diff --git a/ReactAndroid/build.gradle b/ReactAndroid/build.gradle
index ee51e20d245488..ceeb44c1b2e431 100644
--- a/ReactAndroid/build.gradle
+++ b/ReactAndroid/build.gradle
@@ -380,10 +380,6 @@ task extractJNIFiles {
 android {
     compileSdkVersion 30
     ndkVersion ANDROID_NDK_VERSION
-    compileOptions {
-        sourceCompatibility(JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8)
-        targetCompatibility(JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8)
-    }
 
     defaultConfig {
         minSdkVersion(21)
diff --git a/ReactAndroid/src/main/third-party/java/robolectric/4.4/BUCK b/ReactAndroid/src/main/third-party/java/robolectric/BUCK
similarity index 100%
rename from ReactAndroid/src/main/third-party/java/robolectric/4.4/BUCK
rename to ReactAndroid/src/main/third-party/java/robolectric/BUCK
diff --git a/build.gradle.kts b/build.gradle.kts
index 42289d9ec80349..abb4545d012232 100644
--- a/build.gradle.kts
+++ b/build.gradle.kts
@@ -17,8 +17,8 @@ buildscript {
         }
     }
     dependencies {
-        classpath("com.android.tools.build:gradle:4.1.0")
-        classpath("de.undercouch:gradle-download-task:4.0.2")
+        classpath("com.android.tools.build:gradle:4.2.1")
+        classpath("de.undercouch:gradle-download-task:4.1.1")
 
         // NOTE: Do not place your application dependencies here; they belong
         // in the individual module build.gradle files
diff --git a/gradle.properties b/gradle.properties
index dd6698ad75bd27..0edb7925961a4c 100644
--- a/gradle.properties
+++ b/gradle.properties
@@ -5,3 +5,4 @@ org.gradle.jvmargs=-Xmx4g -XX:MaxPermSize=2048m -XX:+HeapDumpOnOutOfMemoryError
 org.gradle.parallel=true
 
 ANDROID_NDK_VERSION=20.1.5948944
+android.useAndroidX=true
diff --git a/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties b/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
index 8cf6eb5ad222e3..7665b0fa93ae75 100644
--- a/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
+++ b/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 distributionBase=GRADLE_USER_HOME
 distributionPath=wrapper/dists
-distributionUrl=https\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-6.8.3-all.zip
+distributionUrl=https\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-6.9-all.zip
 zipStoreBase=GRADLE_USER_HOME
 zipStorePath=wrapper/dists
diff --git a/packages/react-native-codegen/android/build.gradle b/packages/react-native-codegen/android/build.gradle
index b4b890df72d91b..06b18ac7454d7e 100644
--- a/packages/react-native-codegen/android/build.gradle
+++ b/packages/react-native-codegen/android/build.gradle
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ buildscript {
         }
     }
     dependencies {
-        classpath("com.android.tools.build:gradle:4.1.0")
+        classpath("com.android.tools.build:gradle:4.2.1")
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/packages/react-native-codegen/android/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties b/packages/react-native-codegen/android/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
index 14e30f7416a55e..7665b0fa93ae75 100644
--- a/packages/react-native-codegen/android/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
+++ b/packages/react-native-codegen/android/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 distributionBase=GRADLE_USER_HOME
 distributionPath=wrapper/dists
-distributionUrl=https\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-6.7-all.zip
+distributionUrl=https\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-6.9-all.zip
 zipStoreBase=GRADLE_USER_HOME
 zipStorePath=wrapper/dists
diff --git a/packages/react-native-codegen/android/gradlePlugin-build/gradlePlugin/build.gradle b/packages/react-native-codegen/android/gradlePlugin-build/gradlePlugin/build.gradle
index 5efb793d69f8a5..4d91d9968d2dd1 100644
--- a/packages/react-native-codegen/android/gradlePlugin-build/gradlePlugin/build.gradle
+++ b/packages/react-native-codegen/android/gradlePlugin-build/gradlePlugin/build.gradle
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ gradlePlugin {
 }
 
