Google Play’s new policy (Feb 2027) has a very clear conditional rule:
EITHER keep the uncompressed DEX under 10MB.
OR enable code shrinking with >25% obfuscation.
Since keeping the DEX under 10MB is impossible when using standard extensions (Ads, Firebase, etc.), the only solution is the second option: Enabling code shrinking.
Currently, our builder compiles apps with minifyEnabled false. Because of this, any app over 10MB fails Google’s condition and gets the “Code shrinking: not shrunk” warning.
The Fix:
We do not need to figure out how to reduce the DEX size. We need the backend to shrink and obfuscate the code. Niōtron has already solved this by enabling R8 on their backend—an 18MB DEX passes perfectly there because it meets the >25% obfuscation rule.
Currently, almost all MIT App Inventor-based platforms are lagging behind in this matter, so the core teams need to work on this urgently and enable it as soon as possible.
Please prioritize enabling server-side R8/ProGuard. This is a compiler configuration issue, not an app size issue.
Hello everyone,
I have published my app on the Google Play Store, but I received a warning in the Play Console: ‘DEX code optimization is below our threshold. Obfuscation is at 1%.’ Google requires it to be at least 25%.
I checked my Kodular Project Settings > Publishing, but I couldn’t find any option to enable R8 or code obfuscation.
How can I fix this issue or increase the obfuscation percentage in Kodular? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!"
