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Android app manifest

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Every .NET Multi-platform App UI (.NET MAUI) app on Android has an AndroidManifest.xml file, located in the Platforms\Android folder, that describes essential information about your app to build tools, the Android operating system, and Google Play.

The manifest file for your .NET MAUI Android app is generated as part of the .NET MAUI build process on Android. This build process takes the XML in the Platforms\Android\AndroidManifest.xml file, and merges it with any XML that's generated from specific attributes on your classes. The resulting manifest file can be found in the obj folder. For example, it can be found at obj\Debug\net8.0-android\AndroidManifest.xml for debug builds on .NET 8.

Note

Visual Studio 17.6+ includes an editor that simplifies the process of specifying app details, the target Android version, and required permissions in an Android manifest file.

Generating the manifest

All .NET MAUI app's have a MainActivity class that derives from Activity, via the MauiAppCompatActivity class, and that has the ActivityAttribute applied to it. Some apps may include additional classes that derive from Activity and that have the ActivityAttribute applied.

At build time, assemblies are scanned for non-abstract classes that derive from Activity and that have the ActivityAttribute applied. These classes and attributes are used to generate the app's manifest. For example, consider the following code:

using Android.App;

namespace MyMauiApp;

public class MyActivity : Activity
{
}

This example results in nothing being generated in the manifest file. For an <activity/> element to be generated, you'd need to add the ActivityAttribute:

using Android.App;

namespace MyMauiApp;

[Activity]
public class MyActivity : Activity
{
}

This example causes the following XML fragment to be added to the manifest file:

<activity android:name="crc64bdb9c38958c20c7c.MyActivity" />

Note

ActivityAttribute has no effect on abstract types.

Activity name

The type name of an activity is based on the 64-bit cyclic redundancy check of the assembly-qualified name of the type being exported. This enables the same fully-qualified name to be provided from two different assemblies without receiving a packaging error.

To override this default and explicitly specify the name of your activity, use the Name property:

using Android.App;

namespace MyMauiApp;

[Activity (Name="companyname.mymauiapp.activity")]
public class MyActivity : Activity
{
}

This example produces the following XML fragment:

<activity android:name="companyname.mymauiapp.activity" />

Note

You should only use the Name property for backward-compatibility reasons, as such renaming can slow down type lookup at runtime.

A typical scenario for setting the Name property is when you need to obtain a readable Java name for your activity. This can be useful if another Android app needs to be able to open your app, or if you have a script for launching your app and testing startup time.

Launch from the app chooser

If your .NET MAUI Android app contains multiple activities, and you need to specify which activity should be launchable from the app launcher, use the MainLauncher property:

using Android.App;

namespace MyMauiApp;

[Activity (Label="My Maui App", MainLauncher = true)]
public class MyActivity : Activity
{
}

This example produces the following XML fragment:

<activity android:label="My Maui App"
          android:name="crc64bdb9c38958c20c7c.MainActivity">
  <intent-filter>
    <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
    <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
  </intent-filter>
</activity>

Permissions

When you add permissions to an Android app, they're recorded in the manifest file. For example, if you set the ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE permission, the following element is added to the manifest file:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE" />

The .NET MAUI app project template sets the INTERNET and ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE permissions in Platforms\Android\AndroidManifest.xml, because most apps require internet access. If you remove the INTERNET permission from your manifest, debug builds will still include the permission in the generated manifest file.

Tip

If you find that switching to a release build causes your app to lose a permission that was available in the debug build, verify that you've explicitly set the required permission in your manifest file.

