Revert to an older APK in Android Play developer console

Question

I have submitted several versions of my app to the Google Play and I noticed a bug in the most recent version. However, all previous version still appear and marked Unpublished in the APK section.I am trying to un-publish version 2.1 and use the version 2.0.

Here are the steps I took:

• I went to the APK section
• I switched to the advanced mode
• Then on version 2.0 I clicked Move to Prod
• Then on version 2.1 I clicked Deactivate

I then get this error message : (version 7 is 2.1 and version 6 is 2.0)

This configuration cannot be published for the following reason(s):
It is forbidden to downgrade devices which previously matched version 7 
to version 6, which would occur when 
API levels in range 16+ and 
Screen layouts containing any of [small, normal, large, xlarge] 
and Features containing all of [android.hardware.screen.PORTRAIT,
android.hardware.TOUCHSCREEN]. 

When comparing the APK for both versions, the configuration is exactly the same:

-------------------------------------------------------
Details     | Version 2.0        | Version 2.1        |
-------------------------------------------------------
API levels  | 16+                | 16+                |
-------------------------------------------------------
Screen lay. | 4 screen (s/n/l/xl)| 4 screen (s/n/l/xl)|
-------------------------------------------------------
Features    | same for both      | same               |
-------------------------------------------------------

so the error message is not very informative in this case. Is this the correct method to go back and activate an older APK version? if yes, what is the problem here?

Solution

The message simply means that downgrading is not possible for published apps.Additional information about your configuration simply showing that all of the configured devices will be affected.

Android OS checks for version code and will not allow any version code lesser then 8 once you have installed app with version code 7. you can try this with adb install command.

Reference documentation

• You cannot activate a new APK that has a version code lower than that of the APK it's replacing. For example, say you have an active APK for screen sizes small - normal with version code 0400, then try to replace it with an APK for the same screen sizes with version code 0300. This raises an error, because it means users of the previous APK will not be able to update the application.

you have 2 ways

1. solve the bug and republish a new version.
2. take code from previous version and change its version code to 8 and republish.

Comments

[Rain Man]

then what is the point of having all previous APK versions in the dashboard?

[Rahul Tiwari]

@RainMan I have added reference in updated answer. To answer your question this could be due to support of multiple APK. Also I have read somewhere on SO that it could be due to in-app billing as old apk need to be present to check for signatures if someone have not updated their app.