<application>

syntax:

<application android:allowTaskReparenting=["true" | "false"]
             android:allowBackup=["true" | "false"]
             android:allowClearUserData=["true" | "false"]
             android:allowCrossUidActivitySwitchFromBelow=["true" | "false"]
             android:allowNativeHeapPointerTagging=["true" | "false"]
             android:appCategory=["accessibility" | "audio" | "game" |
             "image" | "maps" | "news" | "productivity" | "social" | "video"]
             android:backupAgent="string"
             android:backupInForeground=["true" | "false"]
             android:banner="drawable resource"
             android:dataExtractionRules="string resource"
             android:debuggable=["true" | "false"]
             android:description="string resource"
             android:enabled=["true" | "false"]
             android:extractNativeLibs=["true" | "false"]
             android:fullBackupContent="string"
             android:fullBackupOnly=["true" | "false"]
             android:gwpAsanMode=["always" | "never"]
             android:hasCode=["true" | "false"]
             android:hasFragileUserData=["true" | "false"]
             android:hardwareAccelerated=["true" | "false"]
             android:icon="drawable resource"
             android:isGame=["true" | "false"]
             android:isMonitoringTool=["parental_control" | "enterprise_management" |
             "other"]
             android:killAfterRestore=["true" | "false"]
             android:largeHeap=["true" | "false"]
             android:label="string resource"
             android:logo="drawable resource"
             android:manageSpaceActivity="string"
             android:name="string"
             android:networkSecurityConfig="xml resource"
             android:permission="string"
             android:persistent=["true" | "false"]
             android:process="string"
             android:restoreAnyVersion=["true" | "false"]
             android:requestLegacyExternalStorage=["true" | "false"]
             android:requiredAccountType="string"
             android:resizeableActivity=["true" | "false"]
             android:restrictedAccountType="string"
             android:supportsRtl=["true" | "false"]
             android:taskAffinity="string"
             android:testOnly=["true" | "false"]
             android:theme="resource or theme"
             android:uiOptions=["none" | "splitActionBarWhenNarrow"]
             android:usesCleartextTraffic=["true" | "false"]
             android:vmSafeMode=["true" | "false"] >
    . . .
</application>

contained in:

<manifest>

can contain:

<activity>
<activity-alias>
<meta-data>
<service>
<receiver>
<profileable>
<provider>
<uses-library>
<uses-native-library>

description:

The declaration of the application. This element contains subelements that declare each of the application's components and has attributes that can affect all the components.

Many of these attributes, such as icon, label, permission, process, taskAffinity, and allowTaskReparenting, set default values for corresponding attributes of the component elements. Others, such as debuggable, enabled, description, and allowClearUserData, set values for the application as a whole and aren't overridden by the components.

attributes

android:allowTaskReparenting

Whether activities that the application defines can move from the task that started them to the task they have an affinity for when that task is next brought to the front. It's "true" if they can move, and "false" if they must remain with the task where they started. The default value is "false".

The <activity> element has its own allowTaskReparenting attribute that can override the value set here.

android:allowBackup

Whether to let the application participate in the backup and restore infrastructure. If this attribute is set to "false", no backup or restore of the application is ever performed, even by a full-system backup that otherwise causes all application data to save using adb. The default value of this attribute is "true".

Note: For apps targeting Android 12 (API level 31) or higher, this behavior varies. On devices from some device manufacturers, you can't disable device-to-device migration of your app's files.

However, you can disable cloud-based backup and restore of your app's files by setting this attribute to "false", even if your app targets Android 12 (API level 31) or higher.

For more information, see the backup and restore section of the page that describes behavior changes for apps targeting Android 12 (API level 31) or higher.

android:allowClearUserData

Whether to let the application reset user data. This data includes flags, such as whether the user has seen introductory tooltips, as well as user-customizable settings and preferences. The default value of this attribute is "true".

Note: Only apps that are part of the system image can declare this attribute explicitly. Third-party apps can't include this attribute in their manifest files.

For more information, see Data backup overview.

android:allowCrossUidActivitySwitchFromBelow

Specifies whether the activities below this one in the task can also start other activities or finish the task.

Starting from Target SDK Level Build.VERSION_CODES.VANILLA_ICE_CREAM, apps may be blocked from starting new activities or finishing their task unless the top activity of such task belong to the same UID for security reasons.

Setting this flag to true will allow the launching app to ignore the restriction if this activity is on top. Apps matching the UID of this activity are always exempt.

