The number of method references in a .dex file cannot exceed 64k API 17

Question

You have too many methods. There can only be 65536 methods for dex.

As suggested you can use the multidex support.

Just add these lines in the module/build.gradle:

android {
   
    defaultConfig {
        ...
        
        // Enabling multidex support.
        multiDexEnabled true
    }
    ...
}

dependencies {
  implementation 'androidx.multidex:multidex:2.0.1'  //with androidx libraries
  //implementation 'com.android.support:multidex:1.0.3'  //with support libraries
  
}

Also in your Manifest add the MultiDexApplication class from the multidex support library to the application element

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
        package="com.example.android.multidex.myapplication">
        <application
            ...
            android:name="androidx.multidex.MultiDexApplication">

            <!-- If you are using support libraries use android:name="android.support.multidex.MultiDexApplication" -->

            <!--If you are using your own custom Application class then extend -->
            <!--MultiDexApplication and change above line as-->
            <!--android:name=".YourCustomApplicationClass"> -->

            ...
        </application>
    </manifest>

If you are using your own Application class, change the parent class from Application to MultiDexApplication.
If you can't do it, in your Application class override the attachBaseContext method with:

@Override
protected void attachBaseContext(Context newBase) {
    super.attachBaseContext(newBase);
    MultiDex.install(this);
}

Another solution is to try to remove unused code with ProGuard - Configure the ProGuard settings for your app to run ProGuard and ensure you have shrinking enabled for release builds.

In android/app/build.gradle

android {

compileSdkVersion 23

 buildToolsVersion '23.0.0'

    defaultConfig {
        applicationId "com.dkm.example"
        minSdkVersion 15
        targetSdkVersion 23
        versionCode 1
        versionName "1.0"
        multiDexEnabled true
    }

Put this inside your defaultConfig:

multiDexEnabled true 

it works for me

Change the app level build.gradle :

android {

compileSdkVersion 23

 buildToolsVersion '23.0.0'

    defaultConfig {
        applicationId "com.dkm.example"
        minSdkVersion 15
        targetSdkVersion 23
        versionCode 1
        versionName "1.0"
        multiDexEnabled true
    }

it worked for me.

I got this error message because while coding my project auto update compile version in my build.gradle file :

android {
    ...
    buildToolsVersion "23.0.2"
    ...
}

dependencies {
    compile fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: ['*.jar'])
    testCompile 'junit:junit:4.12'
    compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:23.4.0'
    compile 'com.android.support:design:23.4.0' }

Solve it by correcting the version:

android {
        ...
        buildToolsVersion "23.0.2"
        ...
    }

dependencies {
    compile fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: ['*.jar'])
    testCompile 'junit:junit:4.12'
    compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:23.0.1'
    compile 'com.android.support:design:23.0.1'
}

This is what worked for me:

This happens because there are too many unused methods. Most of these methods are coming from included libraries in your build.gradle

Use minify and shrink resources to fix this with gradle and clean up your code at the same time.

buildTypes {
        release {
            minifyEnabled true
            shrinkResources true
            proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
        }
        debug {
            minifyEnabled true
            shrinkResources true
        }
    }

This error can also occur when you load all google play services apis when you only using afew.

As stated by google:"In versions of Google Play services prior to 6.5, you had to compile the entire package of APIs into your app. In some cases, doing so made it more difficult to keep the number of methods in your app (including framework APIs, library methods, and your own code) under the 65,536 limit.

From version 6.5, you can instead selectively compile Google Play service APIs into your app."

For example when your app needs play-services-maps ,play-services-location .You need to add only the two apis in your build.gradle file at app level as show below:

compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-maps:10.2.1'
compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-location:10.2.1'

Instead of:

compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services:10.2.1'

For full documentation and list of google play services apis click here