diff --git a/cocos/ui/widget-manager.ts b/cocos/ui/widget-manager.ts
index 0ff9b103056..cb4085f5974 100644
--- a/cocos/ui/widget-manager.ts
+++ b/cocos/ui/widget-manager.ts
@@ -204,7 +204,7 @@ function align (node: Node, widget: Widget): void {
 // TODO: type is hack, Change to the type actually used (Node or BaseNode) when BaseNode complete
 function visitNode (node: any): void {
     const widget = node.getComponent(Widget);
-    if (widget && widget.enabled && cclegacy.isValid(widget, true)) {
+    if (widget && widget.enabled) {
         if (DEV) {
             widget._validateTargetInDEV();
         }
diff --git a/cocos/ui/widget.ts b/cocos/ui/widget.ts
index 532a33f5cbf..44727d2af13 100644
--- a/cocos/ui/widget.ts
+++ b/cocos/ui/widget.ts
@@ -852,9 +852,6 @@ export class Widget extends Component {
     }
 
     public onDestroy (): void {
-        // `onDisable` is skipped when the component was never enabled by the scheduler
-        // (`IsOnEnableCalled` unset), so unregister here as well.
-        cclegacy._widgetManager?.remove(this);
         this._removeParentEvent();
     }
 
diff --git a/templates/google-play/build/gradle.properties b/templates/google-play/build/gradle.properties
index 582f665e42a..56e9e49ed06 100644
--- a/templates/google-play/build/gradle.properties
+++ b/templates/google-play/build/gradle.properties
@@ -27,7 +27,8 @@ android.native.buildOutput=verbose
 PROP_COMPILE_SDK_VERSION=36
 
 # Android SDK version that will be used as the earliest version of android this application can run on
-PROP_MIN_SDK_VERSION=21
+# play-services-oss-licenses, introduced on Feb 2, 2026, requires minSdkVersion 24. https://developers.google.com/android/guides/releases
+PROP_MIN_SDK_VERSION=24
 
 # Android SDK version that will be used as the latest version of android this application has been tested on
 PROP_TARGET_SDK_VERSION=36