For more information, see Secured background activity launches.

android:allowNativeHeapPointerTagging

Whether the app enables the Heap pointer tagging feature. The default value of this attribute is "true".

Note: Disabling this feature doesn't address the underlying code health issue. Future hardware devices might not support this manifest tag.

For more information, see Tagged Pointers.

android:appCategory

Declares the category of this app. Categories are used to cluster multiple apps together into meaningful groups, such as when summarizing battery, network, or disk usage. Only define this value for apps that fit well into one of the specific categories.

Must be one of the following constant values.

Value	Description
`accessibility`	Apps that are primarily accessibility apps, such as screen-readers.
`audio`	Apps that primarily work with audio or music, such as music players.
`game`	Apps that are primarily games.
`image`	Apps that primarily work with images or photos, such as camera or gallery apps.
`maps`	Apps that are primarily map apps, such as navigation apps.
`news`	Apps that are primarily news apps, such as newspapers, magazines, or sports apps.
`productivity`	Apps that are primarily productivity apps, such as cloud storage or workplace apps.
`social`	Apps that are primarily social apps, such as messaging, communication, email, or social network apps.
`video`	Apps that primarily work with video or movies, such as streaming video apps.

android:backupAgent

The name of the class that implements the application's backup agent, a subclass of BackupAgent. The attribute value is a fully qualified class name, such as "com.example.project.MyBackupAgent". However, as a shorthand, if the first character of the name is a period, for example, ".MyBackupAgent", it is appended to the package name specified in the <manifest> element.

There is no default. The name must be specific.

android:backupInForeground

Indicates that Auto Backup operations can be performed on this app even if the app is in a foreground-equivalent state. The system shuts down an app during auto backup operation, so use this attribute with caution. Setting this flag to "true" can impact app behavior while the app is active.

The default value is "false", which means that the OS avoids backing up the app while it's running in the foreground, such as a music app that is actively playing music using a service in the startForeground() state.

android:banner

A drawable resource providing an extended graphical banner for its associated item. Use with the <application> tag to supply a default banner for all application activities or with the <activity> tag to supply a banner for a specific activity.

The system uses the banner to represent an app in the Android TV home screen. Therefore, only specify this for applications with an activity that handles the CATEGORY_LEANBACK_LAUNCHER intent.

This attribute is set as a reference to a drawable resource containing the image, for example "@drawable/banner". There is no default banner.

For more information, see Provide a home screen banner.

android:dataExtractionRules

Applications can set this attribute to an XML resource where they specify the rules determining which files and directories can be copied from the device as part of backup or transfer operations.

For information about the format of the XML file, see Backup and restore.

android:debuggable

Whether the application can be debugged, even when running on a device in user mode. It's "true" if it can be and "false" if not. The default value is "false".

android:description

User-readable text about the application, which is longer and more descriptive than the application label. The value is set as a reference to a string resource. Unlike the label, it can't be a raw string. There is no default value.

android:enabled

Whether the Android system can instantiate components of the application. It's "true" if it can and "false" if not. If the value is "true", each component's enabled attribute determines whether that component is enabled. If the value is "false", it overrides the component-specific values, and all components are disabled.

The default value is "true".

android:extractNativeLibs

Starting with AGP 4.2.0, the DSL option useLegacyPackaging replaces the extractNativeLibs manifest attribute. Use useLegacyPackaging in your app's build.gradle file instead of extractNativeLibs in the manifest file to configure native library compression behavior. For more information, see the release note Use the DSL to package compressed native libraries.

This attribute indicates whether the package installer extracts native libraries from the APK to the file system. If set to "false", your native libraries are stored uncompressed in the APK. Although your APK might be larger, your application loads faster because the libraries load directly from the APK at runtime.

The default value of extractNativeLibs depends on minSdkVersion and the version of AGP you're using. In most cases, the default behavior is probably what you want, and you don't have to set this attribute explicitly.

android:fullBackupContent

This attribute points to an XML file that contains full backup rules for Auto Backup. These rules determine what files get backed up. For more information, see the XML config syntax for Auto Backup.

This attribute is optional. If it is not specified, by default, Auto Backup includes most of your app's files. For more information, see Files that are backed up.

android:fullBackupOnly

This attribute indicates whether to use Auto Backup on devices where it is available. If set to "true", then your app performs Auto Backup when installed on a device running Android 6.0 (API level 23) or higher. On older devices, your app ignores this attribute and performs key/value backups.

