Late on July 29th, PhoneGap Build announced that version cli-9.0.0 is available. This is good news: As of August 1, the Google Play Store will require that all new apps are built using cli-9.0.0. Existing apps have till Nov 1, 2019.
The PhoneGap Build Version tells PGB which libraries use when building apps. cli-9.0.0 includes Android API Level 28, which is required for Android 9.0, so it makes sense to build apps using this new version.
What it means for you
- You can set the PhoneGap Version in Project Properties. It’s in the PhoneGapVersion property: set it to ‘cli-9.0.0’.
- Build like you always have. There is a bug in PhoneGap Build which causes it to fail intermittently. If you get the message “Error: Android linking failed”, just build again. It will probably work the next time (or the time after that). PhoneGap say they are working on this.
- The new version is a bit stricter about everything being set up right. If you get messages, check your project.
- Make sure your project has icon and splash folders. Set them up as in Submitting to the Google Play and Amazon Stores.
- Make sure icons and splash are listed in your extraFiles, in Project Properties.
- Check your plugins to make sure they are up to date.
Notes on various cli versions
- cli-9.0.0: recommended. Only one which can be used for new Google Play Store apps.
- cli-8.1.1: reported as working. OK to use for existing apps.
- cli-8.0.0: also works well for existing apps.
- cli-6.5.0: not recommended.
- cli-6.1.0: no longer supported.