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title: Building the Source Code
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1\) Download and install the Java Development Kit and [Android
Studio](http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html).
2\) Launch Android Studio and select **Get from Version Control** from the Welcome Screen.
3\) Another screen pops up. Ensure that **Version control** is set to **Git**.
4\) Enter **https://code.briarproject.org/briar/briar.git** as the **URL**, then click **Clone**.
This process may take a bit, and you should see a dialog similar to this.
5\) When the source code has downloaded, components will be loaded and the project will open in an Android Studio workspace.
You may be unable to successfully build Briar due to the error: *It is not fully supported to define distributionSha256Sum in gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties. Using an incorrect value may freeze or crash Android Studio.Please manually verify or remove this property from all of included projects if applicable. For more details, see https://github.com/gradle/gradle/issues/9361*.
To resolve this error, navigate to **gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties**, remove the **distributionSha256Sum** line and save the project.
Then select **Sync project with Gradle Files** from the **File** menu to restart the sync process.
It takes several minutes to download, install, verify and configure the required packages and tools.
7\) When Gradle sync is complete, select **Build** > **Build Bundle(s)/APK(s)** > **Build APK(s)** from the Android Studio menu.
8\) When the build process finishes, click **locate** from the Event Log to open the folder containing the APK file, **briar-android-official-debug.apk**. You can [sideload](http://www.digitalcitizen.life/how-sideload-apps-using-apk-files-android-devices) this file onto any Android device.
## Updating
9\) Briar is under constant development, so you should check for updates
regularly. To get the latest version of the source code, select **VCS** > **Update Project**.
Alternatively, you can also use the **Update Project** button on the toolbar:
10\) Choose whether to "Merge incoming changes into the current branch" or to "Rebase the current branch on top of incoming changes" and click **OK** to proceed.
11\) Repeat steps 7 and 8 to build and install the updated app.
If you’re interested in getting involved or following the progress of the project, please [join the development mailing list](https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/briar-devel), [IRC channel](https://webchat.freenode.net/#briar) or [Mattermost channel](https://chat.briarproject.org/briar/channels/town-square).