Complete Guide to Install Android Studio on Linux

Android Studio, the official Google integrated development environment (IDE) for Android app development, is a widely used tool among developers for its robust capabilities in creating, testing, and debugging Android applications.

It can be used in Game development, Mobile Web Development, Android Instant Apps, Deep Learning and AI, Firebase integration, and much more. You can even develop for other platforms like WearOS (smartwatches), Android TV, and Android Automotive.

In this kickstart guide, you will learn about its features and different ways to install Android Studio on your preferred Linux distribution.

Tutorial Details

Description	Android Studio IDE
Difficulty Level	Moderate
Root or Sudo Privileges	Yes
Host System and Architecture	Ubuntu 22.10 (x64)
OS Compatibility	Ubuntu, Manjaro, Fedora, etc.
Prerequisites	–
Internet Required	Yes

Key Features

Android Studio provides a comprehensive set of tools and features that fulfill the entire Android app development process.

The following are some well-known key features that Android Studio includes:

• Code Editor: It supports code autocompletion, syntax highlighting, code dependencies, and advanced debugging features.
• Layout Editor: Allows you to create and design the user interface for an Android app visually.
• Gradle Build System: Used to manage the project, build process, handle dependencies, and create build variants.
• Android Emulator: This allows you to test your app on various virtual Android devices.
• Debugging and Profiling Tools: Provide advanced debugging and profiling tools to let users easily identify and resolve issues in their apps.
• Instant Run: Allows users to see changes in their code instantly on an emulator or connected device without rebuilding the entire app.
• Link Checking: Perform a static code analysis using Lint to identify performance issues and recommend best practices to improve the quality of the code.

Although there are more features to cover, we’ll leave them out to maintain a clean list. Let’s now see how to install Android Studio on your preferred Linux distribution.

How to Install Android Studio on Linux

Before you begin, it’s essential to be aware that Android Studio is a resource-intensive IDE, and your system must meet the minimum requirements:

• 64-bit version of Linux
• 4 GB of Ram or more
• 2.5 GB of available disk space

Various methods exist to install Android Studio, but I strongly advise opting for one of the following, particularly the first one.

• How to Install and Use Flutter on Linux

Installing Android Studio via Archive Tarball

1. Visit the official Android Studio download page (https://developer.android.com/studio). Navigate to the “Android Studio downloads” section and click on the archive tarball link for “Linux (64-bit)“, as shown.

2. When you click the link to download Android Studio (Linux 64-bit), you will be prompted with a License agreement.

Simply click on “I have read …” and proceed by clicking the “Download Android Studio button“, as shown.

Now, it will start the download process, and since Android Studio is approximately 1 GB in size, you can take a coffee break while it completes.

3. Once the download process is finished and Android Studio is in your “~/Download” directory, open your terminal and execute the following command to extract the archive tarball to the “/opt” path.

$ sudo tar -xzvf ~/Downloads/android-studio-*.tar.gz -C /opt

Output:

4. After extracting the contents of the archive tarball to its destination, create a soft link for the “./studio.sh” script in your local binaries directory.

$ sudo ln -s /opt/android-studio/bin/studio.sh /usr/local/bin/android-studio

Output:

5. Finally, you can execute the following “android-studio” command to launch the Android Studio IDE.

$ android-studio

Output:

Congratulations!!! You have successfully installed and launched Android Studio on your Linux system.

Installing Android Studio via Snap

If you do not prefer to use the archive tarball for Android Studio installation due to any specific reasons, an alternative option is available: you can opt for the Android Studio snap package, which allows easy installation on any Linux system equipped with Snap.

Just issue the following command to install Android Studio on your Linux system (with Snap installed).

$ sudo snap install android-studio --classic

Output:

After the installation is complete, execute the following command to launch the Android Studio IDE:

$ snap run android-studio

Output:

How to Upgrade Android Studio to its Latest Version

1. If you installed Android Studio via the archive tarball, leverage its internal functionality by navigating to Gear (icon) -> Check for Updates.

This convenient feature allows you to effortlessly explore all available updates across various channels, including Beta and Stable versions.

2. Alternatively, if you installed Android Studio via Snap, execute the following command to update it to the latest version:

$ sudo snap refresh android-studio

When an update is available, it will automatically start updating; otherwise, it will notify you that no updates are available.

How to Remove Android Studio from Linux

1. Android Studio installed via the archive tarball can be easily removed by executing the following two commands:

$ sudo unlink /usr/local/bin/android-studio 
$ sudo rm -rf /opt/android-studio/

Output:

Whereas,

• The first command will unlink (or remove) the “android-studio” soft link.
• The second command will remove the “/opt/android-studio” directory.

2. If you have installed Android Studio via Snap, then simply execute the following command to remove it from your system:

$ sudo snap remove android-studio 

Output:

Final Word

I hope you find this guide useful and that it helps you easily install Android Studio on your preferred Linux system. However, if you have any issues while performing the mentioned steps or have any questions, feel free to tell us in the comment section.

Till then, peace!