Bypass Min SDK Version - or what else? - flutter

Question

I am starting with flutter, and overall, I am getting an idea but have hit the wall with what I find to be one of the main reasons to consider migrating from HTML + JQueryMobile: speech to text implementation.
I have found the speech_to_text package (https://pub.dev/packages/speech_to_text#-installing-tab-), followed the instructions to :
1. update the pubspec.yaml file with the dependency &
2. instal the package from command line
3. import the package in the code
but have hit the wall with the minimum SDK requirements not being met by the package. Here is the error message:
C:\Users\TOTAL\FlutterPro\Flutter4\flutter4\android\app\src\debug\AndroidManifest.xml
Error: uses-sdk:minSdkVersion 16 cannot be smaller than version 21
declared in library [:speech_to_text]
C:\Users\TOTAL\FlutterPro\Flutter4\flutter4\build\speech_to_text\intermediates\library_manifest\debug\AndroidManifest.xml
as the library might be using APIs not available in 16 Suggestion:
use a compatible library with a minSdk of at most 16, or increase
this project's minSdk version to at least 21, or use
tools:overrideLibrary="com.csdcorp.speech_to_text" to force usage (may
lead to runtime failures)
FAILURE: Build failed with an exception.
What went wrong: Execution failed for task ':app:processDebugManifest'.
Manifest merger failed : uses-sdk:minSdkVersion 16 cannot be smaller than version 21 declared in library [:speech_to_text]
C:\Users\TOTAL\FlutterPro\Flutter4\flutter4\build\speech_to_text\intermediates\library_manifest\debug\AndroidManifest.xml
as the library might be using APIs not available in 16 Suggestion:
use a compatible library with a minSdk of at most 16,
or increase this project's minSdk version to at least 21,
or use tools:overrideLibrary="com.csdcorp.speech_to_text" to force usage (may lead to runtime failures)
Try: Run with --stacktrace option to get the stack trace. Run with --info or --debug option to get more log output. Run with --scan to get full insights.
Get more help at https://help.gradle.org
BUILD FAILED in 11s Exception: Gradle task assembleDebug failed with
exit code 1
Strangely, I have managed to bypass this once but can not find the
relevant piece of code in the app folder now. Worse, the mentioned file
> C:\Users\TOTAL\FlutterPro\Flutter4\flutter4\android\app\src\debug\AndroidManifest.xml
does not contain any reference to SDK, only this:
< <manifest
<xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
< package="com.example.flutter4">
> <!-- Flutter needs it to communicate with the running application
> to allow setting breakpoints, to provide hot reload, etc.
> -->
> <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET"/> </manifest>
As for the other mentioned file, which looks like this:
> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <manifest
> xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
> package="com.csdcorp.speech_to_text" >
>
> <uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="21" />
>
> </manifest>
changing the 21 to 16 is reverted after the attempt to run this app.
How to handle this
1. technically, ie. what is the workaround for this minSDK limitation - one that is at least worth trying?
2. A step back, if there are version issues, how do you do to avoid them?
Thanks a lot

Answer 1

Edit the build.gradle file in app folder. Search defaultConfig, edit the minSdkVersion from 16 to 21.
File path.
android\app\build.gradle