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-->Visual Studio includes an Android SDK Manager that you useto download Android SDK tools, platforms, and other components that youneed for developing Xamarin.Android apps.
Overview
This guide explains how to use the Xamarin Android SDK Manager inVisual Studio and Visual Studio for Mac.
Note
This guide applies to Visual Studio 2019, Visual Studio 2017, and Visual Studio for Mac.
The Xamarin Android SDK Manager (installed as part of the Mobiledevelopment with .NET workload) helps you download the latest Androidcomponents that you need for developing your Xamarin.Android app. Itreplaces Google's standalone SDK Manager, which has been deprecated.
Requirements
To use the Xamarin Android SDK Manager, you will need the following:
Visual Studio 2019 Community, Professional, or Enterprise.
OR Visual Studio 2017 (Community, Professional, or Enterprise edition). VisualStudio 2017 version 15.7 or later is required.
Visual Studio Tools for Xamarin version 4.10.0 or later(installed as part of the Mobile development with .NET workload).
The Xamarin Android SDK Manager also requires the Java Development Kit(which is automatically installed with Xamarin.Android). There areseveral JDK alternatives to choose from:
By default, Xamarin.Android usesJDK 8,which is required if you are developing for API level 24 or greater(JDK 8 also supports API levels earlier than 24).
You can continue to use JDK 7if you are developing specifically for API level 23 or earlier.
If you are using Visual Studio 15.8 Preview 5 or later, you can tryusing Microsoft's Mobile OpenJDK Distributionrather than JDK 8.
SDK Manager
To start the SDK Manager in Visual Studio, click Tools > Android >Android SDK Manager:
The Android SDK Manager opens in the Android SDKs andTools screen. This screen has two tabs – Platforms andTools:
The Android SDKs and Tools screen is described in more detail inthe following sections.
Android SDK location
The Android SDK location is configured at the top of the Android SDKsand Tools screen, as seen in the previous screenshot. This location mustbe configured correctly before the Platforms and Tools tabswill function properly. You may need to set the location of the AndroidSDK for one or more of the following reasons:
The Android SDK Manager was unable to locate the Android SDK.
You have installed the Android SDK in a alternate (non-default) location.
To set the location of the Android SDK, click the ellipsis (…)button to the far right of Android SDK Location. This opens theBrowse For Folder dialog to use for navigating to the location ofthe Android SDK. In the following screenshot, the Android SDK underProgram Files (x86)Android is being selected:
When you click OK, the SDK Manager will manage the Android SDK thatis installed at the selected location.
Tools tab
The Tools tab displays a list of tools and extras. Use this tabto install the Android SDK tools, platform tools, and build tools.Also, you can install the Android Emulator, the low-level debugger(LLDB), the NDK, HAXM acceleration, and Google Play libraries.
For example, to download the Google Android Emulator package, click thecheck mark next to Android Emulator and click the Apply Changesbutton:
A dialog may be shown with the message, The following package requiresthat you accept its license terms before installing:
Click Accept if you accept the Terms and Conditions. At the bottomof the window, a progress bar indicates download and installationprogress. After the installation completes, the Tools tab will showthat the selected tools and extras were installed.
Platforms tab
The Platforms tab displays a list of platform SDK versions alongwith other resources (like system images) for each platform:
This screen lists the Android version (such as Android 8.0), thecode name (Oreo), the API level (such as 26), and the sizes ofthe components for that platform (such as 1 GB). You use thePlatforms tab to install components for the Android API level thatyou want to target. For more information about Android versions and APIlevels, seeUnderstanding Android API Levels.
When all components of a platform are installed, a checkmark appears nextto the platform name. If not all components of a platform areinstalled, the box for that platform is filled.You can expand a platform to see its components (and which componentsare installed) by clicking the + box to the left of the platform.Click - to unexpand the component listing for a platform.
