Love for all things #Xamarin. Mobile Engineer @RedArrowLabs. I don't write much, but when I do it'll be about technology, pets, food, and the outdoors.

Aug 25, 2016

Xamarin.Android: Unsupported major.minor version 52.0

I encountered this error today in my Xamarin Android environment when I installed the API 24 sdk & build tools. It’s any annoying error and I wanted to document it in the event I came across it again.

This error pops up if you have the wrong JDK referenced in Visual Studio and/or Xamarin Studio. My environment was referencing the 1.7 JDK. It seems API level 24 needs 1.8.

To fix it:

Download the & install 1.8 JDK: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk8-downloads-2133151.html (I donwloaded the 64 bit)
Update the JDK location in Visual Studio to reference the 1.8 JDK

I installed the 64 bit JDK, so it’s in “Program Files” rather than “Program Files (x86)” for me

3. If you use Xamarin Studio, update it there too.

I had to close Visual Studio & Xamarin Studio to the changes to take effect. But now you should be able to rebuild and be on your way.