Android Gradle plugin 9.6.0

Android Gradle plugin 9.6 is a minor release that includes a variety of new features and improvements.

Compatibility

The maximum API level that Android Gradle plugin 9.6 supports is API level 37. Here is other compatibility info:

	Minimum version	Default version	Notes
Gradle	9.7.1	9.7.1	To learn more, see updating Gradle.
SDK Build Tools	36.0.0	36.0.0	Install or configure SDK Build Tools.
NDK	N/A	28.2.13676358	Install or configure a different version of the NDK.
JDK	17	17	To learn more, see setting the JDK version.

On-device code coverage for instrumented tests

AGP 9.6.0-alpha01 adds on-device code coverage for instrumented tests. Instead of instrumenting your app's classes with JaCoCo at build time, AGP adds a coverage agent to your test APK, and the agent instruments the classes on the test device while your tests run. This removes the JaCoCo instrumentation step from builds that have enableAndroidTestCoverage enabled, and keeps coverage-tracking code out of your app's APK. You run the same create{Variant}AndroidTestCoverageReport task, and AGP generates the HTML and XML reports in the same location. On-device code coverage requires a debuggable app and a device that runs Android 9 (API level 28) or higher.

AGP adds the coverage agent library, com.android.tools.test:coverage-agent, with the same version as AGP. For more information, see View code coverage reports (with on-device agent).

Fixed issues