The processing instruction target matching "[xX][mM][lL]" is not allowed

If you get the following error in your AndroidManifest.xml, especially when you copy and paste from web:
Parser exception for /.../AndroidManifest.xml: The processing instruction target matching "[xX][mM][lL]" is not allowed.

Most probably there are some character exists before the <?xml ?> declaration, visible or invisible. Make sure delete anything before <?xml ?>, or even delete the whole line and re-type manually.

check the video demo: