How To Make An App Compatible With Android

View and restrict your app's compatible devices

After you've uploaded at least one APK to your Play Console, you can view the catalog of available devices and review which devices are compatible with your app. To help ensure the widest availability of your app, review your supported and excluded devices lists regularly.

Keep in mind, the device catalog doesn't apply to instant apps.

Review your app's device compatibility

To review your app's supported and excluded devices:

Sign in to your Play Console.
Select an app.
On the left menu, click Release management > Device catalog.
- If you haven't already, review and accept the Terms of Service.
Select the All, Supported, orExcluded tabs.
- If you want to download a list of devices as a CSV file, near the right side of the page, click Download device list.

Terms of Service details

To access the device catalog and its functionality, review and accept the Terms of Service. You must be the account owner or a user with the global "Manage production releases" permission to accept the new terms. Once you've accepted the terms for one app in your account, you'll be able to continue using the device catalog for all of your apps.

If you don't accept the Terms of Service:

You won't be able to access the device catalog.
You won't be able to exclude devices from distribution.

Device list format

When viewing your app's device list, keep in mind a device may be associated with several models. Related models will be grouped together under the same device name, and you can expand the details for each model individually.

Sort or filter list by manufacturer or device attributes

You'll see your device list sorted by manufacturer. You can also review your list in the following ways:

To see all compatible devices from a manufacturer: Click Show more devices next to the manufacturer name.
To search for individual devices by manufacturer, design name, or public device name (example: Nexus 6): At the top of the page, use the search bar.

Device & model status

Support status

You'll see a support status for all active APKs associated with your app.

Since you may have different APKs released to different tracks (production, alpha, beta, internal test), you'll also see a status for each track. For example, if the beta version of your app requires more features than the production version, you may notice that a device is supported in production but not in beta.

Supported

Your app is compatible with the device.

Partially supported

If a device has multiple models, you'll see this status when only some of the models are supported by your app's manifest criteria.

Unsupported

Your app includes a feature or property (e.g. screen size, SDK level, etc.) not available on the device. For example, some devices may not include a compass sensor. If your app's core functionality requires the use of a compass sensor, then your app isn't compatible with those devices.

You'll see this status when all models associated with a device aren't compatible. If some models are supported, the status will read "Partially supported."

Exclusion status

When you exclude a device model in the catalog, you will see an exclusion status for that model. Device exclusion is managed per app instead of per release or track.

Excluded

Devices in the catalog you have excluded either by rule or manually.

Partially excluded

If a device has multiple models, you'll see this status when you've excluded some of the models from your app.

Uncertified devices

If a device is uncertified, the device hasn't been certified by Google and Google doesn't have a record of the Android compatibility test results.

Please keep in mind that:

Uncertified devices may not be secure.
Uncertified devices may not get Android system updates or app updates.
Apps and features on uncertified devices may not work correctly.
Data on uncertified devices may not back up securely.

App compatibility tips

Your app's device compatibility list is based on the manifest file settings and is refreshed periodically.
For example, if your APK's manifest file specifies a large screen size, your supported list will include devices with the required screen sizes that can access your app on Google Play.
Countries listed on your app's Pricing & distribution page don't affect your app's list of supported devices.

View device details

When you select a device with enough data on the Device catalog page, you'll see the following information:

Installs on active devices (last 30 days)
Cumulative average rating
Revenue (last 30 days)
Technical attributes like screen size, form factor, System on Chip, RAM, CPU, ABI, GPU, and SDK

Notes:

Device specifications are provided by the manufacturer and have not been confirmed.
Google has limited data about some devices that haven't gone through the Google certification process. Some of these devices won't be listed in the catalog, but you may still see users on these devices.

Exclude your app from certain devices

The excluded devices list is based on your most recently uploaded APK. If you upload a new APK with a different manifest file, the list will change.

Note: Device exclusion rules don't apply to internal testers.

