Google Play Store auto-update apps

1e2j6

I have some purchased apps that I installed through the Google Play Store. Is there a way to allow these to auto-update? It's a bit annoying having popups throughout the day that "Google Play Store needs attention."

GrapheneOS

1e2j6 It will auto-update them as long as they aren't abandoned apps not meeting the minimum target API level requirement (29) for the Android 12+ unattended update feature.

mythodical

L8437 The solution, or at least the explanation of why this is happening is in the first reply above:

GrapheneOS It will auto-update them as long as they aren't abandoned apps not meeting the minimum target API level requirement (29) for the Android 12+ unattended update feature.

It sounds like you might be using apps that have not been updated in quite a while. You might want to consider alternatives.

1e2j6

Maybe I have something misconfigured, because that doesn't seem to be the case. In Google Play Store, under Settings -> Network Preferences -> Auto-update apps, I have it set to Auto-update apps over Wi-Fi only. I have been on Wi-Fi at home for over 24 hours and the apps are not auto-updating. This morning I got a notification from GmsCompat that says "Action required in the Play Store." When I tap on the notification, it opens the Google Play Store and asks me individually for each app if I want to update it. This appears to be the only way apps can be updated.

1e2j6

I'm not sure why this was marked solved. I've waited another 24 hours and the same apps are still not auto-updated.

unwat

1e2j6

Check the apps that aren't auto-updating check Settings > Apps > All Apps > The app not updating. Scroll to the bottom and see if the "minSdk" is set to >= 29. According to the dev above, if they target an older API, they won't auto-update.

1e2j6

unwat Thanks. I guess that is the problem. A lot of them are version 21 or 23. That sucks.

shorty

unwat 1e2j6 The targetSdk is what matters. minSdk just refers to the oldest version of Android the app will run on.

unwat

shorty

I see. I understand the difference, but was just going off of what GrapheneOS said ("minimum target API"), but when I searched for it it Android developer docs state unattended app updates are for target API, not minimum API.

It appears I misunderstood what he said. I thought a minSdk requirement didn't make sense but didn't look it up myself. Thanks for the correction!

And sorry @1e2j6 for the mistake!

1e2j6

If it is just the targetSdk that needs to be higher than 29, then I am back to being confused. All these apps are higher than that, and they are not auto-updating. It has now been 72 hours and these apps are still not updated unless I open the Google Play store myself and update them manually. There must be some other setting that I am missing.

L8437

1e2j6 I am experiencing the exact same problem.
Pixel 6 pro

L8437

mythodical hi the apps are all 29 or above and they still don't auto update. I wonder if I need to uninstall play store and re install it

1e2j6

mythodical It sounds like you might be using apps that have not been updated in quite a while. You might want to consider alternatives.

These are apps that have had updates released in the last week, so I'm not sure how you came to that conclusion.

I would really just like to know if this is a misconfiguration problem on my end or if this is just how GrapheneOS works. If it's the latter, maybe GrapheneOS just isn't the phone OS for me. I have enough daily tasks I have to do in my life and I don't really want manual daily app updates on my phone to be yet another one of them.

mythodical

1e2j6 You can disregard. I read the full thread afterwards and would have simply removed my post but we're unable to.

1e2j6

Just to close this thread out, it appears as though Google Play Store does eventually update the apps, but it can sometimes take a week to do so. I still don't understand why sometimes I get notifications from GmsCompat that it needs my attention, and then tapping the notification opens the Play Store requiring a manual update for some apps (I have to press the Update button). Maybe those apps have the older targetSdk. I don't know.