I’m trying to install the Shopify POS app on an Android Studio emulator to do POS UI extension development, but the Google Play page for POS shows “Your device isn’t compatible with this version” and won’t let me install.
This worked until recently, so I suspect something changed on the POS build side rather than in my setup.
What I’ve tried:
Pixel Tablet AVD, latest Android Studio
API 35, API 36, and API 37 — all with arm64-v8a Google Play system images
Same “device isn’t compatible with this version” error on the Play Store page in every case
The POS debugging docs explicitly list an Android Studio emulator as a supported way to run POS for extension debugging, so I’d expect at least one of these configs to work.
A few questions:
Is there a currently supported API level / system image combination for running POS in an emulator? (I’ve seen API 34–36 + ARM recommended in older threads — is API 37 / Android 17 not yet supported?)
Did a recent POS release change its device compatibility requirements or minimum/maximum supported SDK?
Is there anything beyond an arm64-v8a Google Play image and a dev store that I need for the emulator to be recognized as compatible?
Happy to provide POS version numbers, AVD configs, or logs if useful. Thanks!
Thanks for the detailed breakdown. and Android Studio emulators should still be supported. API 35 and 36 also meet the published Android requirements, so API 37 alone doesn’t explain what you’re seeing.
Could you try a fresh Pixel phone profile, not Pixel Tablet (just to see if it’s related to the tablet setting), using API 35, arm64-v8a, and a Google Play image? Could you also confirm whether Play Store → Settings → About shows the device as Play Protect certified?
In the meantime, a physical Android 10+ device with Google Play Services/GMS should unblock testing (I know this isn’t ideal though if you don’t have a spare device). Hope to hear from you soon!
I tried a fresh Pixel phone with the recommended settings and no luck.
Play Store → Settings → About does not show the device as Play Protect certified and I’m not sure if or how it is possible for the emulator devices to be Play Protect certified.
I can test on my physical device (pixel phone), but it was convenient to be able to test on a virtual tablet!
Please let me know if you are able to reproduce the issue I am having on your end. This is something that just started happening over the past week or two, so I am curious as to what caused it. It had been working fine for years.
