Supported Android versions¶

This page lists the Android versions, ABIs (application binary interfaces), CPython and Kivy versions, and build tools that kivyforge supports, and explains how to keep your app within Google Play's requirements.

Build hosts¶

You can build Android apps on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Architectures¶

kivyforge builds 64-bit ABIs only, because the python.org Android runtime has no 32-bit build:

ABI	Use	Tested on
`arm64_v8a`	Physical devices	Pixel 8a, Android 16 (API 36)
`x86_64`	Emulators on x86_64 computers	x86_64 emulator, API 31 and API 35

armeabi-v7a and x86 are rejected.

API levels¶

Setting	Default	Rule
`min_sdk`	`24` (Android 7.0)	Cannot be lower than `24`.
`target_sdk`	`35`	Must be at least `min_sdk`.
`compile_sdk`	same as `target_sdk`	Must be at least `target_sdk`.

Google Play raises the required target_sdk every year, and it rejects new apps and updates that target a lower level. kivyforge does not track that deadline. Before you submit, check Google Play's target API level requirements and raise target_sdk if needed:

[tool.kivy.android]
min_sdk = 24
target_sdk = 35

Python, Kivy, and pyjnius¶

CPython	`kivy_generation`	Kivy and SDL	pyjnius	Status
3.14	`2`	Kivy 2.3.1 on SDL2	1.7 or newer	Tested on an emulator and a device with 1.7 and 1.8
3.14	`3`	Kivy 3.0 development snapshot on SDL3	1.7 or newer	Tested on an emulator and a device with 1.7 and 1.8

Kivy 3.0 is not released yet. The SDL3 row is tested against a 3.0.0.dev0 snapshot.

The build fails, instead of producing an app that crashes at startup, when:

The locked pyjnius is older than 1.7, or its Android wheel does not bind the invoke0 method signature kivyforge's Java glue declares. There is no upper version limit: kivyforge checks the wheel itself, so a new pyjnius release that keeps the signature (1.9 does) works without a kivyforge update.
The locked Kivy wheel ships a different SDL generation than kivy_generation selects.

Build tools¶

The generated Gradle project pins these versions. They change with kivyforge releases.

Tool	Version
JDK	17 to 23 (you install it)
Android NDK	27.3.13750724
CMake	3.22.1
Android Gradle Plugin	8.10.0
Gradle	8.11.1 (downloaded by the Gradle wrapper)

The JDK must be a full JDK, not a JRE: Gradle compiles the app's Java with javac, and a runtime-only install (such as Debian's openjdk-21-jre-headless) fails the build at that step. kivyforge doctor -p android checks for it.

The JDK range is what the pinned Gradle can run on. Android Studio bundles its own JDK, which may be newer than that; if it is, install a separate JDK in the range and point JAVA_HOME at it.

kivyforge doctor -p android checks the JDK you actually have, the Android SDK, build tools, an NDK, and CMake. Install the NDK and CMake with sdkmanager; a missing CMake is downloaded by the first build. See SDK licenses and sdkmanager for how the SDK licenses are recorded.

Check a combination on your device¶

To confirm that your app's combination works on a particular device, run the smoke test on it with the release variant:

kivyforge run -p android --smoke --release --device