👋 Welcome! In this tutorial, you will:

- Set up an Android application configured with Amplify
- Create a data model and persist data to Amplify DataStore
- Connect your local data to synchronize to a cloud backend

## Prerequisites

- [Android Studio](https://developer.android.com/studio/index.html#downloads) version 4.0 or higher
- [Android SDK](https://developer.android.com/studio/releases/platforms) API level 24 (Android 7.0) or higher
- [Amplify CLI](/cli) version 4.21.0 or later. Install by running:

import all0 from "/src/fragments/cli-install-block.mdx";

<Fragments fragments={{all: all0}} />

## Create a new Android application

1. Open **Android Studio**. Select **New Project**.

    ![Shows the Android studio welcome window](/images/lib/getting-started/android/set-up-android-studio-welcome.png)

2. Select **Empty Activity**. Press **Next**.

    ![Shows Android studio select project template window](/images/lib/getting-started/android/set-up-android-studio-select-project-template.png)

3. Fill in the following for your project:

    - Name: **Todo**
    - Language: **Kotlin** or **Java**
    - Minimum SDK: **API 24: Android 7.0 (Nougat)**
    - Press **Finish**

  ![Shows android studio configure project window](/images/lib/getting-started/android/set-up-android-studio-configure-your-project-todo.png)

You should now have an empty Android project without Amplify.

## Add Amplify to your application

  <Callout>

  If you prefer, you can create the Amplify project with [Amplify Studio](https://sandbox.amplifyapp.com/) instead!

  </Callout>

**Amplify Library for Android** is distributed as an Apache Maven package. In this section, you'll add the packages and other required directives to your build configuration.


1. **Open a terminal window** and **change to the directory for your application project**. For example, if you created the previous Todo project in the folder `~/Developer`, you can type the following:
  ```bash
  cd ~/Developer/Todo
  ```

2. To create the Amplify project, first you will need to use the `amplify` CLI you previously installed. **Run the command**:
  ```bash
  amplify init
  ```

  Enter the following when prompted:

  ```console
  ? Enter a name for the project
      `Todo`
  ? Initialize the project with the above configuration?
      `No`
  ? Enter a name for the environment
      `dev`
  ? Choose your default editor:
      `Android Studio`
  ? Choose the type of app that you're building
      `android`
  ? Where is your Res directory:
      `app/src/main/res`
  ? Select the authentication method you want to use:
      `AWS profile`
  ? Please choose the profile you want to use
      `default`
  ```

  Upon successfully running `amplify init`, you will see a configuration file created in `./app/src/main/res/raw/` called `amplifyconfiguration.json`.

  This file will be bundled into your application so that the Amplify libraries know how to reach your provisioned backend resources at runtime.

3. Under **Gradle Scripts**, open **build.gradle (Module :app)**.

Add the following lines:

```groovy
android {
    compileOptions {
        // Support for Java 8 features
        coreLibraryDesugaringEnabled true
        sourceCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
        targetCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
    }
}

dependencies {
    // Amplify API and Datastore dependencies
    implementation 'com.amplifyframework:aws-api:ANDROID_VERSION'
    implementation 'com.amplifyframework:aws-datastore:ANDROID_VERSION'

    // Support for Java 8 features
    coreLibraryDesugaring 'com.android.tools:desugar_jdk_libs:1.1.5'
}
```

- Set `coreLibraryDesugaringEnabled`, `sourceCompatibility`, and `targetCompatibility` to allow your application to make use of Java 8 features like Lambda expressions
- Add Amplify API, Datastore, and Desugaring libraries to the `dependencies` block

4. Run **Gradle Sync**

    Android Studio requires you to sync your project with your new configuration. To do this, click **Sync Now** in the notification bar above the file editor.

    ![Screenshot with an arrow pointing to the Sync Now button in the file's notification bar](/images/lib/getting-started/android/set-up-android-studio-sync-gradle.png)

    When complete, you will see *BUILD SUCCESSFUL* in the output in the *Build* tab at the bottom of your screen.

    ![Shows configuration successful in Android Studio](/images/lib/getting-started/android/set-up-android-studio-configure-successful.png)

You are ready to start building with Amplify! 🎉