Now in Android #107
Google @ KotlinConf, Android Studio updates, I/O recaps, AndroidX updates, and more.
Welcome to Now in Android, your ongoing guide to what’s new and notable in the world of Android development. In this episode we’ll cover Google @ KotlinConf, Android Studio updates, I/O recaps, AndroidX updates, and more!
Most of the content of this post is available in the form of a video or podcast, so feel free to watch or listen rather than read on. (Or do all three to help you remember! There won’t be a quiz.)
Announcements 📣
KotlinConf happened on May 22nd. Did you miss a Kotlin announcement?
Check out the blog post Google @ KotlinConf 2024: A Look Inside Multiplatform Development with KMP and more from Murat. This covered Google’s recent contributions to the Kotlin ecosystem, such as Jetpack library support, tooling, and most importantly, Kotlin Multiplatform! You can also find lessons learned and the current state of Google Workspace’s ongoing migration to KMP.
We released Android Studio Jellyfish | 2023.3.1 Patch 2. This update fixes a security vulnerability in the GitHub plugin, which could expose access tokens to unauthorized parties. We highly recommend you to update your Android Studio immediately, if you’re currently using Android Studio Iguana | 2023.2.1 or higher.
We also released the second Release Candidate of Android Studio Koala | 2024.1.1. As you learned from your experiences, if we don’t find a significant issue with that, we would publish the stable release soon.
Ah, do you want to know when we are going to release the stable version? Very soon. ;)
Android Developers blog 📝
A Developer’s Roadmap to Predictive Back (Views)
As a developer you may want to implement the latest UI feature in your app. But, where should you start with and what do you need to know before that? Ash & Tram shed light on various dependencies and requirements to support predictive back animations in your views based app.
Android Device Streaming, powered by Firebase, is now in Beta
Let’s say you want to test your adaptive app layouts on the Google Pixel Fold, but you don’t have one. To address this use case, we created Android Device Streaming, powered by Firebase. With just a few clicks, you can access real physical devices, such as the latest Pixel and Samsung devices. Furthermore, you can use them to run and debug your app in the Android Studio.
#WeArePlay | How Zülal is using AI to help people with low vision
Check out this fascinating story of Zülal, who lost her sight completely at 10 years old, and is the founder of FYE. Her team made an app to provide personalized AI assistants to low vision users.
Enabling safe AI experiences on Google Play
We are providing guidance to help developers enhance the quality and safety of AI-powered apps, and contribute to a thriving and responsible app ecosystem on Google Play. See our updates on Play policies.
Top 3 Updates with Compose across Form Factors at Google I/O ‘24
During I/O 24, we introduced new features to implement optimized user experiences across various form factors. Chris introduces the top 3 announcements around Jetpack Compose and Form Factors.
Developers for adidas CONFIRMED build features 30% faster using Jetpack Compose
adidas team migrated more than 80% of their app’s UI to Jetpack Compose. They were able to build features 30% faster. Thanks to the improved productivity and timely introduction of new features, the app’s weekly active users increased by 8%.
Videos💡
Trying to understand what’s new with a specific area of Android? Check out the following short YouTube videos:
Top 3 updates for building excellent apps at Google I/O ’24 In this short video, Tram introduces 3 essential updates on Android platform.
Top 3 updates for building with AI on Android at Google I/O ’24 Terence gives you a short recap of top 3 updates for AI on Android.
AndroidX Releases 🚀
We had several exciting new libraries and features launched in Android Jetpack:
The stable release of WindowManager 1.3.0 now supports KMP! Also, it introduces convenient APIs to create Window Size Class and support testing.
We’ve just released the first stable version of Graphics Core AndroidX library! Why is this important? This provides APIs to support low latency use cases such as stylus input.
[Jetpack Compose 1.7.0-beta02]
The promotion of Jetpack Compose 1.7.0 is around the corner! Compose engineering team worked hard to fix remaining bugs with this beta 2 release. Now is a very good time to evaluate the new version of Compose, and be impressed by even further improvements on performance!
Check out the initial release of Jetpack Credential Manager 1.5.0-alpha01. This introduces new APIs to request to get a user credential with a given view. For example, with these new APIs you can implement autofill-like secondary UI experience on a username or a password field.]
Check out the long-awaited update of Jetpack Biometric library. In Biometric Version 1.4.0-alpha01, we updated UI to be consistent with platform changes in Android 15. You can evaluate the changes with Android 15 beta 2 we released recently.]
We also updated Test Core Version 1.6.0-rc01 along with other 9 testing libraries. You might notice there was no significant change since beta01, (psst) which may suggest Google would promote all testing libraries soon. So, stay tuned!
Now then… 👋
That’s it for this week with Google @ KotlinConf, Android Studio updates, AndroidX and more!
Check back soon for your next update from the Android developer universe! 💫
