgrade was tested. The phones that matter most are the ones your customers actually carry, which may be older or cheaper than the developer's own. Every new target level changes some default behavior, and the bugs tend to show up in the least glamorous places: a reminder that no longer fires, a photo upload that asks for a permission twice, a login screen that looks wrong on a small display. A short test on a few real devices is worth more than a long one on an emulator.

Situations 4 and 5: no extension, on API 35 or lower

Situation 4: you target API level 35. You've probably already met this. Since August 31 you couldn't submit updates without targeting API level 36. If you haven't tried to ship anything since, you may not have noticed.

Your app is still available to new users, since Google's rule for existing apps is API level 35 or higher. But you're frozen. Any future update needs the API 36 work first, so put it on the schedule before you need an update, not when you need one.

Situation 5: you target API level 34 or lower. This one has been costing you quietly. Google's page says existing apps must target API level 35 or higher to remain available to new users on devices running newer versions of Android. Apps that target API level 34 or lower are only available on devices running Android versions at or below the app's target.

In plain terms, people with newer phones may not be able to find or install your app at all. Your current users keep it, but new customers on recent devices don't see it. Two years of target updates are now stacked up, so expect more work than a routine upgrade. It's often the sign of an app nobody has actively owned for a while, which is worth fixing for its own sake: find out who holds the code, the Play Console access and the signing setup before you hire anyone to do the upgrade.

What to do this week

Whatever situation you're in, three habits help.

Write the target level down somewhere you'll see it. It's one line of a build file, but it decides whether you can ship. Make it part of every release note.

Put next year's deadline on the calendar now. Google raises the requirement each year. Ask your developer to plan the next target update in the summer, not in the last week.

Keep one release path clear for emergencies. The worst time to discover a blocked update is when a payment provider changes something and you need a fix live in a day.

If you don't have a developer on hand, or the API 36 work is bigger than expected, that's the kind of work our mobile applications team does, from target upgrades to taking over apps whose original builders have moved on. Talk to us.

Related work: Spin Market.