This app was built for an older version of Android and doesn't include the latest privacy protections

Question

Today I started to get this annoying message (when installing APK outside the Google Play):

This app was built for an older version of Android and doesn't include the latest privacy protections

What is this message? What should we do?

I believe that it's because of the targetSdkVersion but can't find anything about it.

^^^^ UPDATE ^^^^

It turns out that when I changed targetSdkVersion from 24 to 26 - the message disappeared.

Celindaceline

have u found any solution for this? then pls help us. – Opal

Answer 1

It seems that Google started to enforce using minimum targetSdkVersion of 26 for APK installed outside the Google Play Store.

So you'll have to updated your targetSdkVersion in the AndroidManifest.xml file in your project.

Celindaceline

Playing with Android 14 Beta 3 and targetSdkVersion is minimum at '28' now. – Chromatography

I have a targetSdkVersion is 28 eventhough am getting this error. I think it is expecting the latest version 33 as mentioned in this link developer.android.com/google/play/requirements/target-sdk. Can anyone confirm? – Carmina

manifest or gradle? – Evite

Answer 2

For those who are having this problem even after updating the targetSdk to the latest version, make sure your "compileSdk" is written correctly. I upgraded my Gradle and the "compileSdkVersion" was deprecated. After changing it to compileSdk, the pop-up stopped appearing.

Change

compileSdkVersion

To

compileSdk

Martinet

Answer 3

I also had your problem To fix the problem, just put your target SDK on the latest version

for example

android {
namespace 'ir.galaxycell.kako'
compileSdk 33

buildFeatures{
    dataBinding true
}

defaultConfig {
    applicationId "ir.galaxycell.kako"
    minSdk 21
    targetSdk 33
    versionCode 1
    versionName "1.0"

    testInstrumentationRunner "androidx.test.runner.AndroidJUnitRunner"
}

Hardset