Android developer documentation now gives a hard date for a change that has been quietly building for two years: from 1 February 2027, app updates on Google Play that target Android 15 (API 35) or higher must support 16 KB memory page sizes on 64-bit devices. Updates that do not cannot be released.
Android used to manage memory in 4 KB chunks. Newer devices can use 16 KB chunks, which is faster, but any app carrying compiled native code has to be rebuilt to cope with it. Apps built purely in Java or Kotlin are already fine.
Who is actually affected
The rule bites when your app contains native code. That is more common than most owners realise, because it often arrives through a third-party SDK rather than anything your developers wrote:
- Games and graphics-heavy apps.
- Apps with video, audio, camera or image processing.
- Apps using on-device machine learning or AI models.
- Apps using certain analytics, mapping, payment or security SDKs.
- Apps made with some cross-platform tools or app builders that ship native libraries.
What happens if you do nothing
Your live app keeps working. The problem is the next update. After 1 February 2027, a bug fix or a security patch that is not 16 KB compatible simply will not be accepted by Google Play. On devices that already use 16 KB pages, a non-compliant app can also show a compatibility warning at launch or, in the worst case, crash.
The fix is usually small, if you start early
Current tooling (Android Gradle Plugin 8.5.1 or newer and NDK r28 or newer) produces compatible builds by default. The real work is often waiting on a third-party SDK to publish a compatible version, which is why it pays to check now rather than in January.
So what
Ask whoever maintains your Android app two questions this week: does the app contain native libraries, and have they been tested on a 16 KB device? The answer takes an hour to find, and it is far cheaper than discovering the block on the day you need an urgent release. If you do not have someone who can answer, that is a sign the app needs a maintenance owner. BuildApps covers audits and ongoing support for live Android apps through our iOS and Android services, or you can start a project.