What is the true minimum API level of Android Google Maps V2 (17.0.0)?

Question

Somewhere on the official pages they list a really low API level for maps v2, however, i am currently compiling with play-services-maps 17.0.0 and this seems to require a certain version of the play services app to be installed and THAT in turn requires a certain minimum API level of the device.

But how do i find out what that minimum is ? On an old device with 4.4.2 the play services app is stuck at somewhere 13.8 ish and the map does not run giving the "App is having trouble with Google Play Services. Please try again".

If i google this i find answers here on SO suggesting to just lower the maps to 16.0.0 which is NOT a solution. I have no problem setting the apps minium API to something higher IF i only could find out how high i need to go. Android Studio is letting me compile just fine with minsdk 19 but a device with 19 will not run the map so...

Any ideas/answers are welcome

Answer 1

Didn't find any minimum sdk version in the official documentation . But found some observations. Check below:

Warning: This release is a MAJOR version update and breaking change. The latest update to Google Play services and Firebase includes the following changes:

Migration from Android Support Libraries to Jetpack (AndroidX) Libraries. Libraries will not work unless you make the following changes in your app:

• Upgrade com.android.tools.build:gradle to v3.2.1 or later.
• Upgrade compileSdkVersion to 28 or later.
• Update your app to use Jetpack ( AndroidX ); follow the instructions in Migrating to AndroidX .

Version 17.0.0 of Google Maps includes in this release.