# How to install a SSL certificate at the app level on Android

**URL:** <https://community.bitmovin.com/t/how-to-install-a-ssl-certificate-at-the-app-level-on-android/3324>\
**Category:** Knowledge\
**Tags:** android\
**Created:** [October 3, 2024, 8:28pm UTC](https://community.bitmovin.com/t/how-to-install-a-ssl-certificate-at-the-app-level-on-android/3324 "2024-10-03T20:28:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ludovic.michaud](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/community.bitmovin.com/ludovic.michaud/32/811_2.png) [@ludovic.michaud](https://community.bitmovin.com/u/ludovic.michaud)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2024, 8:28pm UTC](https://community.bitmovin.com/t/how-to-install-a-ssl-certificate-at-the-app-level-on-android/3324/1 "2024-10-03T20:28:55Z")

</div>

I found myself having issues after installing Charles Proxy Certificate at the OS level: the requests kept failing because of a SSL certificate issue.

After a few minutes, I couldn’t find the problem and to complete my task on time, Idecided to try another route : install and trust the certificate at the app level.

Steps :

1- Save Charles’ SSL root certificate

2- Add the certificate file to res/raw/ (note that files cannot be named with `-`)

2- Create a network\_security\_config.xml file in the res/xml/ directory of your project.

```xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<network-security-config>
    <domain-config cleartextTrafficPermitted="true">
        <domain includeSubdomains="true">your-domain.com</domain>
        <trust-anchors>
            <!-- Trust user certificates (if Charles Proxy cert is user-installed) -->
            <certificates src="user" />
        </trust-anchors>
    </domain-config>
    <base-config>
        <!-- Add a custom certificate bundled with the app -->
        <trust-anchors>
            <certificates src="@raw/charles_certificate" />
        </trust-anchors>
    </base-config>
</network-security-config>

```

4- Add the file to the App manifest

```auto
<application
        android:name=".ApplicationClass"
        android:allowBackup="true"
        android:hardwareAccelerated="false"
        android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:largeHeap="true"
        android:networkSecurityConfig="@xml/network_security_config"
        android:supportsRtl="true"
        android:theme="@style/AppTheme">

```

5- Allow the certificate to be used on any domain

```auto
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<network-security-config>
    <domain-config cleartextTrafficPermitted="true">
        <domain includeSubdomains="true">*</domain>
        <trust-anchors>
            <!-- Trust user certificates (if Charles Proxy cert is user-installed) -->
            <certificates src="user" />
        </trust-anchors>
    </domain-config>
    <base-config>
        <!-- Add a custom certificate bundled with the app -->
        <trust-anchors>
            <certificates src="@raw/charles_certificate" />
        </trust-anchors>
    </base-config>
</network-security-config>

```