There are many good suggestions to how to fix gradle versions, but some of them are outdated or I just couldn't find the paths that were suggested. one solution did work for me is project>project structure>project>gradle version.

Here I can change it to the supported version, and successfully builds the project.

A small error in the the javascript code, so a change is made to it. Ionic build android, now something wrong occurrs here. Minimum supprted Gradle version is 2.14.1. Current version is 2.13..

But in the project/platforms/android/build.gradle

task wrapper(type: Wrapper){ gradleVersion = '2.14.1' }

and from this link, it suggests that this is the way set your gradle wrapper.

So I am expecting in project/platforms/android/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties to have distributionUrl=http\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-2.14.1-all.zip, instead this is what it has distributionUrl=http\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-2.13-all.zip.

Can't make direct change to this file project/platforms/android/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties, because after each build it will revert back to gradle-2.13-all.zip.

What is going on here? can't find anything that explain why it keeps on changing the distributionUrl=http\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-2.13-all.zip. Would anyone be kindly explain this please? Maybe something very stupid that I have missed. Thank you.

Links that I have looked at

"Gradle Version 2.10 is required." Error

How to update gradle in android studio

ionic build android error when download gradle

gradle code

apply plugin: 'com.android.application'

buildscript {
    repositories {
        mavenCentral()
        jcenter()
    }

    // Switch the Android Gradle plugin version requirement depending on the
    // installed version of Gradle. This dependency is documented at
    // http://tools.android.com/tech-docs/new-build-system/version-compatibility
    // and https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/CB-8143
    dependencies {
        classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:2.2.1'
    }
}

// Allow plugins to declare Maven dependencies via build-extras.gradle.
allprojects {
    repositories {
        mavenCentral();
        jcenter();
    }
}

task wrapper(type: Wrapper) {
    gradleVersion = '2.14.1'
}

// Configuration properties. Set these via environment variables, build-extras.gradle, or gradle.properties.
// Refer to: http://www.gradle.org/docs/current/userguide/tutorial_this_and_that.html
ext {
    apply from: 'CordovaLib/cordova.gradle'
    // The value for android.compileSdkVersion.
    if (!project.hasProperty('cdvCompileSdkVersion')) {
        cdvCompileSdkVersion = null;
    }
    // The value for android.buildToolsVersion.
    if (!project.hasProperty('cdvBuildToolsVersion')) {
        cdvBuildToolsVersion = null;
    }
    // Sets the versionCode to the given value.
    if (!project.hasProperty('cdvVersionCode')) {
        cdvVersionCode = null
    }
    // Sets the minSdkVersion to the given value.
    if (!project.hasProperty('cdvMinSdkVersion')) {
        cdvMinSdkVersion = null
    }
    // Whether to build architecture-specific APKs.
    if (!project.hasProperty('cdvBuildMultipleApks')) {
        cdvBuildMultipleApks = null
    }
    // .properties files to use for release signing.
    if (!project.hasProperty('cdvReleaseSigningPropertiesFile')) {
        cdvReleaseSigningPropertiesFile = null
    }
    // .properties files to use for debug signing.
    if (!project.hasProperty('cdvDebugSigningPropertiesFile')) {
        cdvDebugSigningPropertiesFile = null
    }
    // Set by build.js script.
    if (!project.hasProperty('cdvBuildArch')) {
        cdvBuildArch = null
    }

    // Plugin gradle extensions can append to this to have code run at the end.
    cdvPluginPostBuildExtras = []
}

// PLUGIN GRADLE EXTENSIONS START
apply from: "cordova-plugin-badge/simplelogin777664-badge.gradle"
// PLUGIN GRADLE EXTENSIONS END

def hasBuildExtras = file('build-extras.gradle').exists()
if (hasBuildExtras) {
    apply from: 'build-extras.gradle'
}

// Set property defaults after extension .gradle files.
if (ext.cdvCompileSdkVersion == null) {
    ext.cdvCompileSdkVersion = privateHelpers.getProjectTarget()
}
if (ext.cdvBuildToolsVersion == null) {
    ext.cdvBuildToolsVersion = privateHelpers.findLatestInstalledBuildTools()
}
if (ext.cdvDebugSigningPropertiesFile == null && file('debug-signing.properties').exists()) {
    ext.cdvDebugSigningPropertiesFile = 'debug-signing.properties'
}
if (ext.cdvReleaseSigningPropertiesFile == null && file('release-signing.properties').exists()) {
    ext.cdvReleaseSigningPropertiesFile = 'release-signing.properties'
}

