AdMob’s minimum API requirement is not Play’s target API rule

The minimum Android version required by an ad SDK should be recorded separately from the target API required by Google Play. One concerns the devices on which the integrated app can run; the other concerns the platform level the app declares it targets.

Make the audience consequence inspectable

Our recommendation is to compare the candidate’s minimum supported version with the production build and the studio’s actual device population. The documentation supplies a dependency requirement. It does not supply the proportion of your players or paid traffic affected by adopting it.

Ask the release owner to identify whether another dependency already imposes a higher floor. If so, this particular SDK change may not alter the game’s supported audience. If it does alter support, document that explicitly before interpreting a change in install conversion across device groups.

Keep the change tied to a build

A portfolio-level statement that “Android is updated” is insufficient. Record the app, build identifier, resolved SDK version and resulting minimum API. Then verify the relevant installation paths using an appropriate device sample.

This article does not estimate lost reach or recommend retaining an obsolete integration. It provides the evidence needed for a product decision: the documented floor, the game’s current support policy and the audience data the studio still needs to supply. The artifact keeps those categories separate so a deadline checklist cannot blur them together.

The governing record is Migrate SDK versions — v23 to v24. This edition checks the provider documentation; it does not inspect a studio account or certify a shipped build.

Inspect the evidence

Download the applicability and deadline record. The extraction separates documented facts from our analysis and unknowns.

Further reading in the existing archive: Android Alternative App Stores and Attribution Setup; Google Play's Developer Verification Push: A Checklist. These links provide background; this check does not independently verify their full contents.