diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 9b3ed7cbdf988c4ff05755a1fddd3d6c29a17b6d..ffdee5d5b945eb8b2db39a7775e0b103a12918b6 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -52,6 +52,12 @@ add_subdirectory(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/3rdparty/zxing-cpp)
 add_subdirectory(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/src)
 add_subdirectory(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/tests)
 
+# this needs to be increased with every new release
+if(NOT DEFINED GOOGLE_PLAY_APP_VERSION)
+    set(GOOGLE_PLAY_APP_VERSION 31)
+endif()
+
+message(STATUS "GOOGLE_PLAY_APP_VERSION: ${GOOGLE_PLAY_APP_VERSION}")
 message(STATUS "PROJECT VERSION: ${CMAKE_VAR_GIT_VERSION}")
 message(STATUS "QT_VERSION: ${QT_VERSION}")
 message(STATUS "QT_QUICK_COMPONENTS_VERSION: ${CMAKE_VAR_QT_QUICK_COMPONENTS_VERSION}")
diff --git a/src/CMakeLists.txt b/src/CMakeLists.txt
index cf9b341cd1830da22110e391ca3e5ee4c8ae52c3..c140b57f320f0a244dd6bfb8f2099d9c572060c9 100644
--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -86,7 +86,5 @@ set_property(TARGET ${PROJECT_NAME}
         ${ANDROID_OPENSSL_PATH}/libssl_3.so
 )
 
-# this needs to be increased with every new release
-set(GOOGLE_PLAY_APP_VERSION 31)
 # CMAKE_VAR_GIT_VERSION (coming from the top-level CMakeLists.txt) and GOOGLE_PLAY_APP_VERSION replaced in the following file
 configure_file(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/android/AndroidManifest.xml.in ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/android/AndroidManifest.xml)