To add another platform to the SDK, click the box next to the platformuntil the checkmark appears to install all of its components, thenclick Apply Changes:
To install only specific components, click the box next to the platformonce. You can then select any individual components that you need:
Notice that the number of components to install appears next to theApply Changes button. After you click the Apply Changes button,you will see the License Acceptance screen as shown earlier.Click Accept if you accept the Terms and Conditions. You may seethis dialog more than one time when there are multiple components toinstall. At the bottom of the window, a progress bar will indicatedownload and installation progress. When the download and installationprocess completes (this can take many minutes, depending on how manycomponents need to be downloaded), the added components are marked witha checkmark and listed as Installed.
Repository selection
By default, the Android SDK Manager downloads platform components andtools from a Microsoft-managed repository. If you need access toexperimental alpha/beta platforms and tools that are not yet availablein the Microsoft repository, you can switch the SDK Manager to useGoogle's repository. To make this switch, click the gear icon in thelower right-hand corner and select Repository > Google(Unsupported):
When the Google repository is selected, additional packages may appearin the Platforms tab that were not available previously. (In theabove screenshot, Android SDK Platform 28 was added by switching tothe Google repository.) Keep in mind that use of the Google repositoryis unsupported and is therefore not recommended for everydaydevelopment.
To switch back to the supported repository of platforms and tools,click Microsoft (Recommended). This restores the list of packagesand tools to the default selection.
Requirements
To use the Xamarin Android SDK Manager, you will need the following:
- Visual Studio for Mac 7.5 (or later).
The Xamarin Android SDK Manager also requires the Java Development Kit(which is automatically installed with Xamarin.Android). There areseveral JDK alternatives to choose from:
By default, Xamarin.Android usesJDK 8,which is required if you are developing for API level 24 or greater(JDK 8 also supports API levels earlier than 24).
You can continue to use JDK 7if you are developing specifically for API level 23 or earlier.
If you are using Visual Studio for Mac 7.7 or later, you can tryusing Microsoft's Mobile OpenJDK Distributionrather than JDK 8.
Important
Xamarin.Android does not support JDK 9.
SDK Manager
To start the SDK Manager in Visual Studio for Mac, click Tools > SDK Manager:
The Android SDK Manager opens in the Preferences window, whichcontains three tabs, Platforms, Tools, and Locations:
The tabs of the Android SDK Manager are described in thefollowing sections.
Locations tab
The Locations tab has three settings for configuring the locationsof the Android SDK, Android NDK, and the Java SDK (JDK). Theselocations must be configured correctly before the Platforms andTools tabs will function properly.
When the SDK Manager starts, it automatically determines the path foreach installed package and indicates that it was Found by placing agreen checkmark icon next to the path:
Click the Reset to Defaults button to cause the SDK Manager to lookfor the SDK, NDK, and JDK at their default locations.
Typically, you use the Locations tab to modify the location of theAndroid SDK and/or the Java JDK. You do not need to install the NDK todevelop Xamarin.Android apps – the NDK is used only when you needto develop parts of your app using native-code languages such as C andC++.
Tools tab
The Tools tab displays a list of tools and extras. Use this tabto install the Android SDK tools, platform tools, and build tools.Also, you can install the Android Emulator, the low-level debugger(LLDB), the NDK, HAXM acceleration, and Google Play libraries.
For example, to download the Google Android Emulator package, click thecheck mark next to Android Emulator and click the Apply Changesbutton:
A dialog may be shown with the message, The following package requiresthat you accept its license terms before installing:
Click Accept if you accept the Terms and Conditions. At the bottomof the window, a progress bar indicates download and installationprogress. After the installation completes, the Tools tab will showthat the selected tools and extras were installed.
Platforms tab
The Platforms tab displays a list of platform SDK versions alongwith other resources (like system images) for each platform:
This screen lists the Android version (such as Android 8.1), thecode name (Oreo), the API level (such as 27), and the sizes ofthe components for that platform (such as 1 GB). You use thePlatforms tab to install components for the Android API level thatyou want to target. For more information about Android versions and APIlevels, see Understanding Android API Levels.
