We've updated React Native to fully support Android 14. Starting from 0.73, React Native developers can now target the latest Android SDK version, API Level 34 (Upside Down Cake).

Java 17 and Android Gradle Plugin upgrade

In order to support Android 14, we've updated the version of Android Gradle Plugin (AGP) used to build Android apps from 7.4.x to 8.1.x.

This major version bump of AGP comes with a series of breaking changes that are available in the release notes from Google (8.0.0 and 8.1.0).

Most importantly, Java 17 is now a requirement to build Android apps.

Grant partial access to photos and videos

Selected Photos Access allows Android 14 users to grant apps access to specific items in their media library, rather than access to all media. In 0.73, React Native apps now support this capability, by using the READ_MEDIA_VISUAL_USER_SELECTED permission in the PermissionsAndroid API.

https://github.com/react-native-community/discussions-and-proposals/discussions/740