What is the difference between merging the manifest during a merge and the main application manifest?

The main manifest of the application is the primary AndroidManifest.xml file, which describes the basic components of the application, its permissions, settings, and other metadata.

Manifest merging occurs during the project build when manifests from dependencies (libraries, modules) are merged with the main application manifest. During the merge:

• Information from all manifests is combined into a final one.
• Conflicts are resolved according to specific rules (for example, the priority of the main manifest).
• Elements such as permissions, activities, and services are added or overridden.

Thus, manifest merging allows integrating the functionality of libraries and modules into the final application while maintaining control through the main manifest.