Something similar happened to me a week ago. It's a trap for the unwary, and they need a warning for it, and in fact I wrote to support suggesting that, and they said they would look into it.
But it's no mystery what happened to you. There's a rule in Google Play that once you have published an app with targetSdkVersion set to 23 or above, you cannot go back to a version prior to 22. Even if you have only published to Beta. Even if you only have one person testing your app in Beta, and that person is yourself. The reason for this is the very different approach to permissions in API level 23 (Marshmallow). Instead of having all permissions approved by the user at install time, approvals for permissions are requested by the app itself at run time. So, I guess that they are concerned that someone might have downloaded your app and been asked for permissions, and denied those permissions, but then they could update the app and get an APK using the old permissions model, with all permissions assumed to have been already approved at install time, when in fact the user had denied some or all of the permissions. Anyway, you have only one possible course of action if you ever want to update your app again: you need to publish your next update with targetSdkVersion set to 23 or higher. And, with a higher version number, of course. As you've already pointed out, you cannot remove either of your two Beta versions, because deleting the most recent one would send you back to a pre-Marshmallow version. Note that if you want code requiring permissions to work, you will have to write whatever new code is needed to ask the user for permissions at run time, rather than at install time. It's not all that hard to do, although it's not entirely trivial. It's a bit tricky dealing with all the obscure use cases in which the user messes with the permissions from app settings and then returns to your app. I just did this myself and it involves lots of annoying little situations, but it's ultimately doable. Enjoy. On Wednesday, March 16, 2016 at 1:55:06 PM UTC-7, Gameplay SmackDowns wrote: > > Anyone? Cant seem to get a response from Google Support. > > On Tuesday, March 15, 2016 at 7:20:41 PM UTC-4, Gameplay SmackDowns wrote: >> >> In the Beta channel we were troubleshooting an apk issue. Current beta >> versions were being built in Android Studio, but to test we compiled and >> published an older version from Eclipse (with new version number). This was >> build 42 (1.4.0). >> >> After, we moved back to Android Studio. However, now any build we publish >> past 42 (1.4.0) gives the following error. >> >> This configuration cannot be published for the following reason(s): It is >> forbidden to downgrade devices which previously used M permissions (target >> SDK 23 and above) to APKs which use old style permissions (target SDK 22 >> and below). This occurs in the change from version 42 (target SDK 23) to >> version 28 (target SDK 21). >> >> We now have two apk stuck at once in beta (see attached pic) >> >> >> >> <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-EHbvuNK-pR4/VuiXvbe4kAI/AAAAAAAAAMc/JSAI_OUbigk9euWlvSJWcDpA6rTADXtVg/s1600/APK_-_I-Doser_Premium_-_Google_Play_Developer_Console_-_2016-03-15_19.15.37.jpg> >> >> >> We cant deactivate build 42 or we get forbidden to downgrade devices >> which previously used M permissions error. >> >> We cant deactivate 46 or we get It is forbidden to downgrade devices >> which previously matched *version 46* to *version 42* error >> >> >> SDK IS configured at 23 since beginning. >> >> >> So now we are stuck with two builds published to beta and cant dedicate >> either. We can upload another but no matter what we do build 42 will not be >> replaced or deactivated or we get previously used M permissions error. >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Developers" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/android-developers. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/android-developers/259c8235-222c-4ec3-8a3c-9c2b69dcb888%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
