diff --git a/intercom-plugin/src/android/build-extras-intercom.gradle b/intercom-plugin/src/android/build-extras-intercom.gradle
index 0748bb7..3c8cf6f 100644
--- a/intercom-plugin/src/android/build-extras-intercom.gradle
+++ b/intercom-plugin/src/android/build-extras-intercom.gradle
@@ -4,8 +4,11 @@ import java.util.regex.Matcher
 // INSTALL_FAILED_CONFLICTING_PROVIDER error when installing the app.
 //
 // @link https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/CB-10014
-def manifest = new XmlSlurper().parse(file("src/main/AndroidManifest.xml"))
-android.defaultConfig.applicationId manifest.@package.text()
+
+//DRIVER'S SEAT:  Removing this as it conflicts with the build by
+//                setting ApplicationId to literal "manifest.@package.text()"
+//def manifest = new XmlSlurper().parse(file("src/main/AndroidManifest.xml"))
+//android.defaultConfig.applicationId manifest.@package.text()
 
 // some libraries depend on higher versions of our dependencies than we support
 // we keep track of these dependencies here and override the version to a safe one
diff --git a/intercom-plugin/src/android/intercom.gradle b/intercom-plugin/src/android/intercom.gradle
index 211a9a8..9077ad3 100644
--- a/intercom-plugin/src/android/intercom.gradle
+++ b/intercom-plugin/src/android/intercom.gradle
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ buildscript {
         maven { url 'https://maven.google.com' }
     }
     dependencies {
-        classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:4.0.0'
+        classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:8.0.2'
         if (pushType == 'fcm') {
             classpath 'com.google.gms:google-services:4.3.3'
         }