The default value is "false".

android:gwpAsanMode

This attribute indicates whether to use GWP-ASan, a native memory allocator feature that helps find use-after-free and heap-buffer-overflow bugs.

The default value is "never".

android:hasCode

Whether the application contains any DEX code—that is, code using the Kotlin or Java programming language. It's "true" if it does and "false" if not. When the value is "false", the system doesn't try to load any application code when launching components. The default value is "true".

If the application includes native (C/C++) code, but no DEX code, this should be set to "false". If set to "true" when the APK contains no DEX code, the app may fail to load.

This property must account for code included in the application by dependencies. If the application depends on an AAR that uses Java/Kotlin code, or directly on a JAR, app:hasCode must be "true", or omitted as that is the default.

For example, your app might support Play feature delivery and include feature modules that don't generate any DEX files, which is bytecode optimized for the Android platform. If so, you need to set this property to "false" in the module's manifest file to avoid runtime errors.

android:hasFragileUserData

Whether to show the user a prompt to keep the app's data when the user uninstalls the app. The default value is "false".

android:hardwareAccelerated

Whether hardware-accelerated rendering is enabled for all activities and views in this application. It's "true" if it is enabled and "false" if not. The default value is "true" if you set either minSdkVersion or targetSdkVersion to "14" or higher. Otherwise, it's "false".

Starting from Android 3.0 (API level 11), a hardware-accelerated OpenGL renderer is available to applications to improve performance for many common 2D graphics operations. When the hardware-accelerated renderer is enabled, most operations in Canvas, Paint, Xfermode, ColorFilter, Shader, and Camera are accelerated.

This results in smoother animations, smoother scrolling, and improved responsiveness overall, even for applications that don't explicitly make use the framework's OpenGL libraries.

Not all of the OpenGL 2D operations are accelerated. If you enable the hardware-accelerated renderer, test your application so that it can make use of the renderer without errors.

For more information, read the Hardware acceleration guide.

android:icon

An icon for the application as whole and the default icon for each of the application's components. See the individual icon attributes for the <activity>, <activity-alias>, <service>, <receiver>, and <provider> elements.

This attribute is set as a reference to a drawable resource containing the image, such as "@drawable/icon". There is no default icon.

android:isGame

Whether the application is a game. The system might group together applications classified as games or display them separately from other applications. The default is "false".

Warning: This attribute is deprecated. Instead, use the appCategory attribute set to game.

android:isMonitoringTool

Indicates that this application is designed to monitor other individuals.

Note: If an app declares this attribute in its manifest, the developer must follow the Stalkerware policy to publish the app to Google Play.

There is no default value. The developer must specify one of the following values:

Value	Description
`"parental_control"`	App caters to parental control and is specifically targeted at parents who want to keep their kids safe.
`"enterprise_management"`	App caters to enterprises that want to manage and track devices given to employees.
`"other"`	App caters to a use case not otherwise specified in this table.

android:killAfterRestore

Whether the application terminates after its settings have been restored during a full-system restore operation. Single-package restore operations never cause the application to shut down. Full-system restore operations typically only occur once, when the phone is first set up. Third-party applications don't normally need to use this attribute.

The default is "true", which means that after the application finishes processing its data during a full-system restore, it terminates.

android:largeHeap

Whether the application's processes are created with a large Dalvik heap. This applies to all processes created for the application. It only applies to the first application loaded into a process. If you're using a shared user ID to let multiple applications use a process, they all must use this option consistently to avoid unpredictable results.

Most apps don't need this and instead focus on reducing their overall memory usage for improved performance. Enabling this also doesn't guarantee a fixed increase in available memory, because some devices are constrained by their total available memory.

To query the available memory size at runtime, use the methods getMemoryClass() or getLargeMemoryClass().

android:label

A user-readable label for the application as a whole and a default label for each of the application's components. See the individual label attributes for the <activity>, <activity-alias>, <service>, <receiver>, and <provider> elements.

The label is set as a reference to a string resource, so that it can be localized like other strings in the user interface. However, as a convenience while you're developing the application, it can also be set as a raw string.

android:logo

A logo for the application as whole and the default logo for activities. This attribute is set as a reference to a drawable resource containing the image, such as "@drawable/logo". There is no default logo.

android:manageSpaceActivity

The fully qualified name of an Activity subclass that the system launches to let users manage the memory occupied by the application on the device. The activity is also declared with an <activity> element.

android:name

The fully qualified name of an Application subclass implemented for the application. When the application process is started, this class is instantiated before any of the application's components.