 dependencies {
-    implementation 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:4.1.0'
+    implementation 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:4.2.1'
     // Use the same Gson version that `com.android.tools.build:gradle` depends on.
     implementation 'com.google.code.gson:gson:2.8.5'
     implementation 'com.google.guava:guava:29.0-jre'
diff --git a/packages/react-native-gradle-plugin/build.gradle.kts b/packages/react-native-gradle-plugin/build.gradle.kts
index 3c1a47a49bb682..dedcf4f9eb880e 100644
--- a/packages/react-native-gradle-plugin/build.gradle.kts
+++ b/packages/react-native-gradle-plugin/build.gradle.kts
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 plugins {
   `java-gradle-plugin`
   `kotlin-dsl`
-  kotlin("jvm") version "1.4.21"
+  kotlin("jvm") version "1.4.20"
 }
 
 repositories {
@@ -26,5 +26,5 @@ gradlePlugin {
 }
 
 dependencies {
-  implementation("com.android.tools.build:gradle:4.1.0")
+  implementation("com.android.tools.build:gradle:4.2.1")
 }
diff --git a/packages/rn-tester/android/app/build.gradle b/packages/rn-tester/android/app/build.gradle
index 3af20011187745..6597a0ecdf0f4b 100644
--- a/packages/rn-tester/android/app/build.gradle
+++ b/packages/rn-tester/android/app/build.gradle
@@ -131,10 +131,7 @@ def useIntlJsc = false
 android {
     compileSdkVersion 29
     ndkVersion ANDROID_NDK_VERSION
-    compileOptions {
-        sourceCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
-        targetCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
-    }
+
     dexOptions {
         javaMaxHeapSize "4g"
     }
diff --git a/template/android/app/build.gradle b/template/android/app/build.gradle
index f75c160968e7eb..3e76ea0e075e8b 100644
--- a/template/android/app/build.gradle
+++ b/template/android/app/build.gradle
@@ -125,11 +125,6 @@ android {
 
     compileSdkVersion rootProject.ext.compileSdkVersion
 
-    compileOptions {
-        sourceCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
-        targetCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
-    }
-
     defaultConfig {
         applicationId "com.helloworld"
         minSdkVersion rootProject.ext.minSdkVersion
diff --git a/template/android/build.gradle b/template/android/build.gradle
index ac4d64714c0bfb..95d0ed393e086a 100644
--- a/template/android/build.gradle
+++ b/template/android/build.gradle
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ buildscript {
         jcenter()
     }
     dependencies {
-        classpath("com.android.tools.build:gradle:4.1.0")
+        classpath("com.android.tools.build:gradle:4.2.1")
         // NOTE: Do not place your application dependencies here; they belong
         // in the individual module build.gradle files
     }
diff --git a/template/android/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties b/template/android/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
index 8cf6eb5ad222e3..7665b0fa93ae75 100644
--- a/template/android/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
+++ b/template/android/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 distributionBase=GRADLE_USER_HOME
 distributionPath=wrapper/dists
-distributionUrl=https\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-6.8.3-all.zip
+distributionUrl=https\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-6.9-all.zip
 zipStoreBase=GRADLE_USER_HOME
 zipStorePath=wrapper/dists
diff --git a/tools/build_defs/oss/rn_defs.bzl b/tools/build_defs/oss/rn_defs.bzl
index 515f938b239beb..86d6f4cf28ac33 100644
--- a/tools/build_defs/oss/rn_defs.bzl
+++ b/tools/build_defs/oss/rn_defs.bzl
@@ -216,8 +216,8 @@ def rn_robolectric_test(name, srcs, vm_args = None, *args, **kwargs):
         "-XX:+UseConcMarkSweepGC",  # required by -XX:+CMSClassUnloadingEnabled
         "-XX:+CMSClassUnloadingEnabled",
         "-XX:ReservedCodeCacheSize=150M",
-        "-Drobolectric.dependency.dir=buck-out/gen/ReactAndroid/src/main/third-party/java/robolectric/4.4",
-        "-Dlibraries=buck-out/gen/ReactAndroid/src/main/third-party/java/robolectric/4.4/*.jar",
+        "-Drobolectric.dependency.dir=buck-out/gen/ReactAndroid/src/main/third-party/java/robolectric",
+        "-Dlibraries=buck-out/gen/ReactAndroid/src/main/third-party/java/robolectric/*.jar",
         "-Drobolectric.logging.enabled=true",
         "-XX:MaxPermSize=620m",
         "-Drobolectric.offline=true",