[Solved] Does the minimum api level matter?

Hi everyone! I'm currently working on an android game and was wondering if the game benefits from using a newer minimum api level. I mean older phones are slower so this is probably meant to prevent crashes but is there anything else that is important to know when setting it up? Is the game maybe faster with a newer minimum api level?

 

With higher min API level, you can exclude some obsolete device from running your game. This will reduce the number of potential players, but this also saves you from worrying about optimizing for those devices.

Mainly, you'll have to increase min API level if you want to use any native Android features only found in new versions. Usually this would not be the case as Google nowadays would try to retrofit many of the new stuff with AndroidX, but if you have to use, say, Camera2 and does not want to mess with legacy Camera API for fallback support then you'll have to increase your min API level accordingly.

 

thanks! This was really helpful

 

Also v23 has both v1 and v2 signing, which is needed for Oculus devices. Very specific, but that can also change with the minimal version