# Play: app must target a higher API level

> Getting the error “app must target a higher API level”? Here is how to fix it. Play raised the minimum targetSdkVersion, and this bundle is below it.

**Play: app must target a higher API level.** Google Play requires apps to target a recent Android API level, and raises the bar every year.

- Google Play. Target SDK too low for Google Play.
- Interactive page: https://capwr.app/free-tools/build-error-explainer/must-target-api-level
- Build error explainer: https://capwr.app/free-tools/build-error-explainer
- Last updated: 2026-10-03

## What this error means

Google Play requires apps to target a recent Android API level, and raises the bar every year.

## Why it happens

Play’s target API policy moves up each year. A bundle whose targetSdkVersion is below the current minimum is rejected at upload.

## The message tools print

```
Your app currently targets API level 34 and must target at least API level 35 to ensure it is built on the latest APIs optimized for security and performance.
```

## How to fix it

1. Raise targetSdkVersion and compileSdkVersion in android/variables.gradle to the level in the error.
2. Upgrading Capacitor is the cleanest route: each major version moves these defaults forward.

## Check a log that shows this

Paste the failing step into the [build error explainer](https://capwr.app/free-tools/build-error-explainer). It matches this message, and any others in the same log, in your browser. Nothing is uploaded.

## Other Google Play errors

- [Play: version code has already been used](https://capwr.app/free-tools/build-error-explainer/version-code-has-already-been-used)
- [Android App Bundle is signed with the wrong key](https://capwr.app/free-tools/build-error-explainer/app-bundle-signed-with-the-wrong-key)
- [Play: bundle was signed in debug mode](https://capwr.app/free-tools/build-error-explainer/signed-in-debug-mode)
- [Google Play: Package not found](https://capwr.app/free-tools/build-error-explainer/package-not-found)
- [Play: the caller does not have permission](https://capwr.app/free-tools/build-error-explainer/caller-does-not-have-permission)

## Upload the next Play build without this error

CapWrapp bumps the version code on every ship and uploads the release bundle to Google Play. The first Play upload is still by hand — after that, ships go through the service account.

[Get started free](https://capwr.app/login).

## About CapWrapp

CapWrapp turns a web app on GitHub — built with Lovable, Bolt, Base44, Cursor or by hand — into iPhone and Android apps. It adds Capacitor if the repo needs it, signs the builds, and ships them to TestFlight and Google Play from GitHub Actions, with no Mac or Xcode on your side. [Get started free](https://capwr.app/login) · [Lovable to App Store guide](https://capwr.app/guides/lovable-to-app-store)