Cannot select API 33 for Android Target SDK in QT Creator

[nostar]

I am trying to update the target SDK of my Android app to 33 (from 31) in order to satisfy the play store requirement. I have installed the SDK platform for Android 13.0 and the build-tools 33, 33.01, and 33.02 all from the SDK Manager UI under Manage Kits->Devices->Android. I have android-33 and 33.0.2 selected under Products->BuildSettings->Build Android APK for build-tools version and platform SDK. When I open the AndroidManifest.xml in Qt Creator in General mode (GUI) the list of choices under Target SDK only goes up to API 31 still. When I try to edit the android:targetSdkVersion directly in the XML source from 31 to 33, the GUI deletes the whole tag and in the GUI it then says 'not set' for target SDK. I also tried the following defines in my pro file:

ANDROID_MIN_SDK_VERSION = "21"
ANDROID_TARGET_SDK_VERSION="33"

This didnt seem to do anything. Can someone help me set my target SDK to 33?

I am on Fedora 38, Qt Creator 11.0.3 and trying both Qt 5.15.2 and 6.5.3.

[JoeCFD]

@nostar I use QtCreator 11.0.1(comes with 5.15.2) which has options in Build->Build Steps->Build Android APK: here you click Details and then you can see Application with selection for Android build platform SDK: choose android-33. You are good to go.

[nostar]

@JoeCFD In my original post I stated that I did that. The AndroidManifest.xml file still only allows up to 31 to be selected. Once again, if I try to set it to 33 manual in the xml, then it wipes out the whole tag.

[JoeCFD]

@nostar Maybe your AndroidManifest.xml path has been changed. Make a copy of your old one. Try to create a new one from QtCreator to see if you can see SDK version. If yes, copy the contents of your old one to the new one.

[nostar]

The path for all of the android files are in my pro file:

DISTFILES +=
android/AndroidManifest.xml
android/build.gradle
android/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar
android/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
android/gradlew
android/gradlew.bat
android/res/values/libs.xml \

That being said, I made a test copy of my entire qt project, and deleted all of the android files and created them fresh using the 'Create Templates' button under projects. API 31 reamains the highest version I can choose in the AndroidManifest.xml editor.

[JoeCFD]

@nostar That is weird. Can you select 33 on the GUI? What is your Java version?
use command
grep -RHi 31
to find out which files have 31

[nostar]

@JoeCFD What do you mean exactly by the GUI? I assume you mean the graphical editor for the manifest file, which is my original complaint. The combox for Target SDK lists only 'not set' then a list from API 16 to API 31. Once again, if I edit the XML source directly and change it to 33, then Qt Creator deletes the entire uses-sdk tag from the xml file and the combo box changes to 'not set' and becomes unchangeable (disabled combox)

The only thing grep returns that is relevent is the manifest file tag and 2 tags from the pro.user file:

android/AndroidManifest.xml:<uses-sdk android:targetSdkVersion="31"/>

DroidStar.pro.user:    <value type="int" key="AndroidVersion.ApiLevel">31</value>
DroidStar.pro.user:    <value type="int" key="AndroidVersion.ApiLevel">31</value>

[nostar]

I have been using java-11 via openjdk and gradle 5.6 or something until now. I upped to java-17 and then had to modify the gradle file to download grade-7.5 while trying to get API 33 to work.

[JoeCFD]

@nostar java 11 is good enough for 33.

for Java 17, you need gradle 7.3 from here:
https://docs.gradle.org/current/userguide/compatibility.html

But I guess Java 17 is for Android 14 from here:
https://developer.android.com/build/jdks

Android 	Java 	API and language features supported
14 (API 34) 	17 	Core libraries
13 (API 33) 	11 	Core libraries
12 (API 32) 	11 	Java API
11 and lower 		Android versions

[nostar]

@JoeCFD I meant 7.3, my project wont compile without one and only one correct version of gradle. Meanwhile, the problem remains. I can't build my app with a target SDK of 33.

[JoeCFD]

@nostar I build my app with Java 11, API 33 and Qt 5.15.2 for Andorid 13 on Ubuntu 22.04 without any issue. My app runs fine.

[nostar]

@JoeCFD I have been struggling with this issue for days and only updated to java 17 right before I posted here. It doesn't seem to matter what version of java I'm using or which SDKs are installed or not installed. The only choices I get in the manifest editor are API 16 through API 31.

[nostar]


[JoeCFD]

@nostar You'd better follow the compatibility settings. Otherwise, it might be tough to find out reasons when things go wrong. Android is such a weird OS.

[TheCrowKaka]

@nostar Hello, did you find a solution for this problem? Even I am facing the exact same problem.

[lemons]

@TheCrowKaka In the following my working configuration. (Qt 5.15)

I installed Open JDK 18:
JDK-Path: /usr/lib/jvm/java-18-openjdk-amd64

Set my target SDK in *.pro:

ANDROID_TARGET_SDK_VERSION = 33

Updated gradle.properties:

org.gradle.jvmargs=-Xmx2048m
androidBuildToolsVersion=33.0.2
androidCompileSdkVersion=33
qtMinSdkVersion=21
qtTargetSdkVersion=33
android.useAndroidX=true
android.enableJetifier=true

Updated gradle-wrapper.properties:

distributionBase=GRADLE_USER_HOME
distributionPath=wrapper/dists
#  use newer gradle version, in order to work with JDK 18
distributionUrl=https\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-7.5.1-all.zip
zipStoreBase=GRADLE_USER_HOME
zipStorePath=wrapper/dists