When all components of a platform are installed, a checkmark appears nextto the platform name. If not all components of a platform areinstalled, the box for that platform is filled.You can expand a platform to see its components (and which componentsare installed) by clicking the arrow to the left of the platform.Click down arrow to unexpand the component listing for a platform.
To add another platform to the SDK, click the box next to the platformuntil the checkmark appears to install all of its components, thenclick Apply Changes:
To install only some components, click the box next to the platformonce. You can then select any individual components that you need:
Notice that the number of components to install appears next to theApply Changes button. After you click the Apply Changes button,you will see the License Acceptance screen as shown earlier.Click Accept if you accept the Terms and Conditions. You may seethis dialog more than one time when there are multiple components toinstall. At the bottom of the window, a progress bar will indicatedownload and installation progress. When the download and installationprocess completes (this can take many minutes, depending on how manycomponents need to be downloaded), the added components are marked witha checkmark and listed as Installed.
Repository selection
By default, the Android SDK Manager downloads platform components andtools from a Microsoft-managed repository. If you need access toexperimental alpha/beta platforms and tools that are not yet availablein the Microsoft repository, you can switch the SDK Manager to useGoogle's repository. To make this switch, click the gear icon in thelower right-hand corner and select Repository > Google(Unsupported):
When the Google repository is selected, additional packages may appearin the Platforms tab that were not available previously. (In theabove screenshot, Android SDK Platform 28 was added by switching tothe Google repository.) Keep in mind that use of the Google repository isunsupported and is therefore not recommended for everyday development.
To switch back to the supported repository of platforms and tools,click Microsoft (Recommended). This restores the list of packagesand tools to the default selection.
Summary
This guide explained how to install and use the Xamarin Android SDKManager tool in Visual Studio and Visual Studio for Mac.
Related Links
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Download
Install the most recent Preview version of Visual Studio for Mac by changing the updater channel to Beta.
Note
This release is not 'go-live' and not intended for use on production computers or for creating production code.
To learn more about Visual Studio 2017 for Mac, see Mac System Requirementsand Mac Platform Targeting and Compatibility.
To learn more about other related downloads, see the Downloads page.
Feedback
We would love to hear from you! You can report a problem through the Report a Problem option in Visual Studio for Mac IDE.You can track your feedback in the Developer Community portal. For suggestions, let us know through UserVoice.
Release History
- February 6, 2019 – Visual Studio 2017 for Mac version 7.8 Preview 3
- January 23, 2019 – Visual Studio 2017 for Mac version 7.8 Preview 2
- December 18, 2018 – Visual Studio 2017 for Mac version 7.8 Preview 1
Release Highlights
This release focuses on improving the quality in Visual Studio for Mac through bug fixes, performance improvements, and reliability improvements.
Visual Studio 2017 for Mac version 7.8 Preview 3 (7.7.0.1607)
released February 6, 2019
Shell
- We fixed an issue where custom key bindings for Remove Unused and Sort (Usings) don't work.
.NET Core
- We fixed an issue where the create button doesn't create new project for .NET Core 3.0 preview 2.
- We fixed an issue where .NET Core 3.0 can be selected in the New Project dialog when it is not supported.
Web Tools
- We fixed an issue where Publish to Azure creates a profile with the wrong name.
Xamarin
- We fixed an issue when attempting to drag and drop controls to iOS storyboards from the Tool Box after searching for controls does not work.
Xamarin.Android
- We fixed an issue where the JDK notification was shown on the welcome page, even for non-Android projects.
- We fixed an issue where launching Visual Studio for Mac without any Java installed shows 2 system prompts to install Java.
Visual Studio 2017 for Mac version 7.8 Preview 2 (7.7.0.1547)
released January 23, 2019
Code Editor
- We fixed an issue where Using statement indenting is incorrect.
- We fixed an issue where Roslyn throws a fatal exception (System.ArgumentOutOfRangeException).
- We fixed an issue where formatting of parameters across multiple lines is incorrect.
- We fixed an issue where the constructor generator would cause Visual Studio for Mac to crash.
