Yeah - as of 1 Aug new apps or 1 Nov for updated apps - you need to "target" API level 26 (Android 8), but you can still set your minSdkVersion to whatever you like (we're still publishing version 16/Android 4.4 updated).

https://developer.android.com/distribute/best-practices/deve...

@mrguyorama - this means you can force the old landgrab user-hostile permissions to people running old Android versions, but you cannot force them onto users running Android 8.