Is using Proguard with Android worth the effort?

I am about to finish my first Android application and I am trying to work out how to protect it with ProGuard. My apps minimum API is 7 (Android 2.1). I believe using Proguard would be easy if I set my minimum API to 9 (Android 2.3) but as a lot of devices use 2.1 and 2.2 I don't want to exclude them.

Everything I have read about using Proguard with Android seems confusing and difficult (I dont know anything abo开发者_运维百科ut Ant scripts) Does anyone know of a step-by-step guide for using Proguard for Android with Eclipse?

Is Proguard even worth bothering with?

ProGuard has nothing to do with the API level of your app. Newer versions of the Eclipse ADT have it integrated, so using it is just a matter of adding a single line to a configuration file, you don't need to use Ant. You might get some problems if ProGurad removes methods/classes you are actually using, and you will have to work around those by tweaking the ProGurad config file.

If you find it difficult to use, you can always launch your app without obfuscating it, and add ProGuard in a later version. If it is your first app, the chances of someone decompiling it to steal your super-secret code are pretty low :)