Retrieving Android API version programmatically

Is there any way to get the API version that the phone is currently running?

As described in the Android documentation, the SDK level (integer) the phone is running is available in:

android.os.Build.VERSION.SDK_INT

The class corresponding to this int is in the android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES class.

Code example:

if (android.os.Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES.LOLLIPOP){
    // Do something for lollipop and above versions
} else{
    // do something for phones running an SDK before lollipop
}

Edit: This SDK_INT is available since Donut (android 1.6 / API4) so make sure your application is not retro-compatible with Cupcake (android 1.5 / API3) when you use it or your application will crash (thanks to Programmer Bruce for the precision).

Corresponding android documentation is here and here

Very easy:

   String manufacturer = Build.MANUFACTURER;
   String model = Build.MODEL;
   int version = Build.VERSION.SDK_INT;
   String versionRelease = Build.VERSION.RELEASE;

Log.e("MyActivity", "manufacturer " + manufacturer
            + " \n model " + model
            + " \n version " + version
            + " \n versionRelease " + versionRelease
    );

Output:

E/MyActivity:   manufacturer ManufacturerX
                model SM-T310 
                version 19 
                versionRelease 4.4.2

Build.VERSION.RELEASE;

That will give you the actual numbers of your version; aka 2.3.3 or 2.2. The problem with using Build.VERSION.SDK_INT is if you have a rooted phone or custom rom, you could have a non standard OS (aka my android is running 2.3.5) and that will return a null when using Build.VERSION.SDK_INT so Build.VERSION.RELEASE will work no matter using standard Android version or not !

To use it, you could just do this;

String androidOS = Build.VERSION.RELEASE;

try this:

 if (android.os.Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES.GINGERBREAD) {
     // only for gingerbread and newer versions
 }

Taking into account all said, here is the code I use for detecting if device has Froyo or newer Android OS (2.2+):

public static boolean froyoOrNewer() {
	// SDK_INT is introduced in 1.6 (API Level 4) so code referencing that would fail
	// Also we can't use SDK_INT since some modified ROMs play around with this value, RELEASE is most versatile variable
	if (android.os.Build.VERSION.RELEASE.startsWith("1.") ||
		android.os.Build.VERSION.RELEASE.startsWith("2.0") ||
		android.os.Build.VERSION.RELEASE.startsWith("2.1"))
		return false;

	return true;
}

Obviously, you can modify that if condition to take into account 1.0 & 1.5 versions of Android in case you need generic checker. You will probably end up with something like this:

// returns true if current Android OS on device is >= verCode 
public static boolean androidMinimum(int verCode) {
	if (android.os.Build.VERSION.RELEASE.startsWith("1.0"))
		return verCode == 1;
	else if (android.os.Build.VERSION.RELEASE.startsWith("1.1")) {
		return verCode <= 2;
	} else if (android.os.Build.VERSION.RELEASE.startsWith("1.5")) {
		return verCode <= 3;
	} else {
		return android.os.Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= verCode;
	}
}

Let me know if code is not working for you.

android.os.Build.VERSION.SDK should give you the value of the API Level. You can easily find the mapping from api level to android version in the android documentation. I believe, 8 is for 2.2, 7 for 2.1, and so on.

SDK.INT is supported for Android 1.6 and up

SDK is supported for all versions

So I do:

String sdk_version_number = android.os.Build.VERSION.SDK;

Credits to: CommonsWare over this answer

Got it. Its using the getApplicationInfo() method of the Context class.

I generally prefer to add these codes in a function to get the Android version:

int whichAndroidVersion;

whichAndroidVersion= Build.VERSION.SDK_INT;
textView.setText("" + whichAndroidVersion); //If you don't use "" then app crashes.

For example, that code above will set the text into my textView as "29" now.

i prefer have the version as number to be handeled more easyway than i wrote this:

  public static float getAPIVerison() {

	Float f = null;
	try {
		StringBuilder strBuild = new StringBuilder();
		strBuild.append(android.os.Build.VERSION.RELEASE.substring(0, 2));
		f = new Float(strBuild.toString());
	} catch (NumberFormatException e) {
		Log.e("", "error retriving api version" + e.getMessage());
	}

	return f.floatValue();
}

I improved code i used

public static float getAPIVerison() {

	float f=1f;
	try {
		StringBuilder strBuild = new StringBuilder();
		strBuild.append(android.os.Build.VERSION.RELEASE.substring(0, 2));
		f= Float.valueOf(strBuild.toString());
	} catch (NumberFormatException e) {
		Log.e("myApp", "error retriving api version" + e.getMessage());
	}

	return f;
}

Like this:

String versionRelease = BuildConfig.VERSION_NAME;

versionRelease :- 2.1.17

Please make sure your import package is correct ( import package your_application_package_name, otherwise it will not work properly).