What android sdk contains

What Is the Android SDK and How to Start Using It

Android SDK is a software development kit developed by Google for the Android platform. The Android SDK allows you to create Android apps, and you don’t need to be an expert to use it. In this tutorial, I’ll explain what the Android SDK is and how to get started with it.

Android SDK comes bundled with Android Studio, Google’s official integrated development environment (IDE) for the Android operating system. You can learn about Android Studio and the Android App Development Kit in another of my articles.

In this post, we’ll look at:

• What is the Android SDK?
• How to install the Android SDK
• What is the Android SDK Manager?
• What are the components of the Android SDK?

What Is the Android SDK?

The Android SDK is a collection of software development tools and libraries required to develop Android applications. Every time Google releases a new version of Android or an update, a corresponding SDK is also released which developers must download and install. It is worth noting that you can also download and use the Android SDK independently of Android Studio, but typically you’ll be working through Android Studio for any Android development.

The Android SDK comprises all the tools necessary to code programs from scratch and even test them. These tools provide a smooth flow of the development process from developing and debugging, through to packaging.

The Android SDK is compatible with Windows, macOS, and Linux, so you can develop on any of those platforms.

How to Install the Android SDK

The Android SDK is optimized for Android Studio, and hence to effectively reap its benefits, you will need to install Android Studio. Having the Android SDK managed from within Android Studio is easier since support for languages like Java, Kotlin, and C++ is handled automatically. Not only that, but updates to the Android SDK are handled automatically by Android Studio.

To install the Android SDK from within Android Studio, first start Android Studio.

• From the Android Studio start page, select Configure > SDK Manager.

• If you already have Android Studio open, the SDK Manager icon is found on the top right corner, as shown below.

Install the required Android SDK platform packages and developer tools. A good start is to install:

• Android SDK Build-Tools
• Android Emulator
• Android SDK Platform-Tools
• Android SDK Tools
• Documentation for Android SDK

Click Apply, and Android Studio will install the selected tools and packages.

What Is the SDK Manager?

The Android SDK is composed of modular packages that you can download, install, and update separately using the Android SDK Manager. The SDK Manager helps to update new SDK releases and updates whenever a new Android platform is released. The SDK manager can be found in the top-right corner of the Android Studio screen, as shown below.

All that is required to follow the instructions provided, and the updates will be immediately downloaded to your environment.

What Are the Components of the Android SDK?

The Android SDK consists of an emulator, development tools, sample projects with source code, and the required libraries to build Android applications. Let’s look at the key components one by one.

Android SDK Tools

Android SDK Tools is a component of the Android SDK. It includes a complete set of development and debugging tools for Android, and is included with Android Studio. The SDK Tools also consist of testing tools and other utilities required to develop an app.

SDK Build Tools

Build tools are required for building components for building the actual binaries for your Android app. Always ensure your build tools component is up to date by downloading the latest version in the Android SDK Manager.

SDK Platform-Tools

Android Platform-Tools are used to support the features for the current Android platform and are necessary for Android app development. These tools interface with the Android platform on the device you use for testing. They include:

• Android Debug Bridge (adb): This is a handy command-line tool that lets you communicate with a device. The adb command allows you to perform device actions, such as installing and debugging apps. It also provides access to a Unix shell that you can use to run a variety of commands on a device.
• fastboot: This lets you flash a device with a new system image.
• systrace: This tool helps collect and inspect timing information across all processes running on your device at the system level. It’s crucial for debugging app performance.

SDK Platform-Tools are backward compatible, so you need only one version of the SDK Platform-Tools.

SDK Platform

For each version of Android, there’s one SDK Platform available. These are numbered according to the Android version (e.g. Android 7 Nougat) and an API version (e.g. API Level 24). Before you build an Android app, you must specify an SDK Platform as your build target. Newer SDK Platform versions have more features for developers, but older devices may not be compatible with the newer platform versions.

Google APIs

Google provides a number of exclusive Google APIs to make developing your app easier. They also offer a system image for the emulator so you can test your app using the Google APIs.

Android Emulator

The Android Emulator is a QEMU-based device-emulation tool that simulates Android devices on your computer, allowing developers to test applications on different devices and Android API levels, without needing to have physical devices for each. The emulator comes with configurations for various Android phones, tablets, Wear OS, and Android TV devices.

The Android emulator provides almost all of the capabilities of a real Android device. You can perform the following activities:

• simulate phone calls and text messages
• simulate different network speeds
• specify the location of the device
• simulate hardware sensors such as rotation
• access Google Play Store and much more

Often it is faster and easier to test your app with an emulator instead of using a physical device.

Conclusion

In this post, we looked at some of the basics of the Android SDK. The Android SDK is the only way to develop for Android devices. Fortunately, it contains extensive documentation, tutorials, samples, best practice guidance, and an array of tools for many different development tasks.

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An Android app template is a great way to jump-start your app project or to learn some new skills by exploring the source code of a professionally made app.