- We fixed an issue where smart semicolon placement causes incorrect semicolon placement.
Shell
- We fixed an issue where switching from the application and returning, does not focus on the editor correctly.
- We fixed an issue where the cursor in editor window is lost when switching applications.
- We fixed an issue where focusing out/into Visual Studio changes the default focused element on the UI.
- We fixed an issue where Visual Studio for Mac would fail to track file changes for files in certain folders.
- We fixed an issue where Visual Studio for Mac doesn't remember opened files.
- We fixed an issue where the Toolbar selector for build configuration is disabled.
NuGet
- We fixed an issue where Visual Studio for Mac crashes after 'Could not add packages' error.
.NET Core
- We removed the VB.NET option from .NET Core projects.
ASP.NET Core
- We fixed an issue where the Folder profile would be created with 'Default' configuration instead of 'Release'.
Web Tools
- We fixed an issue where application arguments are not passed to the Azure Functions host.
- We added the following additional Azure Functions templates
- CosmosDB trigger
- EventHub trigger
- IoT Hub trigger
- SendGrid trigger
- ServiceBus Queue trigger
- ServiceBus Topic trigger
Xamarin
Xamarin.Android
- We fixed an issue where the Android resource update could occur at the same time as a build which could then cause build issues.
- We fixed an issue where Visual Studio for Mac would fail to upload APK to Acer Chromebook R11.
Debugger
- We fixed an issue where the debugger would fail when running on an external console on Mojave.
Test Tools
- We fixed an issue where xUnit Fact 'DisplayName' not shown in test explorer if the name has a period at the end.
- We fixed an issue where the text editor unit test integration ('Unit test 'name' could not be loaded') would fail.
F#
- We fixed an issue where open statements for F# must be manually added when pasting/writing code.
Visual Studio 2017 for Mac version 7.8 Preview 1 (7.7.0.1471)
released December 18, 2018
Code Editor
- We fixed an issue where typing can be slow in large files when accessibility is enabled.
- We fixed an issue where a fatal error can occur when trying to navigate inside the editor using VoiceOver.
- We fixed an issue where the caret location in quick fix margin is incorrect.
- We fixed a performance issue where indent correcting is taking up too much time on large files.
- We fixed an issue where Intellisense soft-selection is confusing.
- We fixed an issue where Visual Studio for Mac can't open .targets files.
- We fixed an issue where the display updates partially when commenting a collapsed method.
- We fixed an issue where C# syntax highlight doesn't work for some of the keywords.
- We fixed an issue where invoking some snippets from the toolbox in .cs files leads to poorly formatted code.
- We fixed an issue where pressing Down to choose the closing tag completion in XAML IntelliSense closes the completion window.
- We fixed an issue where the file 'redacted' could not be opened.
- We fixed an issue where sometimes pasting fails in XAML files.
- We fixed an issue where, when adding an attribute via Intellisense, it does not trim 'Attribute' from the name.
- We fixed an issue where code suggestion does the wrong thing when
(is pressed after a stray arrow key.
Project System
- We fixed an issue where the copy & paste of a XAML file causes a disassociation between the .xaml and .xaml.cs files.
- We fixed an issue where files are being added to ItemGroup.Compile(Remove) and this related issue - Error type of namespace not found.
- We fixed an issue where an invalid C# file is created with a new library project.
- We fixed an issue where it is not possible to create a culture specific .resx file through the 'New File ..' menu in the Solutions Explorer context menu.
Shell
- We fixed an issue where adding a new folder to a project does not allow instant renaming.
- We fixed an issue where Start Debugging after Start without Debugging results in an exception for ASP.Net projects.
- We fixed a performance issue with build output search.
- The Run Item command on the Solution Explorer has been renamed to Run Project.
- We fixed an issue where the welcome page is shown when loading a solution from finder.
NuGet
- We updated the version of NuGet to 4.8.
- NuGet package diagnostic warnings are now shown in the Solution Explorer. Any diagnostics warnings will be rendered with a warning icon and the full text of the warning available as a tool tip.