The subclass is optional. Most applications don't need one. In the absence of a subclass, Android uses an instance of the base Application class.

android:networkSecurityConfig

Specifies the name of the XML file that contains your application's Network security configuration. The value is a reference to the XML resource file containing the configuration.

This attribute was added in API level 24.

android:permission

The name of a permission that clients need in order to interact with the application. This attribute is a convenient way to set a permission that applies to all of the application's components. It is overwritten by setting the permission attributes of individual components.

For more information about permissions, see the Permissions section in the app manifest overview and Security tips.

android:persistent

Whether the application remains running at all times. It's "true" if it does and "false" if not. The default value is "false". Applications don't normally set this flag. Persistence mode is intended only for certain system applications.

android:process

The name of a process where all components of the application run. Each component can override this default by setting its own process attribute.

By default, Android creates a process for an application when the first of its components needs to run. All components then run in that process. The name of the default process matches the package name set by the <manifest> element.

By setting this attribute to a process name that's shared with another application, you can arrange for components of both applications to run in the same process, but only if the two applications also share a user ID and are signed with the same certificate.

If the name assigned to this attribute begins with a colon (:), a new process, private to the application, is created when it's needed. If the process name begins with a lowercase character, a global process of that name is created. A global process can be shared with other applications, reducing resource usage.

android:restoreAnyVersion

Indicates that the application is prepared to attempt a restore of any backed-up data set, even if the backup was stored by a newer version of the application than is currently installed on the device. Setting this attribute to "true" lets the Backup Manager attempt a restore even when a version mismatch suggests that the data is incompatible. Use with caution!

The default value of this attribute is "false".

android:requestLegacyExternalStorage

Whether the application wants to opt out of scoped storage.

Note: Depending on changes related to policy or app compatibility, the system might not honor this opt-out request.

android:requiredAccountType

Specifies the account type required by the application to function. If your app requires an Account, the value for this attribute must correspond to the account authenticator type used by your app, as defined by AuthenticatorDescription, such as "com.google".

The default value is null and indicates that the application can work without any accounts.

Because restricted profiles can't add accounts, specifying this attribute makes your app unavailable from a restricted profile unless you also declare android:restrictedAccountType with the same value.

Caution: If the account data might reveal personally identifiable information, it's important that you declare this attribute and leave android:restrictedAccountType null, so that restricted profiles cannot use your app to access personal information that belongs to the owner user.

This attribute was added in API level 18.

android:resizeableActivity

Specifies whether the app supports multi-window mode. You can set this attribute in either the <activity> or <application> element.

If you set this attribute to "true", the user can launch the activity in split-screen and free-form modes. If you set the attribute to "false", the app can't be tested or optimized for a multi-window environment. The system can still put the activity in multi-window mode with compatibility mode applied.

Setting this attribute to "true" doesn't guarantee that there are no other apps in multi-window mode visible on screen, such as picture-in-picture, or on other displays. Therefore, setting this flag doesn't mean that your app has exclusive resource access.

For apps targeting API level 24 or higher, the default is "true".

If your app targets API level 31 or higher, this attribute works differently on small and large screens:

Large screens (sw >= 600dp): all apps support multi-window mode. The attribute indicates whether an app can be resized, not whether the app supports multi-window mode. If resizeableActivity="false", the app is put into compatibility mode when necessary to conform to display dimensions.
Small screens (sw < 600dp): if resizeableActivity="true" and the minimum width and minimum height of the main activity are within the multi-window requirements, the app supports multi-window mode. If resizeableActivity="false", the app doesn't support multi-window mode regardless of the activity minimum width and height.

Note: Device manufacturers can override the API level 31 behavior.

This attribute was added in API level 24.

Note: A task's root activity value is applied to all additional activities launched in the task. That is, if the root activity of a task is resizable, then the system treats all other activities in the task as resizable. If the root activity is not resizable, the other activities in the task are not resizable.

android:restrictedAccountType

Specifies the account type required by this application and indicates that restricted profiles can access such accounts that belong to the owner user. If your app requires an Account and restricted profiles can access the primary user's accounts, the value for this attribute must correspond to the account authenticator type used by your app, as defined by AuthenticatorDescription, such as "com.google".

The default value is null and indicates that the application can work without any accounts.

