Updating an APK in Google Play without changing the expansion file

Question

I have a "draft" APK in my Google Play console, and it's connected to an APK expansion file. The version code is 9, and the expansion file is "main.9.com.something.something.obb".

Now, I'm trying to update the APK before I release. I increased the version code, along with some code changes. When I upload the APK, I choose to use "main.9.com.something.something.obb" as my expansion.

Now, Google Play tells me this:

This configuration cannot be published for the following reason(s): Version 9 is not served to any device configuration: all devices that might receive version 9 would receive version 10.

But if I try to delete version 9, it won't let me, because it says that there are other versions depending on its expansion file!

So it's an infinite loop and I can't update my APK. The only solution I found is to re-upload the APK expansion (400MB), which is unacceptable. I don't want to do this every time I update the app, because users will need to re-download the expansion.

Also, I'm almost sure that this was never like that, and it's a bug that got introduced in the last period. I remember APK options like "deactivate" and so on, and now I can't find them. Any help?

Answer 1

I actually solved this a few months ago but forgot to post the answer here.

I contacted Google Play support, and they clarified to me that this behavior happens only in "draft" mode. Once your app is published, you can update your APK without touching the expansion file, and reference the previously stored file.

My app is now published and there were no problems after moving from "draft".