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Android Versions and API Levels

nilan avtar

Written by

Nilanchala,  5 min read,  3.4K views, updated on Sept. 17, 2023

What is API Level?

API Level is an integer value that indicates the Android framework API release versions for Android platform. Each revision made is assigned with a new incremental API Level value.

The framework API that an Android platform delivers is specified using an integer identifier called “API Level”. Each Android platform version supports exactly one API Level. The initial release of the Android platform provided API Level 1 and subsequent releases have incremented the API Level.

The API Level identifier lets the Android platform describe the minimum and maximum framework API revision that it supports

The framework API’s are used to build Android application to interact with Android system. The framework API consists of following components

  1. A core set of packages and classes
  2. A set of XML elements and attributes for declaring a manifest file
  3. A set of XML elements and attributes for declaring and accessing resources
  4. A set of Intents
  5. A set of permissions that applications can request, as well as permission enforcements included in the system
  6. Each successive version of the Android platform can include updates to the Android application framework API that it delivers.

The table below specifies the API Level supported by each version of the Android platform.

Platform VersionAPI LevelVERSION_CODE
Android 5.021LOLLIPOP
Android 4.4W20KITKAT_WATCH
Android 4.419KITKAT
Android 4.318JELLY_BEAN_MR2
Android 4.2, 4.2.217JELLY_BEAN_MR1
Android 4.1, 4.1.116JELLY_BEAN
Android 4.0.3, 4.0.415ICE_CREAM_SANDWICH_MR1
Android 4.0, 4.0.1, 4.0.214ICE_CREAM_SANDWICH
Android 3.213HONEYCOMB_MR2
Android 3.1.x12HONEYCOMB_MR1
Android 3.0.x11HONEYCOMB
Android 2.3.4, 2.3.310GINGERBREAD_MR1
Android 2.3.2, 2.3.1, 2.39GINGERBREAD
Android 2.2.x8FROYO
Android 2.1.x7ECLAIR_MR1
Android 2.0.16ECLAIR_0_1
Android 2.05ECLAIR
Android 1.64DONUT
Android 1.53CUPCAKE
Android 1.12BASE_1_1
Android 1.01BASE