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When I created my application, I chose 1.0 for the minimum SDK and 4.3 for the target SDK, so my application works on all phones.

But why would we choose (for example) a minimum SDK of 2.2?
Is it about performance, or something like that?

Murat Güzel
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  • possible duplicate of [Android Min SDK Version vs. Target SDK Version](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4568267/android-min-sdk-version-vs-target-sdk-version) – Simon Nov 30 '13 at 10:57
  • http://developer.android.com/about/dashboards/index.html See this. You won't find mention of anything below 2.2 because less than 1 percent people are below 2.2. No benefit in developing for them. – Dhaval Nov 30 '13 at 10:57
  • @Dhaval I understand you but I'm already new in android developinf and I dont know difference between versions.so less than 1 percent are below 2.2 you'r right.but 1 percent is 1 percent. I profit 1 percent when use 1.0 for min.sdk . the main question is what do I lose to use 1.0 for min sdk. Thanks... – Murat Güzel Nov 30 '13 at 11:09
  • Buddy, those people in 1 Percent can't access Google Play Store. And those devices are old and may not support everything. – Dhaval Nov 30 '13 at 11:22

3 Answers3

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First of all i'd like to clear, android:minSdkVersion="integer" Despite its name, this element is used to specify the API Level, not the version number of the SDK (software development kit) or Android platform. The API Level is always a single integer. You cannot derive the API Level from its associated Android version number (for example, it is not the same as the major version or the sum of the major and minor versions). find more detail

we choose minimum and maximum version for our app because , some of the feature which are not supported in lower/higher versions of android are used in app . The Android system will prevent the user from installing the application if the system's API Level is lower/higher than the value specified in this attribute.Hence preventing unwanted force close.

Most of the features of higher versions of android will not work in api level 1 .thwn why will you put level 1 as minimum sdk.

Orbitcoder
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99,9% of phones use SDK 2.2 and later and all cool features that you can use are avaliable on later SDK versions than 1.1. That is the main reason, but you can use earlier version of SDK for minimum but in has no efect because you are covering all devices with 2.2 SDK.

lugonja
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Android is a system that is everytime changing, and that implements new features in each new version.

When you develop an app, you will have to deal with :

  1. Compliance for the user
  2. Nice features for your application

For example, animations of clickable elements are not well implemented in Android 2.3. So when you will have to develop an application, you will have to choose :

  1. Compliance with a maximum users including 2.3 compliance
  2. Develop a lot of nice animations, including on clickable elements

It's why sometimes you decide to develop an applications, you may decide to not include some versions of the SDK.

And for having a clear view on how much users you would loose, you may want to go to :

Dashboards