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I have an android app on Google Play, it requires a low API level.

I wish to provide versions for TV, auto and wear 2.0. This requires a higher API level.

The first question is should I release a different APK for each or two APKs is enough? (One for phone+tablet and one for wear+tv+auto)

Second question is how do I enable multiple APKs? According to
https://developer.android.com/google/play/publishing/multiple-apks.html :

"The Google Play Console provides two modes for managing the APKs associated with your application: simple mode and advanced mode. You can switch between these by clicking the link at the top-right corner of the APK files tab."

I've been searching the Google Play console for an hour already. Can't find where this switch button is or what the "APK Files tab" is ?

gilad s
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  • They recently have changed console. I've faced the same issue.it seems Multi apk upload is enabled by default. – Vyacheslav May 29 '17 at 14:17
  • You may want to check this [article](https://developer.sonymobile.com/2011/10/11/use-the-multiple-apk-support-in-android-market/) wherein settings are given to activate multiple APK in the Developer console for Android Market and see if it will help you. This also shows where you can find the APK Files tab. – Teyam May 30 '17 at 11:21

2 Answers2

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1) I highly suggest releasing separate APKs for wear, TV and auto. Otherwise, if you e.g. include assets for TV, these will take up space in the APK for wearable devices, but never be used. It's important to minimize the size of the APK especially for wearable devices since they have very limited battery (bigger APK equals longer time to download and install) and storage. Also, if you need to do target platform specific bug fixes you can update the APK for that target platform without impacting other users. You might also want to add platform specific features in the future. Separate APKs will make all of the above easier. It's a bit more overhead to set up in the first place, but everything can be automated, and I'm sure you'll benefit from it in the long run.

2) Like Vyacheslav mentioned in his comment you no longer need to enable multi APK support in the Play Store developer console. Just add all the APKs when you create a new release (Release management -> App releases). For this to work they need to have filters to make all of the APKs unique, and also different version codes.

TofferJ
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Auto and Wear are not distributed in Android platforms through apks, they are features that you should enable in your app.

Android TV is more easily to publish through specific apk, that you can configure in your project using gradle variants.

smora
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