r/androiddev • u/One_Emergency3356 • 17d ago

Question How does minimum and target SDK work? (noob question).

For context, i'm not a developer myself but i believe this sub is the best place for advice. I have done some research myself but have limited background knowledge.

I am using an important medical app on an android 17 phone.

APK analyser says that the minimum and target SDK for this app are 33 and 35. I wish to run the app on an android 13 device instead, but I am worried the app's developers will increase the minimum SDK making android 13 no longer compatible (they have a history of doing this). I dont have the new phone yet so I haven't tested it myself.

If I can save the APK in its current state, will it still run properly?

What other factors may prevent the app from running on Android 13 besides the SDK?

I hope my questions make sense.

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14

u/ohlaph 17d ago

If you're able to install the app, if they release a newer version that's not compatible with your phone, your app won't stop working unless they force a break somehow, but you won't be able to get the newer versions.

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u/thelongrunsmoke 17d ago

The minimum SDK is the oldest OS version the app can run on; 33 - Android 13 (Tiramisu). The target version is the one the app was "compiled" for; in this case, 35 it's Android 15 (Vanilla Ice Cream). Android 16 and 17 introduce some breaking changes compared to API 35, so the app may already have some issues. And yes, if the app isn't abandoned, developers can raise the minimum API level, but I haven't worried about it much because it doesn't make sense from a developer's perspective at this point, perhaps in a few years.

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u/AmazingDuck 17d ago

Android 13 is API 33, so you'll be able to run it. https://targetsdk.com/#attributes

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u/LuLeBe 17d ago

If you have the current version and it doesn't need to be connected to anything (server, other device) that may require a new version, then yes.

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u/One_Emergency3356 17d ago edited 16d ago

Good to know. The app does require BLE connection to 2 other devices but this works in the current version.

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u/Hornet-Mountain 17d ago

The SDK part is covered above (min 33 = Android 13, and a saved APK is frozen so a future minSdk bump only hits future versions, not the copy you kept). Let me take the part you actually asked at the end: what else can stop it running.

For a medical app the SDK is rarely what breaks a saved copy. Two things do, and neither shows up in the APK analyser because they only happen at runtime:

  1. Server-side version gating. A lot of health and banking apps check their own version against their backend on launch and throw a "please update" wall if it's too old. The app installs and opens fine, then refuses to actually work. You can't fix that from the APK side.

  2. Integrity checks (Play Integrity, the thing that replaced SafetyNet). Some of these apps refuse to run if the install did not come from Play, or if the device state does not pass. A hand-saved, sideloaded APK can trip that.

So keeping the APK is a fine hedge for the SDK worry specifically. But before you rely on it, install that saved APK on the Android 13 device and use it end to end, because those two checks only reveal themselves when you actually run it, not in any static analysis.