Caution: Specifying this attribute lets restricted profiles use your app with accounts that belong to the owner user, which might reveal personally identifiable information. If the account might reveal personal details, don't use this attribute. Instead, declare the android:requiredAccountType attribute to make your app unavailable to restricted profiles.

This attribute was added in API level 18.

android:supportsRtl

Declares whether your application is willing to support right-to-left (RTL) layouts.

If this is set to "true" and targetSdkVersion is set to 17 or higher, various RTL APIs are activated and used by the system so your app can display RTL layouts. If this is set to "false" or if targetSdkVersion is set to 16 or lower, the RTL APIs are ignored or have no effect, and your app behaves the same regardless of the layout direction associated to the user's locale choice. That is, your layouts are always left-to-right.

The default value of this attribute is "false".

This attribute was added in API level 17.

android:taskAffinity

An affinity name that applies to all activities within the application, except for those that set a different affinity with their own taskAffinity attributes. See that attribute for more information.

By default, all activities within an application share the same affinity. The name of that affinity is the same as the package name set by the <manifest> element.

android:testOnly

Indicates whether this application is only for testing purposes. For example, it might expose functionality or data outside of itself that can cause a security hole, but be useful for testing. This kind of APK only installs through adb. You can't publish it to Google Play.

Android Studio automatically adds this attribute when you click Run .

android:theme

A reference to a style resource defining a default theme for all activities in the application. Individual activities can override the default by setting their own theme attributes. For more information, see Styles and themes.

android:uiOptions

Extra options for an activity's UI. Must be one of the following values:

Value Description

"none" No extra UI options. This is the default.

"splitActionBarWhenNarrow" Adds a bar at the bottom of the screen to display action items in the app bar, also known as the action bar, when constrained for horizontal space, such as when in portrait mode on a handset. Instead of a small number of action items appearing in the app bar at the top of the screen, the app bar splits into the top navigation section and the bottom bar for action items. This means a reasonable amount of space is available for the action items and for the navigation and title elements at the top. Menu items aren't split across the two bars. They always appear together.

Value	Description
`"none"`	No extra UI options. This is the default.
`"splitActionBarWhenNarrow"`	Adds a bar at the bottom of the screen to display action items in the app bar, also known as the action bar, when constrained for horizontal space, such as when in portrait mode on a handset. Instead of a small number of action items appearing in the app bar at the top of the screen, the app bar splits into the top navigation section and the bottom bar for action items. This means a reasonable amount of space is available for the action items and for the navigation and title elements at the top. Menu items aren't split across the two bars. They always appear together.

For more information about the app bar, see Add the app bar.

This attribute was added in API level 14.

android:usesCleartextTraffic

Indicates whether the app intends to use cleartext network traffic, such as cleartext HTTP. The default value for apps that target API level 27 or lower is "true". Apps that target API level 28 or higher default to "false".

When the attribute is set to "false", platform components, for example, HTTP and FTP stacks, DownloadManager, and MediaPlayer, refuse the app's requests to use cleartext traffic.

Third-party libraries are strongly encouraged to honor this setting as well. The key reason for avoiding cleartext traffic is the lack of confidentiality, authenticity, and protections against tampering. A network attacker can eavesdrop on transmitted data and also modify it without being detected.

This flag is honored on a best-effort basis because it's impossible to prevent all cleartext traffic from Android applications given the level of access provided to them. For example, there's no expectation that the Socket API honors this flag, because it can't determine whether its traffic is in cleartext.

However, most network traffic from applications is handled by higher-level network stacks and components, which can honor this flag by either reading it from ApplicationInfo.flags or NetworkSecurityPolicy.isCleartextTrafficPermitted().

Note: WebView honors this attribute for applications targeting API level 26 and higher.

During app development, StrictMode can be used to identify any cleartext traffic from the app. For more information, see StrictMode.VmPolicy.Builder.detectCleartextNetwork().

This attribute was added in API level 23.

This flag is ignored on Android 7.0 (API level 24) and above if an Android Network Security Config is present.

android:vmSafeMode

Indicates whether the app wants the virtual machine (VM) to operate in safe mode. The default value is "false".

This attribute was added in API level 8, where a value of "true" disabled the Dalvik just-in-time (JIT) compiler.

This attribute was adapted in API level 22, where a value of "true" disabled the ART ahead-of-time (AOT) compiler.

introduced in:

API level 1

see also:

<activity>
<service>
<receiver>
<provider>