Android changes significantly with each release. How do you keep current and manage those changes?

How you keep up: the Android developer release notes and behaviour change documentation for each API level, the Android Developers Blog, and Jetpack library release notes. Google I/O sessions give the reasoning behind changes rather than just the rules.

How you manage them — the practical part:

• Read the behaviour changes for the new API level before raising targetSdkVersion. Google separates changes affecting all apps from those affecting only apps that target the new level, and that distinction determines urgency.
• Play Store deadlines force the schedule. Google requires apps to target a recent API level to remain updatable, so this is not optional work and should be planned, not discovered.
• Test against the new version early, during the developer preview if the app is significant.
• Watch the recurring themes — background execution limits, storage access, and permissions have tightened with almost every release, and each has broken apps that were not paying attention.

Note: Distinguish keeping up with the platform from keeping up with libraries. Compose and architecture libraries change fast, but platform behaviour changes are the ones that break shipped apps for real users, so they take priority.