- We fixed a set of issues with NuGet:
- problem while restoring NuGet packages which don't have stable version.
- The VS4Mac bundle nuget version is too old: 4.3.1.
- Referencing packages conditionally using variable does not work correctly.
- Xamarin.Forms app with multi target framework library referenced fail to build.
- Visual Studio Mac Csproj build not support Item contidion.
- Support conditional NuGet PackageReferences in multi-targeting projects.
- Show per-framework dependencies when multi-targeting.
- VS cannot build F# dotnet core solution.
- Nuget restore ignore build targets.
- NuGet restores the wrong version of Microsoft.AspNetCore.App.
Assembly Browser
- We fixed an issue where the Assembly Browser shows the wrong icon for properties.
- We fixed an issue where
System.DayOfWeekenum (Wednesday) does not appear to be assigned a value.
Web Tools
- We fixed an issue where it was not possible to publish to Azure API App instances.
Xamarin
- We updated the Xamarin Test Cloud agent NuGet version.
- We fixed an issue where the View Archives command would appear in .NET Core projects.
Designers
- We fixed an issue where the toolbox regressed Android designer usage.
Xamarin.iOS
- It is now possible to choose .pdf files for image assets that do not support vector images.
- We fixed an issue where Visual Studio for Mac erroneously indicates that a Xamarin.Mac property is unavailable.
- We fixed an issue where it is not possible to choose devices for named colors in the asset catalog.
- We fixed an issue where the iOS simulator is no longer brought to front when starting a debug session.
- We fixed an issue where Native References not working in iOS library projects and appear to be ignored.
- We fixed an issue where deleting a Native Reference does not delete the the file on disk.
- We fixed an issue where the Debugger doesn't connect to a keyboard extension on any device.
Xamarin.Android
Visual Studio 2017 Mac Microsoft Login Required Download
- We fixed an issue where new Android apps have uppercase letters in the package name.
- We fixed an issue where 'Your project is not referencing the 'Mono.Android.Version=v8.1' framework' when AndroidUseLatestPlatformSDK is true.
- We fixed an issue where Visual Studio for Mac does not recognize
AndroidManifestin specific build configurations.. - We fixed an issue where opening the Report A Problem dialog also displays 'Install JDK' dialog.
- We fixed an issue where the Google Play SDK warning is shown even when publishing Ad-Hoc.
Xamarin.Forms
- Intellisense in Xamarin.Forms XAML files for FontFamily is now available.
Xamarin.Mac
- We fixed an issue where .xib templates seem to need
customObjectInstantitationMethod='direct'added. - We fixed an issue where it is not possible to change the target framework version for Xamarin.Mac full on re-opening project options.
- We fixed an issue where the project options for a Mac build (classic) shows incorrect UI.
Test Tools
- We fixed a performance issue where the 'Test Results' pane has bad performance when very large amounts of text are shown.
- We fixed an issue where the unit test integration in the editor does not properly trigger test cases.
- We fixed an issue that could cause xunit to fail to restore.
Accessibility
Visual Studio 2017 Mac Microsoft Login Required Windows 7
- We fixed a number of accessibility issues in this release, including several VoiceOver issues in the Debugger and in creating iOS developer certificates, and Keyboard issues in the Android SDK Manager.
Visual Studio 2017 Mac Microsoft Login Required Account
Other
- We fixed an issue where new F# projects shows IntelliSense errors.
- We fixed an issue where unchecking the Organize Using > Place System directives first setting does not save.
- We fixed an issue where Visual Studio for Mac is not remembering settings.
- We fixed an issue for F# projects where Visual Studio for Mac overwrites the project GUID to be lowercase instead of uppercase.
- We fixed an issue for F# projects where Visual Studio for Mac overwrites the project GUID to be lowercase instead of uppercase.
Visual Studio 2017 for Mac Preview Release Notes History
Download Visual Studio 2017 Community
You can view prior Preview versions of Visual Studio 2017 for Mac release notes: