I’m getting an error when trying to upload my game to Google Play. The error message says:
“Your app uses the AIDL version of the Play Billing Library. To access new monetization features on Google Play, the version must be at least 6.0.1.”
My game is built with Cocos Creator 3.8.6. I’ve gone through all the project files in the Build Android folder, but I couldn’t find where the problematic library is being included. Since my game doesn’t use in-app purchases yet, I’d prefer to simply remove it for now.
I tried updating my Gradle configuration, which I believe should have added implementation "com.android.billingclient:billing:7.1.0", but the same error still appears when I upload the app to Google Play.
Could someone please tell me how to either update the billing library or completely disable it? Ideally, I’d like to update it for future use. Has anyone else encountered this issue?
That error comes from an old billing library being pulled in, even if you don’t use in-app purchases. If you don’t need it, open proj.android/app/build.gradle and remove any com.android.billingclient lines.
First of all, let me clarify. I was building the project in Cocos Creator 3.8.6 using Build > Android.
Yes, I checked all the build.gradle files and found that in the libcocos module’s build.gradle, an old payments library was being linked. I also found the payment permission request in that module’s AndroidManifest.xml file. After updating the Gradle version, it changed the payments library version to the latest one: com.android.billingclient:billing:7.1.0. But that didn’t help. Google Play still rejected the app due to the mentioned error.
I chose a different build option: Build > Google Play, which allows you to disable the problematic feature right in the editor. This worked. Google Play approved the app. However, the core issue remains unresolved. I’m not sure that if I use the Build > Google Play option and activate the payments feature, the problem won’t happen again.
My suspicions:
Google Play evaluates not only the freshness of the linked library version but also outdated payments functionality that might be present in the app. During my research, I came across a pre-installed plugin google-play v 1.0.1. I think the problem lies there. Most likely, this plugin hasn’t been updated for a long time. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find this plugin anywhere in the Cocos Creator’s file structure.
I hope this information helps someone.
Best regards,
Timofey.
P.S. Also, the file structure of the Android application created in Cocos Creator has changed; now there is no app folder.
