For those who wish to learn Android app development, Android Studio is one platform which you shouldn’t miss.

However, installing Android Studio might not be as smooth as you’d wanted it to be.

Here’s how you can install and set up your Android Studio properly so that you can start to learn and become an Android app developer.

First, download Android Studio at https://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html and install it. (I’m installing it on my Mac Air).

Well, that’s the easy part.

The difficulty is in installing the SDKs (Software Development Kits). Now, consider Android Studio as the application which gives you the “environment” to start developing Android apps. You’ll need SDK – a set of tools/resources to help you in creating the apps. Because this is a time consuming process, and there are so many packages you can/have to download, it’s vital to know exactly which to install.

Here’s the supplementary details to https://developer.android.com/tools/help/sdk-manager.html on the packages to install so as to start using Android Studio.

Android Studio > Tools > Android > SDK Manager

Select the following tools/packages :

These are the packages as recommended in https://developer.android.com/tools/help/sdk-manager.html. Namely :

Tools

Android SDK Tools

Android SDK Platform-tools

Android SDK Built-tools

Android 5.1 (API22; go for the latest)

Check and install all

Android 2.2 (API8; suggested old version)

Check and install all

Extras

Android Support Repository

Android Support Library

Google Repository

Intel x86 Emulator Accelerator (HAXM installer)

All the above will take you quite some time for you to download/install. Be patient.

Once done, you can then start to learn by creating your first Android project at https://developer.android.com/training/basics/firstapp/creating-project.html.