Lesson 2: Setting Up Android Studio and Your First Project

Setting Up Android Studio and Your First Project

Everything in Android development happens inside Android Studio, Google's official IDE. Let's get it installed and create your first project.

1. Download and install

Go to developer.android.com/studio and download the version for your operating system. Run the installer and accept the default setup — it will download the Android SDK (the tools needed to build and run Android apps) automatically.

2. Create your first project

1. Open Android Studio → New Project
2. Choose the Empty Activity template (this uses Compose by default in current Android Studio versions)
3. Name it TaskList — this is the app we'll build across the course
4. Set the minimum SDK to API 24 (covers the vast majority of active Android devices)
5. Click Finish and wait for Gradle to sync (this downloads dependencies — the first sync can take a few minutes)

3. Run it on an emulator

Click Device Manager in the right sidebar → Create Device → pick a Pixel phone → download a system image (choose the latest one) → Finish. Then hit the green ▶ Run button. After a build, you'll see a default "Hello Android!" screen running in the emulator.

If something goes wrong

• Gradle sync fails: check your internet connection — the first sync downloads a lot.
• Emulator won't start: make sure virtualization is enabled in your computer's BIOS settings (common on Windows/Linux).
• No device showing: you can also just plug in a physical Android phone with USB debugging enabled in Developer Options.

Next: Lesson 3 — understanding what all those generated files and folders actually do.