Pass Google Play Review: Target SDK, 16 KB Pages, Data Safety, Permissions and Automated Releases Without Rejections

Pass Google Play Review is a practical guide to getting an Android app through Google Play review and keeping it there, built from Google's own Help and developer pages (checked October 2026). It starts with how review actually works: what happens when you send a release, the difference between a rejection, a removal, a suspension and a warning, where Play Console tells you why, and how to fix a rejection one step at a time instead of resubmitting and hoping. Then it takes each gate that stops releases: the target API requirement (API 36 for new apps and updates from August 31, 2026, with an extension available to November 1, 2026), Android's 16 KB page size (updates without support can't be released from February 1, 2027), restricted permissions hiding in the merged manifest, the Data safety form and the account deletion requirement, listings and screenshots that match the real app, and testing tracks, staged rollouts and the Android vitals thresholds. It finishes by putting the whole release on GitHub Actions with a lint gate, so the checks run on every build. Short case notes from the author's own published apps show what Play Console actually said and how each issue was fixed.

What you get

• How review really works: rejection vs removal vs suspension vs warning, where the reasons live in Play Console, the Policy deadlines page, fixing a rejection step by step, appeals
• Target SDK without surprises: minSdk, compileSdk and targetSdk and what each does, the API 36 deadline and extension, moving to a new target level safely, version codes Play will accept
• 16 KB page size, done: find your native code, check every library with objdump and zipalign, fix the build (NDK r28+, AGP 8.5.1+), test on a 16 KB device or emulator, make it a CI gate
• Sensitive permissions: read the merged manifest, the photo picker instead of media permissions, foreground service types and declarations, exact alarms, all-files access and background location
• Data safety and account deletion: collected vs shared, an inventory built from the code and its SDKs, the privacy policy, an in-app path plus a web link for deletion
• Honest listings: a claims audit, real screenshots, the App content page, keeping the listing in the repository
• Testing, rollouts and vitals: the tracks, the pre-launch report, staged rollouts and halting, the 1.09% crash and 0.47% ANR bad-behavior thresholds
• Automated releases from GitHub Actions: a service account for the Play Developer API, signing secrets, the workflow, and a lint gate

59 pages, 25 diagrams plus a chapter-opener graphic for every chapter, a checklist and a cheat sheet. PDF and EPUB. Android the Right Way, Book 3.

Not sure yet? Read the free sample first: the cover, the full table of contents and all of Chapter 3, "16 KB Page Size" (what "aligned" means, finding native code you didn't write, checking every library from the command line, fixing the build, testing on a 16 KB environment and making it a CI gate), at https://payhip.com/b/VcvYH

Also in a bundle: Everything Bundle: all 11 ebooks, $89 · Android Bundle: 5 ebooks, $49. Code RIGHTWAY20 = 20% off any order through Oct 31.