- Here are the requirements for running a GCM Android client:At a bare minimum, GCM requires devices running Android 2.2 or higher that also have the Google Play Store application installed, or an emulator running Android 2.2 with Google APIs. Note that you are not limited to deploying your Android applications through Google Play Store.
- However, if you want to continue to use new GCM features that are distributed through Google Play Services, the device must be running Android 2.3 or higher, or you can use an emulator running Android 2.3 with Google APIs.
- On Android devices, GCM uses an existing connection for Google services. For pre-3.0 devices, this requires users to set up their Google accounts on their mobile devices. A Google account is not a requirement on devices running Android 4.0.4 or higher.