Installation error: INSTALL_FAILED_OLDER_SDK

Solution 1:

It is due to android:targetSdkVersion="@string/app_name" in your manifiest file.
Change it to:

<uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="15" android:targetSdkVersion="15"/>

The targetSdkVersion should be an integer, but @string/app_name would be a string. I think this causing the error.

EDIT:
You have to add a default intent-filter in your manifiest file for the activity. Then only android can launch the activity. otherwise you will get the below error in your console window.

[2012-02-02 09:17:39 - Test] No Launcher activity found!
[2012-02-02 09:17:39 - Test] The launch will only sync the application package on the device!

Add the following to your <activity> tag.

<activity android:name="HelloAndroid" android:launchMode="standard" android:enabled="true">  
  <intent-filter>
    <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
    <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
  </intent-filter>
</activity>

Solution 2:

This means the version of android of your avd is older than the version being used to compile the code

Solution 3:

This error occurs when the sdk-version installed on your device (real or virtual device) is smaller than android:minSdkVersion in your android manifest.

You either have to decrease your android:minSdkVersion or you have to specify a higher api-version for your AVD.

Keep in mind, that it is not always trivial to decrease android:minSdkVersion as you have to make sure, your app cares about the actual installed API and uses the correct methods:

AsyncTask<String, Object, String> task = new AsyncTask<String, Object, String>() {
    @Override
    protected Boolean doInBackground(String... params) {
        if (params == null) return "";
        StringBuilder b = new StringBuilder();
        for (String p : params) {
             b.append(p);
        }
        return b.toString();
    }
};
if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.HONEYCOMB) {
    task.executeOnExecutor(AsyncTask.THREAD_POOL_EXECUTOR,"Hello", " ", "world!");
} else {
    task.execute("Hello", " ", "world!");
}

Using the android-support-library and/or libraries like actionbar-sherlock will help you dealing especially with widgets of older versions.

Solution 4:

I am using Android Studio 0.8.1. I have a project's gradle file like below:

android {
    compileSdkVersion 19
    buildToolsVersion "20.0.0"

    defaultConfig {
        applicationId "com.omersonmez.widgets.hotspot"
        minSdkVersion 15
        targetSdkVersion 19
        versionCode 1
        versionName "1.0"
    }
    buildTypes {
        release {
            runProguard false
            proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
        }
    }
}

My emulator was android 4.0. So i modified my emulator and made api level 4.0.3(apilevel 15). It worked.