Intent actions and features

The Android manifest file provides a way for you to describe the capabilities of your app. This is achieved via Intents and the IntentFilterAttribute. You can specify which actions are appropriate for your activity with the IntentFilterAttribute constructor, and which categories are appropriate with the Categories property. At least one activity must be provided, which is why activities are provided in the constructor. An [IntentFilter] can be provided multiple times, and each use results in a separate <intent-filter/> element within the <activity/>:

using Android.App;
using Android.Content;

namespace MyMauiApp;

[Activity(Label = "My Maui App", MainLauncher = true)]
[IntentFilter(new[] {Intent.ActionView},
    Categories = new[] {Intent.CategorySampleCode, "my.custom.category"})]
public class MyActivity : Activity
{
}

This example produces the following XML fragment:

<activity android:label="My Maui App"
          android:name="crc64bdb9c38958c20c7c.MainActivity">
  <intent-filter>
    <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
    <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
  </intent-filter>
  <intent-filter>
    <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />
    <category android:name="android.intent.category.SAMPLE_CODE" />
    <category android:name="my.custom.category" />
  </intent-filter>
</activity>

Application element

The Android manifest file also provides a way for you to declare properties for your entire app. This is achieved via the <application> element and its counterpart, the ApplicationAttribute. Typically, you declare <application> properties for your entire app and then override these properties as required on an activity basis.

For example, the following Application attribute could be added to MainApplication.cs to indicate that the app's user-readable name is "My Maui App", and that it uses the Maui.SplashTheme style as the default theme for all activities:

using Android.App;
using Android.Runtime;

namespace MyMauiApp;

[Application(Label = "My Maui App", Theme = "@style/Maui.SplashTheme")]
public class MainApplication : MauiApplication
{
      public MainApplication(IntPtr handle, JniHandleOwnership ownership)
             : base(handle, ownership)
      {
      }

      protected override MauiApp CreateMauiApp() => MauiProgram.CreateMauiApp();
}

This declaration causes the following XML fragment to be generated in obj\Debug\net8.0-android\AndroidManifest.xml:

<application android:label="MyMauiApp" android:theme="@style/Maui.SplashTheme" android:debuggable="true" ...>

Note

Debug builds automatically set android:debuggable="true" so that debuggers and other tooling can attach to your app. However, it isn't set for release builds.

In this example, all activities in the app will default to the Maui.SplashTheme style. If you set an activity's theme to Maui.MyTheme, only that activity will use the Maui.MyTheme style while any other activities in your app will default to the Maui.SplashTheme style that's set in the <application> element.

The ApplicationAttribute isn't the only way to configure <application> attributes. You can also insert properties directly into the <application> element of the manifest file. These properties are then merged into the generated manifest file. For more information, see the properties section of ApplicationAttribute.

Important

The content of Platforms\Android\AndroidManifest.xml always overrides data provided by attributes.

App title bar

Android app's have a title bar that displays a label. The value of the $(ApplicationTitle) build property, in your .NET MAUI app project file, is displayed on the title bar. .NET MAUI includes it in the generated manifest as the value of android.label:

<application android:label="My Maui App" ... />

To specify an activities label on the title bar, use the Label property:

using Android.App;

namespace MyMauiApp;

[Activity (Label="My Maui App")]
public class MyActivity : Activity
{
}

This example produces the following XML fragment:

<activity android:label="My Maui App"
          android:name="crc64bdb9c38958c20c7c.MyActivity" />

App icon

By default, your app will be given a .NET icon. For information about specifying a custom icon, see Change a .NET MAUI app icon.

Attributes

The following table shows the .NET Android attributes that generate Android manifest XML fragments:

Attribute Description
Android.App.ActivityAttribute Generates an activity XML fragment.
Android.App.ApplicationAttribute Generates an application XML fragment.
Android.App.InstrumentationAttribute Generates an instrumentation XML fragment.
Android.App.IntentFilterAttribute Generates an intent-filter XML fragment.
Android.App.MetaDataAttribute Generates a meta-data XML fragment.
Android.App.PermissionAttribute Generates a permission XML fragment.
Android.App.PermissionGroupAttribute Generates a permission-group XML fragment.
Android.App.PermissionTreeAttribute Generates a permission-tree XML fragment.
Android.App.ServiceAttribute Generates a service XML fragment.
Android.App.UsesLibraryAttribute Generates a uses-library XML fragment.
Android.App.UsesPermissionAttribute Generates a uses-permission XML fragment.
Android.Content.BroadcastReceiverAttribute Generates a receiver XML fragment.
Android.Content.ContentProviderAttribute Generates a provider XML fragment.
Android.Content.GrantUriPermissionAttribute Generates a grant-uri-permission XML fragment.

See also