Take a look at some of our roundups of the best Android app templates:

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How to Install Android SDK Tools

To Develop Android-based Apps, you will need to Install Android SDK. In this How to Install Android SDK Tools, we will learn what is Android SDK is and how to install the Android SDK using Android Studio. First, we will learn about the Android SDK Manager GUI to manage the SDK. We will find out how to find out the SDK location, various components of SDK like SDK Platforms, SDK Tools, Build Tools, Platform-tools, System Images, Emulators, etc. Finally, we will show you how to install the Android SDK.

Table of Contents

What is Android SDK

The Android Software Development Kit (SDK) is a set of development tools, which is needed to develop Android-based applications.

We can create Android Apps in many ways. You can make use of Java or Kotlin or use frameworks like Ionic, NativeScript or React Native. But whichever tools you use the Android SDK is a must.

The Android SDK comes with the required tools to build Android apps. Using the SDK you can install the app in the device and access the features provided by the OS. The SDK also comes with tools to debug the application. The Android emulator allows you to test apps in different types of devices, without needing to buy one.

The Android SDK comes in various versions. Each new release of Android OS is accompanied by a new SDK version or API Version. For Example, the latest Android Pie ( or Android 9 ) has a corresponding SDK API version of 28. You can refer to the SDK Platform release notes to find out the more details about each release

Android SDK Manager

The Android SDK Manager helps us download & manage the Android SDK. It makes it very easier to search for updates, install and remove the older unused SDK’s easily

The SDK Manager is part of the Android Studio and installed along with it. Hence, you need to install it first. Refer to our tutorial How to download & install the Android Studio tutorial.

You can open the SDK Manager by clicking on Menu Option Tools -> SDK Manager ( or Tools -> Android -> SDK Manager in older versions of Android Studio). You can also click on the icon in the tool bar as shown in image below

Locating the Android SDK Manager in Android Studio

The Following is the image of the Android SDK Manager

Android SDK Manager

In the lefthand side pane, you have to select Android SDK under Appearance & behavior -> System Settings

Android SDK Location

The Android SDK path is usually C:\Users\ \AppData\Local\Android\sdk as shown in the image above. But you can change it by clicking on the edit link.

The SDK Location is very important if you are using NativeScript or ionic, For NativeScript to pick up the SDK you need to define the ANDROID_HOME environment variable. While the ionic expects ANDROID_SDK_ROOT environment variable to point to the SDK path.

The SDK Manager contains three tabs. They are SDK Platforms SDK Tools & SDK Update Sites.

SDK Platforms

This tab contains the list of Android SDKs. The SDKs are a must if you want to develop apps targeting the Android Platform. Each new version of Android comes with its own SDK version ( API level and a revision).

Under each API, there are a few different types of files, which are displayed only if you select show package details option. They are shown in the image below.

Android SDK Platform:
This file is required to compile and run the Android Application. At least one SDK Platform must be installed. Always use the latest SDK version, when developing the App. You are still able to run the App on the older versions of Android.

Sources for Android package:
The source files for the platform, contain metadata about the SDK Platform and is helpful when debugging the android App. Always install the corresponding sources when installing the SDK Platform

System Image packages:
These are used by the Android Emulators to run the App in Emulator. Each SDK platform version contains a list of supported system images. You must select an image based on your computer Processor. You can also install them when you are creating the Android Virtual Devices (AVDs) using the AVD Manager.

SDK Tools

This tab contains the set of development and debugging tools for the Android SDK

Android SDK Build-Tools: Required
This contains the tools required to build Android Apps. You must install this package. See the Android SDK Build tools release notes.

Android SDK Platform-Tools: Required
This contains the tools required by the Android platform. The tools like ADB (Android Debug Bridge) are part of the Platform-tools. This package is required. See the Android SDK Platform Release notes

Android SDK Tools: Required
This tool includes essential tools such as ProGuard etc. See the SDK Tools Release Notes.

Android Emulator: Recommended
The Android Emulator was part of the Android SDK Tools up to version 25.2. Now they are available to install separately. You need an Emulator to debug and test your applications in an Emulated Android Runtime. See the Android Emulator release notes.

SDK Update Sites

This tab lists the Android & third party sites, where Android Studio looks for the update. You can add other sites to the list and download the packages from those sites as well.

SDK Update sites. List of sites where Android Looks for Updates.

If you are behind a proxy server, then remember to setup the proxy server from the HTTP Proxy option.

How to install the Android SDK

To Install a new SDK click the checkbox, Similarly to update an SDK. Whenever an update is available a dash appears in the checkbox next to the package. The status field shows the current installation status of the SDK.

To remove or uninstall a package, unselect the checkbox

Click on the Apply or OK button to begin the installation.

Next, you may be asked to accept the License Terms and then the installation begins. Installation takes some time to complete depending on the no of packages you have selected.

Once done, click on Finish. Now the Android SDK is successfully installed.

Summary

In this How to Install Android SDK Tutorial, we learned what is Android SDK is and how to install/update it using Android SDK, We also learned a few things about SDK Platform, SDK Tools, SDK Platform build tools, SDK Build Tools, System Images, etc.

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