Manifest merger failed targeting Android 12

Question

Using Android Studio 4.2.1, after changing sdk target to Android 12 in my build.gradle file, I am getting a Manifest merger failed with multiple errors, see logs error.

The errors shown in the Merged Manifest tab are as follows:

Merging Errors: 
Error: Apps targeting Android 12 and higher are required to specify an explicit value for `android:exported` when the corresponding component has an intent filter defined. See https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/manifest/activity-element#exported for details. My_App.app main manifest (this file) 
Error: Apps targeting Android 12 and higher are required to specify an explicit value for `android:exported` when the corresponding component has an intent filter defined. See https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/manifest/activity-element#exported for details. My_App.app main manifest (this file) 
Error: Apps targeting Android 12 and higher are required to specify an explicit value for `android:exported` when the corresponding component has an intent filter defined. See https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/manifest/activity-element#exported for details. My_App.app main manifest (this file) 

However the android:exported tag is already applied in my AndroidManifest.xml file. I only have one activity. No services or broadcast receivers. See below:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    package="com.mydomain.myapp">

    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.VIBRATE" />

    <application
        android:name="com.mydomain.myapp.MyApplication"
        android:allowBackup="false"
        tools:replace="allowBackup"
        android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:roundIcon="@mipmap/ic_launcher_round"
        android:supportsRtl="true"
        android:theme="@style/AppTheme">
        <activity
            android:name="com.mydomain.myapp.ui.MainActivity"
            android:exported="true">
            <intent-filter >
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
        <meta-data
            android:name="preloaded_fonts"
            android:resource="@array/preloaded_fonts" />
    </application>

</manifest>

My build.gradle(:app) file:

android {
    compileSdkVersion("android-S")
    buildToolsVersion "30.0.3"

    defaultConfig {
        ...
        minSdkVersion 23
        targetSdkVersion("S")
        ...
}

Any idea how I could resolve this issue?

Answer 1

The issue was caused by 3 activities missing the android:exported attribute in the androidx.test:core library version 1.3.0. Upgrading to version 1.4.0-beta01 fixed the issue.

If you are getting errors after targeting Android 12, the easiest way to debug this is to:

• downgrade to a prior sdk version
• rebuild project
• after a successful build, open your project's AndroidManifest.xml.
• at the bottom of the window, click on the Merged Manifest tab
• look for any <activity> that includes an <intent-filter> tag and is missing the android:exported attribute

If you want to make sure these activities are the issue, add them directly to your project's AndroidManifest.xml file with the missing android:exported attribute added and try rebuilding the project.

So if <activity android:name="com.domain.ProblemActivity"> is missing the android:exported attribute, add it to your AndroidManifest.xml file like so:

<activity 
 android:name="com.domain.ProblemActivity"
 android:exported="true" >

Rebuild targeting Android 12 and if it works, then you found the bug!

Thanks @MikePenz for pointing me in the right direction.

Answer 2

If your app targets Android 12 or higher and contains activities, services, or broadcast receivers that use intent filters, you must explicitly declare the android:exported attribute for these app components. In order to solve this we need to follow these steps:

1. We need to locate the AndroidManifest.xml in the main folder.

android>app>src>main>AndroidManifest.xml

2. We have to add android:exported="" and set a boolean value inside these quotation marks. Now you might ask when do I need to add android:exported="true" or android:exported="false" to the activities, services, or broadcast receivers that use intent filters. If the app component includes the LAUNCHER category, set android:exported to true. In most other cases, set android:exported to false.

3. This is an example of how it should look like in your AndroidManifest.xml

<service android:name="com.example.app.backgroundService"
         android:exported="false">
    <intent-filter>
        <action android:name="com.example.app.START_BACKGROUND" />
    </intent-filter>
</service>

You can check out more info about this topic by following this link:

Safer component exporting for Android 12

Answer 3

If you upgrade your android studio to Bumblebee 2021.1.1. The below changes are required to do: Step 1: Your targetSdkVersion must be 30 or higher Step 2: Update your appcompat library to implementation 'androidx.appcompat:appcompat:1.4.1'

Step 3: In the AndroidManifest file add android:exported = true to your activity launcher.

Answer 4

I had this issue, find it by:

• if there's any activity, service, receiver, or provider that does not have exported attribute in your AndroidManifest file then add the below attribute in that activity, service, receiver, or provider

android:exported="false or true"

Answer 5

I had my Activity setup correctly with 'exported=true' and still had the following issue:

Installation failed due to [...] androidx.test.core.app.InstrumentationActivityInvoker$BootstrapActivity: Targeting S+ (version 31 and above) requires that an explicit value for android:exported be defined when intent filters are present

So I came across this Github post, which could explain why this happens, and applied the workaround yogurtearl suggests and it worked for me.

https://github.com/android/android-test/issues/832

It basically goes like this:

As a workaround, putting this in the app/src/debug/AndroidManifest.xml it will force the these to launch in the same test process.

    <activity
        android:name="androidx.test.core.app.InstrumentationActivityInvoker$BootstrapActivity"
        android:exported="true"
        android:theme="@android:style/Theme" >
        <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
        </intent-filter>
    </activity>
    <activity
        android:name="androidx.test.core.app.InstrumentationActivityInvoker$EmptyActivity"
        android:exported="true"
        android:theme="@android:style/Theme" >
        <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
        </intent-filter>
    </activity>
    <activity
        android:name="androidx.test.core.app.InstrumentationActivityInvoker$EmptyFloatingActivity"
        android:exported="true"
        android:theme="@android:style/Theme.Dialog" >
        <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
        </intent-filter>
    </activity>

And added the 'exported=true' to them.

Answer 6

Don't forget to put it also into service tag

    <service
        android:name=".service.MyIME"
        android:exported="true"
        android:permission="android.permission.BIND_INPUT_METHOD">
        <meta-data
            android:name="android.view.im"
            android:resource="@xml/method" />

        <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="android.view.InputMethod" />
        </intent-filter>
    </service>

Answer 7

If you're using DexGuard you should update to the latest version which is 9.2.11 (19-01-2022) at the moment.

Quote from the release notes:

Add default configuration for keeping the exported attribute as required by applications targeting Android 12.

Answer 8

As specified in the following link- https://developer.android.com/about/versions/12/behavior-changes-12#exported ,the components of android that use intent filters must explicitly define component exporting, failing to which your app can't be installed on a device that runs on Android 12 or higher. The app components include activities, services, broadcast receivers and content providers.

If the app component includes the LAUNCHER category, set android:exported to true. In most other cases, set android:exported to false.

Even after setting the android:exported tag, if you are facing the Manifest Merger failed issue, then check all the libraries that you are using in your app. Open the external libraries in the project view of the Android Studio and try to check all the manifests files of the libraries that you have included in your project. Any one of those libraries might have not updated according to Android 12. So if you find any manifest file of the library with exported tag missing, try to edit the file and add this tag there too. Hope that could help in removing Manifest Merger Error.