Google Play Permission model downgrade problem

Ionic Framework ionic-v3
1

Hi! When I try to submit an update for my app to the play store with version code 2003, I get this message:

Permission model downgrade

PROBLEM
Users that have the APK with version code 1201, which targets SDK 23 or higher, will receive an error when they attempt to upgrade to this APK because it targets SDK 22.

RESOLUTION
Ensure that your release includes APKs targeting SDK 23 or higher to which all users that have the APK with version code 1201 can upgrade.

After I run the ionic cordova build android --release command, the AndroidManifest.xml shows <uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="16" android:targetSdkVersion="26" /> but I still get the error above.

When I checked the AndroidManifest.xml in Android Studio, the Merged Manifest tab shows <uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="16" android:targetSdkVersion="22" />. The log said the targetSdkVersion value is added by Gradle.

What do I need to do to set the target SDK to 23 or higher?

2

As it turns out, the culprit is the cordova-plugin-googlemaps plugin that I use. They have a build-extras.gradle file that sets the targetSdkVersion to 22. I reinstalled the plugin and everything works fine now.