Apache HttpClient Android (Gradle)

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I have added this line to my build.gradle
compile group: 'org.apache.httpcomponents' , name: 'httpclient-android' , version: '4.3.5'
and I want to use MultipartEntityBuilder in my code. However Android studio doesn't add the library to my code.
Can anyone help me with this?
                Is that line in the top-level dependencies closure? Do you have mavenCentral() configured in the top-level repositories closure?
– CommonsWare
                Sep 24, 2014 at 19:29
                @CommonsWare I'm new to this can you explain more please? what do you mean by top-level closure? and how can i check whether mavencentral is configured there
– Hirad Roshandel
                Sep 24, 2014 at 19:33
                Given the errors you are reporting in your comments on the one answer below, you already have these parts set up.
– CommonsWare
                Sep 24, 2014 at 19:37
                @CommonsWare why not jcenter()? It has more artifacts, better search, copy-paste snippets for Gradle and that's what Android Studio recommends.
– JBaruch
                Sep 24, 2014 at 21:52
                @CommonsWare Everything you find on Maven Central is in JCenter as well, so you are safe with that. But both Gradle and Android Studio are much more jcenter() than Maven Central.  There is also an outstanding issue to switch Gradle, Please to look in jcenter.
– JBaruch
                Sep 24, 2014 at 22:29
If you are using target SDK as 23 add the below code in your build.gradle
android{
 useLibrary  'org.apache.http.legacy'
Additional note here: don't try using the gradle versions of those files. They are broken (28.08.15). I tried over 5 hours to get it to work. It just doesn't.
not working:
compile 'org.apache.httpcomponents:httpcore:4.4.1'
compile 'org.apache.httpcomponents:httpclient:4.5'
Another thing don't use:
'org.apache.httpcomponents:httpclient-android:4.3.5.1'
It's referring to 21 API level.
                It's not just target SDK, also happens if you use compile SDK 23, and proguard will still throw errors on that as well
– Zac Sweers
                Aug 21, 2015 at 21:24
                After adding these three jars and already my project has google play service, fbook sdk, appcompat_v7 so I got and error of 65K method, can you please suggest proguard for above libs?
– Chitrang
                Aug 24, 2015 at 11:11
                @Chitrang use android{ useLibrary  'org.apache.http.legacy' } add this to your build.gradle file remove above compilefile dependencies
– Jinu
                Aug 31, 2015 at 11:21
                Simply adding "android{ useLibrary  'org.apache.http.legacy' }" resolved my issue. Thanks!
– jwehrle
                Mar 5, 2017 at 19:54
The accepted answer does not seem quite right to me. There is no point dragging a different version of HttpMime when one can depend on the same version of it. 
compile group: 'org.apache.httpcomponents' , name: 'httpclient-android' , version: '4.3.5'
compile (group: 'org.apache.httpcomponents' , name: 'httpmime' , version: '4.3.5') {
    exclude module: 'org.apache.httpcomponents:httpclient'
                Using API level 23 this does not work very well. Actually the answer below from Jinu worked for me. Adding useLibrary  'org.apache.http.legacy' in android section solved my case.
– Marcio Jasinski
                Nov 5, 2015 at 17:32
Try adding this to your dependencies:
compile 'org.apache.httpcomponents:httpclient:4.4-alpha1'
And generally if you want to use a library and you are searching for the Gradle dependency line you can use Gradle Please
EDIT: Check this one too.
                I get this error: Relying on packaging to define the extension of the main artifact has been deprecated and is scheduled to be removed in Gradle 2.0 WARNING: Dependency org.apache.httpcomponents:httpclient:4.4-alpha1 is ignored for debug as it may be conflicting with the internal version provided by Android.          In case of problem, please repackage it with jarjar to change the class packages
– Hirad Roshandel
                Sep 24, 2014 at 19:31
                it says cannot resolve symbol 'MultipartEntityBuilder' and it doesn't recommend any import.
– Hirad Roshandel
                Sep 24, 2014 at 19:38
                @HiradRoshandel: Hopefully there are more instructions somewhere, from the maintainers of the httpclient-android artifact, explaining how to properly use that artifact in an Android Studio/Gradle for Android project.
– CommonsWare
                Sep 24, 2014 at 19:39
None of the others worked for me. I had to add the following dependency, as explained here
compile group: 'cz.msebera.android' , name: 'httpclient', version: '4.4.1.1'
because I was targeting API 23.
                That's really the best option, sad to see it so low. I described why it is better the legacy jar and whatever here: stackoverflow.com/a/37623038/1727132
– Jehy
                Jun 5, 2016 at 20:15
However this only works if you are using gradle 1.3.0-beta2 or greater, so you will have to add this to buildscript dependencies if you are on a lower version:
classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:1.3.0-beta2'
I searched over and over this solution works like a charm ::
    apply plugin: 'com.android.application'
    android {
        compileSdkVersion 25
        buildToolsVersion "25.0.3"
        defaultConfig {
            applicationId "com.anzma.memories"
            useLibrary 'org.apache.http.legacy'
            minSdkVersion 15
            targetSdkVersion 25
            versionCode 1
            versionName "1.0"
            testInstrumentationRunner "android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnitRunner"
 packagingOptions {
            exclude 'META-INF/DEPENDENCIES.txt'
            exclude 'META-INF/LICENSE.txt'
            exclude 'META-INF/NOTICE.txt'
            exclude 'META-INF/NOTICE'
            exclude 'META-INF/LICENSE'
            exclude 'META-INF/DEPENDENCIES'
            exclude 'META-INF/notice.txt'
            exclude 'META-INF/license.txt'
            exclude 'META-INF/dependencies.txt'
            exclude 'META-INF/LGPL2.1'
    buildTypes {
            release {
                minifyEnabled false
                proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
    dependencies {
        compile fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: ['*.jar'])
        compile('org.apache.httpcomponents:httpmime:4.3.6') {
            exclude module: 'httpclient'
        compile 'org.apache.httpcomponents:httpclient-android:4.3.5'
        compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:25.3.1'
        testCompile 'junit:junit:4.12'
                For future reference please separate the textual part of the answers from the code, to improve readability and quality of the answer.
– Mirza Sisic
                Sep 25, 2017 at 16:19
I don't know why but (for now) httpclient can be compiled only as a jar into the libs directory in your project.
HttpCore works fine when it is included from mvn like that: 
dependencies {
      compile 'org.apache.httpcomponents:httpcore:4.4.3'
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