New year, new Android – this time numbered 11 and coded R. Lets see whats new, to be prepared for and whether you need to do anything at all if you have Android applications published on the Google Play platform.

The biggest changes to the system version 11 beta are privacy options and obtaining user permissions. List of so-called sensitive permissions, on which previously were Phone, SMS and sensors related to the user’s physical condition and health, was extended to background location permissions. This means, that additional user permission is required for background location. Users can now grant or revoke specific permissions for individual applications at any time. So, if your application uses background location or several separate permissions, it is worth remembering to prepare it for the possibility of withdrawing any permission at any time (add a support for changing permissions at any time, if it is not supported in the application code – which still may happen, especially in code prepared for earlier versions of Android and not updated in a long time).

The other changes belongs to the cosmetic and optimization categories – some minor adjustments to the appearance (slight), little ordering the system bar, tidying up the settings drawer, aesthetic improvements in notifications, etc.

Having an Android application, you always have to pay attention to the so-called target, which is the version of the Android API, on which the application is based on. Currently, to publish the application or update on Google Play, target 29 is required, i.e. the application must be adapted to Android 10. The new version of Android has target 30, but does not change the minimum target requirements – it is still 29. I did not notice any software incompatibilities. If your application is targeted with number 29, you don’t need to worry about anything. If you have an application targeted with a lower API, you still have to adapt it to target 29 when you want to publish an update. However, taking into account the subsequent changes introduced to the privacy options of the system in version 11, i expect that new requirements will appear over time – autumn i suppose.