Strategies to Handle Android App and Library MinSdkVersion Discrepancies

Navigating Compatibility Challenges and Maintaining Smooth Integration

Photo by Daniel Romero on Unsplash

Prerequisite

Before going into the discussion about the real-time problem with SDK versions, one should know what are SDK versions and their usage.

What are SDK Versions?

There are three types of SDK versions in Android, Min SDK version, Target SDK version and Compile SDK version. Each has their own importance, let’s discuss them briefly.

• Min SDK Version: It’s used to represent the minimum android version that the application support. For suppose if it’s 21 then the application can only be installed in Android lollipop and above.
• Target SDK Version: It’s used to represent the Android version on the application that it’s designed to run on.
• Compile SDK Version: It’s used to represent android version on which the application is compiled. For example if we use API 31 as compile SDK version then we can only use android features that are created until API 31, else we’ll get compile time error.

Note: These SDK versions are not exclusive to android application, for that case not even to single module in the…