Upgrading React Native app to Android 13+

Published August 28, 2023・Last updated October 23, 2024・1 min read

There is a requirement to upgrade Android apps (hosted on Google Play Store) to target Android 13. This post covers steps to upgrade to the React Native 0.72+ version.

Automatic approach

Use the npx react-native upgrade command to make code updates to the latest version.

Manual approach

Use Upgrade helper to manually change the code. It shows the differences between boilerplates for the selected versions (e.g., 0.71.13 and 0.72.4).

Fill out the package name (e.g., com.someapp). App name can stay empty, ignore it (rndiffapp) in the code changes.

Advertising ID

Enable it on the Google Play Console app page by selecting Policy and programs → App content option. Add it as a permission in the AndroidManifest.xml file.

<uses-permission android:name="com.google.android.gms.permission.AD_ID"/>

Boilerplate

Here is the link to the boilerplate I use for the development. It supports the latest Android version.