{"id":5566,"date":"2018-02-12T15:59:27","date_gmt":"2018-02-12T10:29:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/blog\/?p=5566"},"modified":"2018-02-12T16:22:22","modified_gmt":"2018-02-12T10:52:22","slug":"google-announces-new-app-development-guidelines-for-android-developers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/google-announces-new-app-development-guidelines-for-android-developers\/","title":{"rendered":"Google Announces New App Development Guidelines for Android Developers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Android and iOS seem to be locked in an eternal battle for the high throne of the mobile platform, and the more each of them undergoes splendid improvements, the intensifying this battle becomes. Android, for its part, boasts a massive number of users, an open and highly customizable platform, and of course, the long list of features. But every time a comparison is drawn between Android and iOS, it always falls short on two parameters- security and fragmentation. Now with the latest guidelines for Android developers, Google is attempting to plug those two loopholes.<\/p>\n<p>To clarify, these guidelines are not advisory. So, every <a href=\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/android-app-development\" target=\"_blank\">Android app development company<\/a> must get their house in order to implement these changes in the prescribed time frame. Here is everything that\u2019s about to change:<\/p>\n<h2>API Targeting<\/h2>\n<p>Every year, Android comes out with a new version that not only brings improved performance and new features but also implements many security and privacy measures- all of which can be incorporated only if developers target the latest API in their application.<\/p>\n<p>While until now, it was only desirable that developers use the latest API, it has now been made mandatory.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>From August 2018 onwards, new applications must target API level 26 (Android 8.0) or higher<\/li>\n<li>From November 2018 onwards, all updates to existing apps must also target API level 26<\/li>\n<li>From 2019 onwards, the target API level will advance with each new subsequent release. That is, the developers must target the last API of that year<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The existing apps that are no longer receiving updates will remain unaffected by this change. Also, while the target API level has been prescribed, developers are free to choose the minimum SDK version for backward compatibility.<\/p>\n<h2>64-bit Support<\/h2>\n<p>Google launch support for 64-bit architecture more than three years ago with Android 5.0 and today, over 40% of the devices online have transitioned for 64-bit support. The architecture is known for its improved performance and additional memory and instructions that make it easier to incorporate complex functionalities.<\/p>\n<p>As 64-bit architecture is indisputably the future of mobility, Android is now mandating that all new apps and app updates with native libraries must also submit a 64-bit version along with 32-bit version. This can be either within a single APK or they can also publish multiple APKs for different versions.<\/p>\n<p>This, however, doesn\u2019t mean that Android is ending support for 32-bit, it will continue supporting them. It\u2019s just that they wish to be future-proof.<\/p>\n<p>Also, this change came into effect in August 2019 and doesn\u2019t apply to applications that do not include native libraries.<\/p>\n<h2>Security metadata<\/h2>\n<p>This is a small change that Google has introduced in early 2018 and is only meant to be informative because the developers do not need to take any action for its implementation. It will start adding a small amount of metadata on top of each application to confirm its authenticity and source of distribution.<\/p>\n<p>The developers need not worry about its implementation because the store will automatically adjust the maximum APK size to account for this addition and it will be added to APK signing block, thus ensuring that it doesn\u2019t affect the functionality in any way.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3>Also read: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/blog\/how-much-does-it-cost-to-develop-an-android-app\/\" target=\"_blank\">How Much Does It Cost to Develop an Android App?<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2>Final remarks<\/h2>\n<p>As discussed in the beginning, all these changes are essentially aimed at creating a consolidated and secure platform- the benefits of which, both users and developers will reap in the future. So, if you are looking to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/hire-android-developer\" target=\"_blank\">hire Android developers<\/a>, add these two changes in your checklist to ensure your application remains relevant for a long time to come. As for us, most of these suggested measures are already part of our development practices and if you want the same to be incorporated into your Android app, <strong><a href=\"mailto:sales@konstantinfo.com\" target=\"_blank\">get in touch now<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Android and iOS seem to be locked in an eternal battle for the high throne of the mobile platform, and the more each of them undergoes splendid improvements, the intensifying this battle becomes. Android, for its part, boasts a massive number of users, an open and highly customizable platform, and of course, the long list&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/google-announces-new-app-development-guidelines-for-android-developers\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Google Announces New App Development Guidelines for Android Developers<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":5567,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[325,1180],"class_list":["post-5566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mobile-app-development","tag-android-developers","tag-guidelines-for-android-developers","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Google Announces New App Development Guidelines for Android Developers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Looking to plug a few security loopholes and mitigate the high fragmentation in the Android space, Google has released new guidelines for android developers that they must comply.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/google-announces-new-app-development-guidelines-for-android-developers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Google Announces New App Development Guidelines for Android Developers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Looking to plug a few security loopholes and mitigate the high fragmentation in the Android space, Google has released new guidelines for android developers that they must comply.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/google-announces-new-app-development-guidelines-for-android-developers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Konstantinfo\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-02-12T10:29:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-02-12T10:52:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Guidelines-for-Android-Developers.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1008\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"448\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mrityunjay Kumar\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@konstantinfo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@konstantinfo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mrityunjay Kumar\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/google-announces-new-app-development-guidelines-for-android-developers\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/google-announces-new-app-development-guidelines-for-android-developers\/\",\"name\":\"Google Announces New App Development Guidelines for Android Developers\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/google-announces-new-app-development-guidelines-for-android-developers\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/google-announces-new-app-development-guidelines-for-android-developers\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Guidelines-for-Android-Developers.