// Cast to appropriate types.
ext.cdvBuildMultipleApks = cdvBuildMultipleApks == null ? false : cdvBuildMultipleApks.toBoolean();
ext.cdvMinSdkVersion = cdvMinSdkVersion == null ? null : Integer.parseInt('' + cdvMinSdkVersion)
ext.cdvVersionCode = cdvVersionCode == null ? null : Integer.parseInt('' + cdvVersionCode)

def computeBuildTargetName(debugBuild) {
    def ret = 'assemble'
    if (cdvBuildMultipleApks && cdvBuildArch) {
        def arch = cdvBuildArch == 'arm' ? 'armv7' : cdvBuildArch
        ret += '' + arch.toUpperCase().charAt(0) + arch.substring(1);
    }
    return ret + (debugBuild ? 'Debug' : 'Release')
}

// Make cdvBuild a task that depends on the debug/arch-sepecific task.
task cdvBuildDebug
cdvBuildDebug.dependsOn {
    return computeBuildTargetName(true)
}

task cdvBuildRelease
cdvBuildRelease.dependsOn {
    return computeBuildTargetName(false)
}

task cdvPrintProps << {
    println('cdvCompileSdkVersion=' + cdvCompileSdkVersion)
    println('cdvBuildToolsVersion=' + cdvBuildToolsVersion)
    println('cdvVersionCode=' + cdvVersionCode)
    println('cdvMinSdkVersion=' + cdvMinSdkVersion)
    println('cdvBuildMultipleApks=' + cdvBuildMultipleApks)
    println('cdvReleaseSigningPropertiesFile=' + cdvReleaseSigningPropertiesFile)
    println('cdvDebugSigningPropertiesFile=' + cdvDebugSigningPropertiesFile)
    println('cdvBuildArch=' + cdvBuildArch)
    println('computedVersionCode=' + android.defaultConfig.versionCode)
    android.productFlavors.each { flavor ->
        println('computed' + flavor.name.capitalize() + 'VersionCode=' + flavor.versionCode)
    }
}

android {
  sourceSets {
    main {
      manifest.srcFile 'AndroidManifest.xml'
      java.srcDirs = ['src']
      resources.srcDirs = ['src']
      aidl.srcDirs = ['src']
      renderscript.srcDirs = ['src']
      res.srcDirs = ['res']
      assets.srcDirs = ['assets']
      jniLibs.srcDirs = ['libs']
    }
  }
  defaultConfig {
    if (cdvMinSdkVersion != null) {
      minSdkVersion cdvMinSdkVersion
    }
    minSdkVersion 16
    targetSdkVersion 23
  }
  lintOptions {
    abortOnError false;
  }
  compileSdkVersion 23
  buildToolsVersion '21.1.2'
  if (Boolean.valueOf(cdvBuildMultipleApks)) {
    productFlavors {
      armv7 {
        versionCode defaultConfig.versionCode * 10 + 2
        ndk {
          abiFilters "armeabi-v7a", ""
        }
      }
      x86 {
        versionCode defaultConfig.versionCode * 10 + 4
        ndk {
          abiFilters "x86", ""
        }
      }
      all {
        ndk {
          abiFilters "all", ""
        }
      }
    }
  }
  /*

  ELSE NOTHING! DON'T MESS WITH THE VERSION CODE IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO!

  else if (!cdvVersionCode) {
    def minSdkVersion = cdvMinSdkVersion ?: privateHelpers.extractIntFromManifest("minSdkVersion")
    // Vary versionCode by the two most common API levels:
    // 14 is ICS, which is the lowest API level for many apps.
    // 20 is Lollipop, which is the lowest API level for the updatable system webview.
    if (minSdkVersion >= 20) {
      defaultConfig.versionCode += 9
    } else if (minSdkVersion >= 14) {
      defaultConfig.versionCode += 8
    }
  }
  */
  compileOptions {
    sourceCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_7
    targetCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_7
  }
  if (cdvReleaseSigningPropertiesFile) {
    signingConfigs {
      release {
        // These must be set or Gradle will complain (even if they are overridden).
        keyAlias = ""
        keyPassword = "__unset"
        // And these must be set to non-empty in order to have the signing step added to the task graph.
        storeFile = null
        storePassword = "__unset"
      }
    }
    buildTypes {
      release {
        signingConfig signingConfigs.release
      }
    }
    addSigningProps(cdvReleaseSigningPropertiesFile, signingConfigs.release)
  }
  if (cdvDebugSigningPropertiesFile) {
    addSigningProps(cdvDebugSigningPropertiesFile, signingConfigs.debug)
  }
  productFlavors {
  }
}

