What is the use of jcenter and Maven Central repositories ?

Overview

JCenter and Maven Central are remote Maven repositories — online servers that host Android/Java libraries (AARs and JARs) that Gradle downloads as dependencies.

Maven Central

The official, primary repository for Java/Android libraries maintained by Sonatype.

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// settings.gradle (or build.gradle — modern Flutter projects)
repositories {
    mavenCentral() // ← Official Maven repository
}

// Example dependency hosted on Maven Central
dependencies {
    implementation 'com.squareup.retrofit2:retrofit:2.9.0'
    implementation 'com.google.code.gson:gson:2.10.1'
}

JCenter (Deprecated)

JCenter was Bintray's/JFrog's Maven repository — once the default for Android. JCenter is now deprecated (shut down in 2022).

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// ❌ Avoid — JCenter shut down
repositories {
    jcenter() // Deprecated!
}

// ✅ Migrate to Maven Central instead
repositories {
    mavenCentral()
}

In Flutter's Android Project

Modern Flutter projects (and AGP 7+) use both Google and Maven Central:

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// android/settings.gradle (Flutter project)
pluginManagement {
    repositories {
        google()           // Android-specific packages (Google)
        mavenCentral()     // General Java/Android libraries
        gradlePluginPortal() // Gradle plugins
    }
}

dependencyResolutionManagement {
    repositories {
        google()
        mavenCentral()
    }
}

Comparison

google()

Other Common Repositories

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repositories {
    google()                    // Google's Android libraries, Firebase
    mavenCentral()              // General OSS
    maven { url 'https://jitpack.io }  // GitHub-hosted libraries
    mavenLocal()                // Local Maven cache (~/.m2)
}

Where Dependencies Come From

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Flutter Plugin (pubspec.yaml):
  camera: ^0.10.0
    ↓
pub.dev fetches the Dart package
    ↓
Dart package's android/ folder references:
  implementation 'androidx.camera:camera-core:1.3.0' (Maven Central / Google)
    ↓
Gradle downloads the AAR from the repository

Summary: Maven Central is the standard repository for Android dependencies. JCenter is dead — avoid it. Flutter projects typically use

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google()

+

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mavenCentral()

in their Android

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settings.gradle

.