diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index 42597b8..6ab3b7f 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -25,8 +25,8 @@
  */
 
 buildscript {
-    ext.gradle_version = "8.2.2"
-    ext.kotlin_version = "1.9.22"
+    ext.gradle_version = "8.5.0"
+    ext.kotlin_version = "1.9.25"
 
     repositories {
         google()
@@ -55,25 +55,24 @@ ext {
     compileSdkVersion = 34 // allows newest APIs to be used and to see deprecations, use latest
 
     // Android dependencies
-    androidxAnnotationVersion = "1.6.0"
     androidxAppCompatVersion = "1.7.0"
-    datastoreVersion = "1.1.1"
+    datastoreVersion = "1.1.3"
 
     // Other
-    protobufVersion = '3.22.2' // For Proto Datastore. Maybe keep in sync with other versions.
+    protobufVersion = '4.30.0' // For Proto Datastore. Maybe keep in sync with other versions.
 
     // Testing
     junitVersion = "1.2.1"
-    mockitoVersion = '5.15.2'
-    hamcrestVersion = "1.3"
+    mockitoVersion = '5.16.0'
+    hamcrestVersion = "3.0"
     rulesVersion = "1.6.1"
-    robolectricVersion = "4.10.2"
+    robolectricVersion = "4.14.1"
     testInstrumentationRunner = "androidx.test.runner.AndroidJUnitRunner"
 
     // Java version
-    sourceCompatibility = JavaVersion.VERSION_17
-    targetCompatibility = JavaVersion.VERSION_17
-    kotlinTargetJavaVersion = "17"
+    sourceCompatibility = JavaVersion.VERSION_21
+    targetCompatibility = JavaVersion.VERSION_21
+    kotlinTargetJavaVersion = "21"
 }
 
 allprojects {
diff --git a/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar b/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar
index 943f0cb..9bbc975 100644
Binary files a/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar and b/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar differ
diff --git a/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties b/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
index 7fc84be..37f853b 100644
--- a/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
+++ b/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 distributionBase=GRADLE_USER_HOME
 distributionPath=wrapper/dists
-distributionUrl=https\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-8.6-all.zip
+distributionUrl=https\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-8.13-bin.zip
 networkTimeout=10000
+validateDistributionUrl=true
 zipStoreBase=GRADLE_USER_HOME
 zipStorePath=wrapper/dists
diff --git a/gradlew b/gradlew
index 65dcd68..faf9300 100755
--- a/gradlew
+++ b/gradlew
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 #
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+#
 
 ##############################################################################
 #
@@ -55,7 +57,7 @@
 #       Darwin, MinGW, and NonStop.
 #
 #   (3) This script is generated from the Groovy template
-#       https://github.com/gradle/gradle/blob/HEAD/subprojects/plugins/src/main/resources/org/gradle/api/internal/plugins/unixStartScript.txt
+#       https://github.com/gradle/gradle/blob/HEAD/platforms/jvm/plugins-application/src/main/resources/org/gradle/api/internal/plugins/unixStartScript.txt
 #       within the Gradle project.
 #
 #       You can find Gradle at https://github.com/gradle/gradle/.
@@ -83,10 +85,8 @@ done
 # This is normally unused
 # shellcheck disable=SC2034
 APP_BASE_NAME=${0##*/}
-APP_HOME=$( cd "${APP_HOME:-./}" && pwd -P ) || exit
-
-# Add default JVM options here. You can also use JAVA_OPTS and GRADLE_OPTS to pass JVM options to this script.
-DEFAULT_JVM_OPTS='"-Xmx64m" "-Xms64m"'
+# Discard cd standard output in case $CDPATH is set (https://github.com/gradle/gradle/issues/25036)
+APP_HOME=$( cd -P "${APP_HOME:-./}" > /dev/null && printf '%s\n' "$PWD" ) || exit
 
 # Use the maximum available, or set MAX_FD != -1 to use that value.
 MAX_FD=maximum
@@ -133,10 +133,13 @@ location of your Java installation."
     fi
 else
     JAVACMD=java
-    which java >/dev/null 2>&1 || die "ERROR: JAVA_HOME is not set and no 'java' command could be found in your PATH.
+    if ! command -v java >/dev/null 2>&1
+    then
+        die "ERROR: JAVA_HOME is not set and no 'java' command could be found in your PATH.
 
 Please set the JAVA_HOME variable in your environment to match the
 location of your Java installation."
+    fi
 fi
 
 # Increase the maximum file descriptors if we can.
@@ -144,7 +147,7 @@ if ! "$cygwin" && ! "$darwin" && ! "$nonstop" ; then
     case $MAX_FD in #(
       max*)
         # In POSIX sh, ulimit -H is undefined. That's why the result is checked to see if it worked.
-        # shellcheck disable=SC3045 
+        # shellcheck disable=SC2039,SC3045
         MAX_FD=$( ulimit -H -n ) ||
             warn "Could not query maximum file descriptor limit"
     esac
@@ -152,7 +155,7 @@ if ! "$cygwin" && ! "$darwin" && ! "$nonstop" ; then
       '' | soft) :;; #(
       *)
         # In POSIX sh, ulimit -n is undefined. That's why the result is checked to see if it worked.
-        # shellcheck disable=SC3045 
+        # shellcheck disable=SC2039,SC3045
         ulimit -n "$MAX_FD" ||
             warn "Could not set maximum file descriptor limit to $MAX_FD"
     esac
@@ -197,11 +200,15 @@ if "$cygwin" || "$msys" ; then
     done
 fi
 
