Short answer
Find the .so files that fail in the Play Console warning or the APK Analyzer. Upgrade the Android Gradle Plugin to 8.5.1 or higher, build your own native code with NDK r28 or newer, and update SDKs that ship native libraries. Check an APK with zipalign and the bundle with bundletool before you upload.
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Why the app fails the 16 KB check, and the fix
01
The Android Gradle Plugin is too old
“To do this, you need to upgrade to Android Gradle Plugin (AGP) version 8.5.1 or higher.” Android Developers, Support 16 KB page sizes
Uncompressed native libraries must sit on a 16 KB boundary in the APK. Older plugin versions can build an app that runs locally but won’t install when Play builds it from the bundle.
02
Your native code uses an old NDK
“NDK version r28 and higher compile 16 KB-aligned by default.” Android Developers, Support 16 KB page sizes
C or C++ code built with NDK r27 or lower needs extra linker flags. Upgrading to r28 or newer is simpler.
# NDK r27 or lower: add these linker flags -Wl,-z,max-page-size=16384 -Wl,-z,common-page-size=1638403
An SDK ships old native libraries
Ads, analytics, maps, video and game SDKs often include .so files. Update each one to a version built for 16 KB pages, and update Flutter or React Native and their native plugins too. If a vendor has no update, replace that SDK.
04
You aren’t sure the app has native code
“If your app only uses code written in the Java programming language or in Kotlin, including all libraries or SDKs, then your app already supports 16 KB devices.” Android Developers, Support 16 KB page sizes
Open the APK in the APK Analyzer and look for a lib folder. If it has .so files, check zip alignment with zipalign (build-tools 35 or newer); the last line should say Verification successful. For the bundle, bundletool dump config should show PAGE_ALIGNMENT_16K.
zipalign -v -c -P 16 4 app-release.apk
Checked against the vendor’s docs on : Android Developers: Support 16 KB page sizes.
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Related: Google Play target API level 35 · Google Play native code debug symbols · Flutter Kotlin Gradle plugin version · Google Play QUERY_ALL_PACKAGES