Unable to merge dex - Android Studio 3.0.1

Question

Updated gradle and I guess that's what messed things up.

My gradle version is

build.gradle

// Top-level build file where you can add configuration options common to all sub-projects/modules.
buildscript {
    repositories {
        mavenCentral()
        google()
    }
    dependencies {
        classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:3.0.1'
    }
}

allprojects {
    repositories {
        mavenCentral()
        google()
    }
}

ext {
    compileSdkVersion = 22
    buildToolsVersion = "23.0.1"

    minSdkVersion = 14
    targetSdkVersion = 23
}

build.gradle inside of project ParseStarterProject

apply plugin: 'com.android.application'

android {
    compileSdkVersion 23
    buildToolsVersion '26.0.2'

    defaultConfig {
        applicationId "com.parse.starter"
        minSdkVersion rootProject.ext.minSdkVersion
        targetSdkVersion rootProject.ext.targetSdkVersion
        versionCode 1
        versionName "1.0"
        multiDexEnabled true
    }
    dexOptions {
        javaMaxHeapSize "4g"
    }
    buildTypes {
        release {
            minifyEnabled true
            proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
        }
    }
}

dependencies {
    implementation 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-maps:11.8.0'
    api 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:23.4.0'
    api 'com.parse.bolts:bolts-tasks:1.3.0'
    api 'com.parse:parse-android:1.13.0'
    api 'com.google.android.gms:play-services:9.4.0'
    compile 'com.android.support:multidex:1.0.0'
}

Edit: External Lib, please take a look, is this what's causing the issue?

Answer 1

Updating your google play services may help you. Latest is 11.8.0

com.google.android.gms:play-services:11.4.0

clean and rebuild your project