Manage excluded devices per app

To prevent app crashes, you can exclude your app from being available to individual devices on Google Play. Making this change manually excludes your whole app—you can't exclude individual APKs.

By manually excluding devices with known compatibility issues, you can help provide a better experience for your users.

Exclude a device

Sign in to your Play Console.
Select an app.
On the left menu, select Release management > Device catalog.
Select a device.
At the bottom of your screen, select Exclude.

Set up exclusions for a device with multiple models

Sign in to your Play Console.
Select an app.
On the left menu, select Release management > Device catalog.
- If your app hasn't been published yet, select Device catalog.
Select a device. Devices with multiple models are labeled.
To exclude all models of the device, go to the top right corner of the screen and select Exclude all models.
- Other models are listed under the first model's details. To view details for other models, go to the right side of the screen and select the down arrow.
- To exclude one model of the device, go the bottom right corner of a model's details and select Exclude.

Note: To exclude your app from all devices made by one manufacturer, you need to exclude devices one at a time.

Manage excluded devices by performance indicators

If you want to exclude devices by performance indicators, you can create targeting rules based on RAM size or System on Chip (SoC).

Targeting rules automatically apply to new devices added to the catalog that meet the exclusion criteria. For example, if your app requires significant data storage, you can set up a rule to exclude devices with less than 512 MB RAM.

Note: RAM rules only work for devices SDK 16+ and don't apply to Wear OS APKs. RAM rules are based on the available memory on the device (TotalMem), not the branded memory.

Set up a rule

Sign in to your Play Console.
Select an app.
On the left menu, select Device catalog.
- If your app is published, select Release management > Device catalog.
Select the "Excluded devices" tab.
Next to "Exclusion rules," select Manage exclusion rules.
Under "Exclude devices which match any of the following," select the drop-down.
Select RAM or System on Chip.
- To add multiple rules, select the OR button. Another selector will appear.
- To remove a rule, select the cancel icon .
- For more information on SafetyNet Exclusions, go to the Android Developers site.
Review the device list that appears at the bottom of your screen.
Once your rule targets the right device list, save your changes.

Manage excluded devices based on Android compatibility

You can exclude your app from being available on certain devices based on SafetyNet services and compatibility with Android Oreo (Go edition).

SafetyNet details

SafetyNet helps you assess the security and compatibility on the Android devices running your app. SafetyNet examines software and hardware information to create a profile of that device. The service then attempts to find this same profile within a list of device models that have passed Android compatibility testing.

Android Oreo (Go edition) details

Android Oreo (Go edition) optimizes the Android experience on entry-level devices running Android 8.1 (API level 27) or higher with 1 GB of RAM or less. Learn how to optimize your apps for devices running Android (Go edition).

Set up device exclusion rules for SafetyNet or Android (Go edition)

Sign in to your Play Console.
Select an app.
On the left menu, select Device catalog.
Select the "Excluded devices" tab.
Next to "Exclusion rules," select Manage exclusion rules.
Next to "SafetyNet Exclusions" or "Android Go Exclusions," select an option:
- SafetyNet Exclusions
  - Don't exclude devices based on SafetyNet Attestation API: Selected by default.
  - Exclude only devices that don't pass basic integrit y: This helps you determine whether the particular device has been tampered with or otherwise modified.
  - Exclude devices that don't pass basic integrity, as well as devices that are uncertified by Google: This helps you determine whether the particular device has been tampered with, otherwise modified, or hasn't been certified by Google.
- Android Go Exclusions
  - Don't exclude Android Go devices: Selected by default.
  - Exclude Android Go devices: Prevent devices running Android Oreo (Go edition) from installing your app on Google Play.

Notes:

SafetyNet and Android Go Exclusions only restrict the availability of your app on Google Play. If they have access to your app's APK file, users can still install your app by directly installing it.
For additional abuse protection using SafetyNet services, consider integrating the SafetyNet Attestation API into your app. You can use a basic integrity SafetyNet Exclusion to exclude non-physical devices (like emulators) and devices running rooted systems.

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