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-02-12T10:29:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-02-12T10:52:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b99f56ac358560651df7fb8041397710\"},\"description\":\"Looking to plug a few security loopholes and mitigate the high fragmentation in the Android space, Google has released new guidelines for android developers that they must comply.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/google-announces-new-app-development-guidelines-for-android-developers\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/google-announces-new-app-development-guidelines-for-android-developers\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/google-announces-new-app-development-guidelines-for-android-developers\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Guidelines-for-Android-Developers.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Guidelines-for-Android-Developers.jpg\",\"width\":1008,\"height\":448,\"caption\":\"Guidelines for Android Developers\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/google-announces-new-app-development-guidelines-for-android-developers\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Google Announces New App Development Guidelines for Android Developers\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/\",\"name\":\"Konstantinfo\",\"description\":\"Welcome to Konstant Info\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b99f56ac358560651df7fb8041397710\",\"name\":\"Mrityunjay Kumar\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/mrityunjay-kumar-150x150.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/mrityunjay-kumar-150x150.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Mrityunjay Kumar\"},\"description\":\"Mrityunjay is a content developer at Konstant Infosolutions- a leading mobile app development firm that caters to enterprises of all scales and industries with cutting-edge tech solutions. Being an engineer by education, a reader by passion, and a writer by profession, he finds no topic truly boring, yet nothing seems to content his craving as well- an essence he leaves in everything he writes.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/konstantinfo\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/author\/mrityunjay-kumar\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Google Announces New App Development Guidelines for Android Developers","description":"Looking to plug a few security loopholes and mitigate the high fragmentation in the Android space, Google has released new guidelines for android developers that they must comply.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/google-announces-new-app-development-guidelines-for-android-developers\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Google Announces New App Development Guidelines for Android Developers","og_description":"Looking to plug a few security loopholes and mitigate the high fragmentation in the Android space, Google has released new guidelines for android developers that they must comply.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/google-announces-new-app-development-guidelines-for-android-developers\/","og_site_name":"Konstantinfo","article_published_time":"2018-02-12T10:29:27+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-02-12T10:52:22+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1008,"height":448,"url":"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Guidelines-for-Android-Developers.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Mrityunjay Kumar","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@konstantinfo","twitter_site":"@konstantinfo","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mrityunjay Kumar","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/google-announces-new-app-development-guidelines-for-android-developers\/","url":"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/google-announces-new-app-development-guidelines-for-android-developers\/","name":"Google Announces New App Development Guidelines for Android Developers","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/google-announces-new-app-development-guidelines-for-android-developers\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/google-announces-new-app-development-guidelines-for-android-developers\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Guidelines-for-Android-Developers.jpg","datePublished":"2018-02-12T10:29:27+00:00","dateModified":"2018-02-12T10:52:22+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b99f56ac358560651df7fb8041397710"},"description":"Looking to plug a few security loopholes and mitigate the high fragmentation in the Android space, Google has released new guidelines for android developers that they must comply.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/google-announces-new-app-development-guidelines-for-android-developers\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/google-announces-new-app-development-guidelines-for-android-developers\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/google-announces-new-app-development-guidelines-for-android-developers\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Guidelines-for-Android-Developers.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Guidelines-for-Android-Developers.jpg","width":1008,"height":448,"caption":"Guidelines for Android Developers"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/google-announces-new-app-development-guidelines-for-android-developers\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Google Announces New App Development Guidelines for Android Developers"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/","name":"Konstantinfo","description":"Welcome to Konstant Info","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b99f56ac358560651df7fb8041397710","name":"Mrityunjay Kumar","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/mrityunjay-kumar-150x150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/mrityunjay-kumar-150x150.jpg","caption":"Mrityunjay Kumar"},"description":"Mrityunjay is a content developer at Konstant Infosolutions- a leading mobile app development firm that caters to enterprises of all scales and industries with cutting-edge tech solutions. Being an engineer by education, a reader by passion, and a writer by profession, he finds no topic truly boring, yet nothing seems to content his craving as well- an essence he leaves in everything he writes.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com","https:\/\/x.com\/konstantinfo"],"url":"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/author\/mrityunjay-kumar\/"}]}},"show_toc":false,"table_of_content":[],"faq":[],"related_blogs":[{"id":12341,"title":"AI in Real Estate Industry &#8211; Benefits, Use Cases, Applications and Challenges","slug":"ai-in-real-estate","link":"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/ai-in-real-estate\/","modified":"2026-05-07 17:49:19","excerpt":"The real-estate industry is predominantly run by human expertise and manual processes including buying, selling, and building lands and property....","image":"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/ai-in-real-estate.webp"},{"id":12324,"title":"10 Top Education App Development Companies (2026)","slug":"education-app-development-companies","link":"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/education-app-development-companies\/","modified":"2026-05-07 15:22:39","excerpt":"What started as an extension of traditional classrooms became a billion-dollar industry. The online education sector has flourished massively. It...","image":"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/education-app-development-companies.webp"},{"id":12333,"title":"10 Best eCommerce App Development Companies (2026)","slug":"ecommerce-app-development-companies","link":"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/ecommerce-app-development-companies\/","modified":"2026-05-05 17:18:51","excerpt":"We have curated a comprehensive list of top eCommerce app development companies to assist you in developing top-notch eCommerce applications....","image":"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/best-ecommerce-app-development-companies.webp"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5566\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.konstantinfo.com\/konstant-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}