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I feel like it has two different meanings :

-The highest version of Android under which our application is known to work, so this doesn't change anything in the building process but is just an information for the user's device.

-The SDK used for compiling the application.

huehuehuehue
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  • What are you trying to ask exactly? – GrIsHu Nov 06 '14 at 06:06
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    This is a very likely question [min and target](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4568267/android-min-sdk-version-vs-target-sdk-version) but if you want it in a shellnut... Target is the specific tested version. No extra work is needed to run the app, in lower versions until minSDK some features must be adapted. – UrielUVD Nov 06 '14 at 06:17
  • I don't know you read this link or, but i hope it will solve your confusion http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/manifest/uses-sdk-element.html – DJhon Nov 06 '14 at 06:18

2 Answers2

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Target SDK:

You set the highest Target SDK that you've tested your app to be working with. More importantly, when your app uses a feature available in a newer (higher) SDK, you set the target >= SDK feature you're using. e.g. If you plan to use a Animation which is only available in SDK 21, you must set Target SDK >= 21.

Compile SDK: http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/manifest/uses-sdk-element.html

The compileSdkVersion property specifies the compilation target. This describes the version of the compiler for your application. Also note the guide for the compilation in the documentation: "By default, only the compilation target, and the version of the build-tools are needed. This is done with the compileSdkVersion and buildtoolsVersion properties. The compilation target is the same as the target property in the project.properties file of the old build system. This new property can either be assigned a int (the api level) or a string with the same value as the previous target property."

Taranfx
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I have provided a detailed answer here

For reference, Quoting the android documentation

This attribute informs the system that you have tested against the target version and the system should not enable any compatibility behaviors to maintain your app's forward-compatibility with the target version. The application is still able to run on older versions (down to minSdkVersion).

it means that your app will not invoke compatibility features till the version you defined as targetSDK.

Community
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Darpan
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