Google Student Blog: What you need to know to install AdMob on your app

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What you need to know to install AdMob on your app

January 17, 2014

Requirements for your app

Make sure you have the latest copy of the Android SDK and that you're compiling against at least Android v3.2 (set target in project.properties to android-13) (or higher). .

The Google Mobile Ads SDK for Android requires a run-time of Android 2.3 or later (set android:minSdkVersion to at least 9 in your AndroidManifest.xml). This means you can develop with the latest version of the Android SDK and your app will still run on an earlier Android version (2.3 minimum).

Steps for incorporating the SDK

Add and reference the Google Play services library project in your Eclipse workspace.

See the Android instructions for how to set up the Google Play services SDK.

Right click on your app project in Eclipse and select Properties.
Select Android and then click Add.... Find the google-play-services_lib project and select OK to add the Google Play services library.
The project now references the Google Play services library.

Add a meta-data tag in AndroidManifest.xml.

Google Play services requires you to add a specific meta-data tag within the element in your app's AndroidManifest.xml. data, can be found at Step 2 here.

Declare com.google.android.gms.ads.AdActivity in the manifest.

The Mobile Ads SDK requires that com.google.android.gms.ads.AdActivity be declared in your app's AndroidManifest.xml. A screenshot can found at Step 3 here.