/xamarin-android-migration

Xamarin.Android Migration API Reference

SDK-Style Project File Template

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <TargetFramework>net8.0-android</TargetFramework>
    <SupportedOSPlatformVersion>21</SupportedOSPlatformVersion>
    <OutputType>Exe</OutputType>
    <Nullable>enable</Nullable>
    <ImplicitUsings>enable</ImplicitUsings>
    <ApplicationId>com.companyname.myapp</ApplicationId>
    <ApplicationVersion>1</ApplicationVersion>
    <ApplicationDisplayVersion>1.0</ApplicationDisplayVersion>
  </PropertyGroup>
</Project>

For library projects, omit <OutputType> or set it to Library.

Replace net8.0-android with net9.0-android or net10.0-android as needed.

MSBuild Property Changes

ABI → RuntimeIdentifier Conversion

<!-- Xamarin.Android -->
<AndroidSupportedAbis>armeabi-v7a;arm64-v8a;x86;x86_64</AndroidSupportedAbis>

<!-- .NET for Android -->
<RuntimeIdentifiers>android-arm;android-arm64;android-x86;android-x64</RuntimeIdentifiers>

AndroidManifest.xml Changes

Remove <uses-sdk> from AndroidManifest.xml. Use MSBuild properties instead:

<!-- BEFORE (Xamarin.Android AndroidManifest.xml) -->
<uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="21" android:targetSdkVersion="33" />

<!-- AFTER (.NET for Android csproj) -->
<PropertyGroup>
    <TargetFramework>net8.0-android</TargetFramework>  <!-- targetSdkVersion -->
    <SupportedOSPlatformVersion>21</SupportedOSPlatformVersion>  <!-- minSdkVersion -->
</PropertyGroup>

NuGet Dependency Compatibility

Android is unique: NuGet packages targeting monoandroid still work on .NET for Android. .NET Standard libraries without incompatible dependencies are also compatible.

Binding Library Migration

For binding libraries, create a new project and copy bindings:

dotnet new android-bindinglib --output MyJavaBinding

Key changes:

• Use SDK-style project format
• @(InputJar), @(EmbeddedJar), or @(LibraryProjectZip) auto-enable $(AllowUnsafeBlocks)
• AndroidClassParser defaults to class-parse (no jar2xml)

Xamarin.Essentials Namespace Mapping

Essentials Initialization

using Microsoft.Maui.ApplicationModel;

[Activity(Label = "@string/app_name", MainLauncher = true)]
public class MainActivity : Activity
{
    protected override void OnCreate(Bundle? savedInstanceState)
    {
        base.OnCreate(savedInstanceState);
        Platform.Init(this, savedInstanceState);
    }
}

Override OnRequestPermissionsResult in every Activity:

public override void OnRequestPermissionsResult(int requestCode, string[] permissions, Permission[] grantResults)
{
    Platform.OnRequestPermissionsResult(requestCode, permissions, grantResults);
    base.OnRequestPermissionsResult(requestCode, permissions, grantResults);
}

Encoding Changes

Replace MAndroidI18n with the System.Text.Encoding.CodePages NuGet package:

// At app startup
System.Text.Encoding.RegisterProvider(System.Text.CodePagesEncodingProvider.Instance);

AOT Compilation

Release builds default to profiled AOT:

<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)' == 'Release'">
    <RunAOTCompilation>true</RunAOTCompilation>
    <AndroidEnableProfiledAot>true</AndroidEnableProfiledAot>
</PropertyGroup>

To disable AOT, explicitly set both to false.

.NET CLI Commands

Note: dotnet build produces a runnable .apk/.aab directly (unlike desktop .NET where publish is typically needed). Inside IDEs, the Install target handles deployment instead.