Android Developer : Remove older version from Play Store

Question

I am an android developer and I just released a new version of my app. But due to some bugs, I need to pull out the latest version and revert back to the old version. Is there a way I can do this from the store ?

I 'Deactivated' the latest version and tried to 'Reactivated' the old version but get the following errors:

Error: New APK version is lower than previous APK version.

Is there a way I can delete the latest version and revert back to the old one ?

Thank you :)

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 30 '12 at 04:04

1

Upload the old binary again by changing the versionCode.

answered Jun 30 '12 at 04:04

Sudarshan Bhat

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But I dont have the old Binary.. is there no other way :( – sharath Jun 30 '12 at 04:20
Reasons why you must use source control. Fix the bug and release it back :) – Sudarshan Bhat Jun 30 '12 at 04:24
:) Sure Enigma.. Will do that, was wondering if there is another way out tho :( – sharath Jun 30 '12 at 04:36

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:12

As Enigma says in your comment, you should really be using source control so you won't have this problem in the future. However, in this case there is a way to work around it if you have a copy of the old apk (even if you don't have the old source code).

This link tells you about reverse engineering an apk. If all you want to do is get the AndroidManifest.xml (where your version code should be), then APKTool should be enough for you. From there, update the versionCode as Enigma suggests to newer version than the one on the market, and push it to the market. If all goes well, your users will be using an older version.

If you have neither the apk of the old version, nor the source of the older version, there isn't really anything you can do. (Unless google keeps an archive of all versions of your app on their servers).

Android Developer : Remove older version from Play Store

2 Answers2