dependencies {
  compile fileTree(include: '*.jar', dir: 'libs')
  // SUB-PROJECT DEPENDENCIES START
    debugCompile project(path: "CordovaLib", configuration: "debug")
    releaseCompile project(path: "CordovaLib", configuration: "release")
    compile "com.android.support:support-v4:+"
    // SUB-PROJECT DEPENDENCIES END
}

def promptForReleaseKeyPassword() {
    if (!cdvReleaseSigningPropertiesFile) {
        return;
    }
    if ('__unset'.equals(android.signingConfigs.release.storePassword)) {
        android.signingConfigs.release.storePassword = privateHelpers.promptForPassword('Enter key store password: ')
    }
    if ('__unset'.equals(android.signingConfigs.release.keyPassword)) {
        android.signingConfigs.release.keyPassword = privateHelpers.promptForPassword('Enter key password: ');
    }
}

gradle.taskGraph.whenReady { taskGraph ->
    taskGraph.getAllTasks().each() { task ->
        if (task.name == 'validateReleaseSigning') {
            promptForReleaseKeyPassword()
        }
    }
}

def addSigningProps(propsFilePath, signingConfig) {
    def propsFile = file(propsFilePath)
    def props = new Properties()
    propsFile.withReader { reader ->
        props.load(reader)
    }

    def storeFile = new File(props.get('key.store') ?: privateHelpers.ensureValueExists(propsFilePath, props, 'storeFile'))
    if (!storeFile.isAbsolute()) {
        storeFile = RelativePath.parse(true, storeFile.toString()).getFile(propsFile.getParentFile())
    }
    if (!storeFile.exists()) {
        throw new FileNotFoundException('Keystore file does not exist: ' + storeFile.getAbsolutePath())
    }
    signingConfig.keyAlias = props.get('key.alias') ?: privateHelpers.ensureValueExists(propsFilePath, props, 'keyAlias')
    signingConfig.keyPassword = props.get('keyPassword', props.get('key.alias.password', signingConfig.keyPassword))
    signingConfig.storeFile = storeFile
    signingConfig.storePassword = props.get('storePassword', props.get('key.store.password', signingConfig.storePassword))
    def storeType = props.get('storeType', props.get('key.store.type', ''))
    if (!storeType) {
        def filename = storeFile.getName().toLowerCase();
        if (filename.endsWith('.p12') || filename.endsWith('.pfx')) {
            storeType = 'pkcs12'
        } else {
            storeType = signingConfig.storeType // "jks"
        }
    }
    signingConfig.storeType = storeType
}

for (def func : cdvPluginPostBuildExtras) {
    func()
}

// This can be defined within build-extras.gradle as:
//     ext.postBuildExtras = { ... code here ... }
if (hasProperty('postBuildExtras')) {
    postBuildExtras()
}

Update

'gradlew wrapper throws error, because certain wrapper doesn't exist under maven and the sub build.gradle uses it to download 2.14.1.prom and 2.14.1.jar. This link will explain it.

Found problem

The problem why it keeps on changing back to 2.13-all.zip is because of this line, var distributionUrl = process.env['CORDOVA_ANDROID_GRADLE_DISTRIBUTION_URL'] || 'http\\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-2.13-all.zip'; in the [project name]/platforms/android/cordova/lib/builders/GradleBuilder.js instead of ~/android/lib/GradleBuilder.js. (Line 164)

Working Directory: C:\aa\gradle-jar
Gradle User Home: C:\Users\aa\.gradle
Gradle Distribution: Gradle wrapper from target build
Gradle Version: 4.8
Java Home: C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.8.0_91