What is Android’s API level?

Pie 9.0 was the most popular version of Android operating system as of April 2020, with a market share of 31.3 percent. Despite being released in the fall of 2015, Marshmallow 6.0 was still the second most widely used version of Android’s operating system on smartphone devices as of then.

Officially, Android 10 is the most widely used version on Android smartphones. Android 12 does not yet appear on the 2021 distribution list. Android 6 Marshmallow is still in use on 5.1% of phones that have accessed the Play Store in recent weeks.

API Level is an integer value that uniquely identifies the framework API revision offered by a version of the Android platform. The Android platform provides a framework API that applications can use to interact with the underlying Android system.

When you upload an APK, it needs to meet Google Play’s target API level requirements. New apps and app updates must target Android 10 (API level 29) or higher ; except for Wear OS apps, which must target API level 28 or higher. Starting in August 2021, new apps will need to: Publish with the Android App Bundle format.