-# Collect all arguments for the java command;
-#   * $DEFAULT_JVM_OPTS, $JAVA_OPTS, and $GRADLE_OPTS can contain fragments of
-#     shell script including quotes and variable substitutions, so put them in
-#     double quotes to make sure that they get re-expanded; and
-#   * put everything else in single quotes, so that it's not re-expanded.
+
+# Add default JVM options here. You can also use JAVA_OPTS and GRADLE_OPTS to pass JVM options to this script.
+DEFAULT_JVM_OPTS='"-Xmx64m" "-Xms64m"'
+
+# Collect all arguments for the java command:
+#   * DEFAULT_JVM_OPTS, JAVA_OPTS, and optsEnvironmentVar are not allowed to contain shell fragments,
+#     and any embedded shellness will be escaped.
+#   * For example: A user cannot expect ${Hostname} to be expanded, as it is an environment variable and will be
+#     treated as '${Hostname}' itself on the command line.
 
 set -- \
         "-Dorg.gradle.appname=$APP_BASE_NAME" \
diff --git a/gradlew.bat b/gradlew.bat
index 6689b85..9b42019 100644
--- a/gradlew.bat
+++ b/gradlew.bat
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@
 @rem See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 @rem limitations under the License.
 @rem
+@rem SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+@rem
 
 @if "%DEBUG%"=="" @echo off
 @rem ##########################################################################
@@ -43,11 +45,11 @@ set JAVA_EXE=java.exe
 %JAVA_EXE% -version >NUL 2>&1
 if %ERRORLEVEL% equ 0 goto execute
 
-echo.
-echo ERROR: JAVA_HOME is not set and no 'java' command could be found in your PATH.
-echo.
-echo Please set the JAVA_HOME variable in your environment to match the
-echo location of your Java installation.
+echo. 1>&2
+echo ERROR: JAVA_HOME is not set and no 'java' command could be found in your PATH. 1>&2
+echo. 1>&2
+echo Please set the JAVA_HOME variable in your environment to match the 1>&2
+echo location of your Java installation. 1>&2
 
 goto fail
 
@@ -57,11 +59,11 @@ set JAVA_EXE=%JAVA_HOME%/bin/java.exe
 
 if exist "%JAVA_EXE%" goto execute
 
-echo.
-echo ERROR: JAVA_HOME is set to an invalid directory: %JAVA_HOME%
-echo.
-echo Please set the JAVA_HOME variable in your environment to match the
-echo location of your Java installation.
+echo. 1>&2
+echo ERROR: JAVA_HOME is set to an invalid directory: %JAVA_HOME% 1>&2
+echo. 1>&2
+echo Please set the JAVA_HOME variable in your environment to match the 1>&2
+echo location of your Java installation. 1>&2
 
 goto fail
 
diff --git a/utils/build.gradle b/utils/build.gradle
index 8befda7..0ed0960 100644
--- a/utils/build.gradle
+++ b/utils/build.gradle
@@ -71,22 +71,24 @@ android {
 
 dependencies {
     // Android
-    implementation "androidx.appcompat:appcompat:$rootProject.ext.androidxAppCompatVersion"
+    // `api` as the API-class `PlaceholderNotificationBuilder` uses compat
+    api "androidx.appcompat:appcompat:$androidxAppCompatVersion"
 
     // Proto DataStore with MultiProcess support to store settings
-    implementation "androidx.datastore:datastore:${datastoreVersion}"
-    implementation  "com.google.protobuf:protobuf-javalite:${protobufVersion}"
+    // `api` as the API-class `AppSettings` uses datastore
+    api "androidx.datastore:datastore:$datastoreVersion"
+    implementation  "com.google.protobuf:protobuf-javalite:$protobufVersion"
 
     // Dependencies for instrumentation tests
-    androidTestImplementation "androidx.test.ext:junit:$rootProject.ext.junitVersion"
-    androidTestImplementation "androidx.test:rules:$rootProject.ext.rulesVersion"
+    androidTestImplementation "androidx.test.ext:junit:$junitVersion"
+    androidTestImplementation "androidx.test:rules:$rulesVersion"
 
     // Dependencies for local unit tests
-    testImplementation "androidx.test.ext:junit:$rootProject.ext.junitVersion"
-    testImplementation "org.mockito:mockito-core:$rootProject.ext.mockitoVersion"
+    testImplementation "androidx.test.ext:junit:$junitVersion"
+    testImplementation "org.mockito:mockito-core:$mockitoVersion"
     // Optional - For better debuggable asserts
-    testImplementation "org.hamcrest:hamcrest-all:$rootProject.ext.hamcrestVersion"
-    testImplementation "org.robolectric:robolectric:$rootProject.ext.robolectricVersion"
+    testImplementation "org.hamcrest:hamcrest:$hamcrestVersion"
+    testImplementation "org.robolectric:robolectric:$robolectricVersion"
 }
 
 // Required for Proto DataStore