Updated build.gradle:

buildscript {
    repositories {
        google()
        // note: you cant use jcenter() anymore
        mavenCentral()
        maven { url 'https://jitpack.io' }
    }

    dependencies {
        classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:7.2.1'
    }
}

repositories {
    google()
    mavenCentral()
    maven { url 'https://jitpack.io' }
}

apply plugin: 'com.android.application'


// you won't need all of my dependencies, I require them for my JNI parts
// note: if you have some legacy android stuff, you have to fix the imports to use androidx
// e.g.
// OLD IMPORTS
// import android.support.v4.content.FileProvider;
// import android.support.v4.app.ShareCompat;
// NEW IMPORTS
// import androidx.core.content.FileProvider;
// import androidx.core.app.ShareCompat;


dependencies {
    // note the new keywords here, as some got deprecated
    // e.g. old depency: 
    // compile "com.android.support:support-v4:24.+"
    implementation 'androidx.core:core:1.3.2'
    implementation 'androidx.legacy:legacy-support-v4:1.0.0' 
    implementation "org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-stdlib-jdk8:1.4.32"
    implementation "org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-stdlib:1.3.72"
    implementation fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: ['*.jar', '*.aar'])
}

If you can't select "android-33" in the build config view, you can try to manually add the options to your *.pro.user file, and then restart QtCreator:

ProjectExplorer.BuildStepList.Step.3:

 <valuemap type="QVariantMap" key="ProjectExplorer.BuildStepList.Step.3">
      <value type="QString" key="BuildTargetSdk">android-33</value>

ProjectExplorer.Target.PluginSettings:

<valuemap type="QVariantMap" key="ProjectExplorer.Target.PluginSettings">
      <value type="int" key="AndroidVersion.ApiLevel">33</value>

Note: If you can select a different Android Version (e.g. 26), you might be able to simply search for "26".
(in my case I have 4 occurrences for '33'; 3 x within 'ProjectExplorer.BuildStepList.Step.3' and 1 x within 'ProjectExplorer.Target.PluginSettings')

[klausix]

@TheCrowKaka Having the same problem here.
And absolutely no solution in sight. I am using Qt 6.6 on MacOs 14.1.1 with JDK-17.
Will try OpenJdk 18, but only after I have cooled down a bit :-P

What I ask myself - when editing AndroidManifest.xml in QtCreator: where does it get the list of possible API-Levels from? Couldn't this be a point where to find a solution...?

[KenAppleby 0]

@klausix I feel your pain.

I am using Qt 6.6.1 on Windows 10 and managed to find a solution to this. I am successfully building my app for platform API-33 using API-33 tools. It's luck not competence that has got me there, but this, in short, is what I did.

• uninstalled Android Studio

• uninstalled the Android SDK

• installed Qt 6.6.1 - probably irrelevant, I was using 6.6.0

• removed the JDK 11 installation I was using

• used the QtCreator Edit => Preferences => Devices => Android => JDK Location "globe" button to install JDK 17 from the default location it offers https://adoptium.net and set the JDK location

• used SDK Manager on the same dialog to install as follows:
  

• key step: edit the gradle.properties file in MyApp/android directory to contain:

androidBuildToolsVersion=33.0.0
androidCompileSdkVersion=33
androidNdkVersion=25.1.8937393
buildDir=build
qt5AndroidDir=E:/Qt/6.6.1/android_arm64_v8a/./src/android/java
qtAndroidDir=E:/Qt/6.6.1/android_arm64_v8a/./src/android/java
qtMinSdkVersion=23
qtTargetAbiList=arm64-v8a
qtTargetSdkVersion=33
android.suppressUnsupportedCompileSdk=33

[In my project this file was created some time ago via the "Create Templates" option when I was using Qt 6.5.3 . It originally contained no equivalent of the quoted section.]

• remove the app build directories
• remove the project CMakeLists.txt.user file
• restart QtCreator and load the application CMake project
• in Projects => Android Qt 6.6.1 Clang arm-64-v8a => Build => Build Android APK => Application set Android build platform SDK to android-33 (android-31 was also offered.) The Android build-tools version was stuck on 31

The app then built in a Debug buld without problems and ran okay on a Pixel 7 running Android 14.
I then connected a Pixel 4a running Android 13 to another USB port. Qt Creator crashed after about 30 seconds of spinning. When I restarted it the option to use build-tools 33 was available. Now both Release and Debug builds are fine.

[KenAppleby 0]

The gradle.properties file contains

android.suppressUnsupportedCompileSdk=33

as recommended by the warning that is issued by the build if you leave this out. The warning is that gradle plugin 7.2.1 has not been tested against android API-33.

This seems to be in contradiction to the information here:

https://developer.android.com/build/releases/gradle-plugin#groovy

which appears to say that Android Gradle Plugin (AGP) version 7.2 is valid for API-33

Also, as mentioned in this post:
https://forum.qt.io/topic/151244/online-installed-android-qt-6-6-but-build-requires-newer-version
by @shokarta Qt insists on installing the android SDK for API 31, whether you want it or not.

I suspect both of these are bugs which can be ignored. But they do compound the general confusion.

[Cavit VURAL]

@KenAppleby-0

Here is the solution :

build.gradle in android directory

1 - Version must be 7.4.2 or newer

dependencies {
     classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:7.4.2'
}

2 - Set targetSdkVersion manually

defaultConfig {
    resConfig "en"
    minSdkVersion qtMinSdkVersion
    targetSdkVersion 33
    ndk.abiFilters = qtTargetAbiList.split(",")
}

gradle-wrapper.properties in android/gradle/wrapper directory

distributionBase=GRADLE_USER_HOME
distributionPath=wrapper/dists
distributionUrl=https://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-8.0-bin.zip
zipStoreBase=GRADLE_USER_HOME
zipStorePath=wrapper/dists