Google I/O 2025: What’s new in Android development tools

Posted by Mayank Jain – Product Manager, Android Studio

Android Studio continues to advance Android development by empowering developers to build better app experiences, faster. Our focus has been on improving AI-driven functionality with Gemini, streamlining UI creation and testing, and helping you future-proof apps for the evolving Android ecosystem. These innovations accelerate development cycles, improve app quality, and help you stay ahead in the fast-paced world of mobile development.

You can check out the What’s new in Android Developer Tools session at Google I/O 2025 to see some of the new features in action or better yet, try them out yourself by downloading Android Studio Narwhal Feature Drop (2025.2.1) in the preview release channel. Here’s a look at our latest developments:

Get the latest Gemini 2.5 Pro model in Android Studio

The power of artificial intelligence through Gemini is now deeply integrated into Android Studio, helping you at all stages of Android app development. Now with access to Gemini 2.5 Pro, we're continuing to look for new ways to use AI to supercharge Android development — and help you build better app experiences, faster.

Journeys for Android Studio

We’re also introducing agentic AI with Gemini in Android Studio.Testing your app is now much easier when you create journeys - just describe the actions and assertions in natural language for the user journeys you want to test, and Gemini performs the tests for you. Creating journeys lets you test your app’s critical user journeys across various devices without writing extensive code. You can then run these tests on local physical or virtual Android devices to validate that the test worked as intended by reviewing detailed results directly within the IDE. Although the feature is experimental, the goal is to increase the speed that you can ship high-quality code, while significantly reducing the amount of time you spend manually testing, validating, or reproducing issues.

moving image of Gemini testing an app in Android Studio
Journeys for Android Studio uses Gemini to test your app.


Suggested fixes for crashes with Gemini

The App Quality Insights panel has a great new feature. The crash insights now analyzes your app's source code referenced from the crash, and not only offers a comprehensive analysis and explanation of the crash, in some cases it even offers a source fix! With just a few clicks, you are able to review the changes, accept the code suggestions, and push the changes to your source control. Now you can determine the root cause of a crash and fix it much faster!

screenshot of crash analysis with Gemini in Android Studio
Crash analysis with Gemini

AI features in Studio Labs (stable releases only)

We’ve heard feedback that developers want to access AI features in stable channels as soon as possible. You can now discover and try out the latest AI experimental features through the Studio Labs menu in the Settings menu starting with Narwhal stable release. You can get a first look at AI experiments, share your feedback, and help us bring them into the IDE you use everyday. Go to the Studio Labs tab in Settings and enable the features you would like to start using. These AI features are automatically enabled in canary releases and no action is required.

screenshot of AI features in Studio Labs
AI features in Studio Labs

    • Compose preview generation with Gemini

      • Gemini can automatically generate Jetpack Compose preview code saving you time and effort. You can access this feature by right-clicking within a composable and navigating to Gemini > Generate Compose Preview or Generate Compose Preview for this file, or by clicking the link in an empty preview panel. The generated preview code is presented in a diff view that enables you to quickly accept, edit, or reject the suggestions, providing a faster way to visualize your composables.

      moving image of compose preview generation with gemini in Android Studio
      Compose Preview generation with Gemini

    • Transform UI with Gemini

      • You can now transform UI code within the Compose Preview environment using natural language directly in the preview. To use it, right click in the Compose Preview and select "Transform UI With Gemini". Then enter your natural language requests, such as "Center align these buttons," to guide Gemini in adjusting your layout or styling, or select specific UI elements in the preview for better context. Gemini will then edit your Compose UI code in place, which you can review and approve, speeding up the UI development workflow.

      side by side screenshots showing transforming UI with Gemini in Android Studio
      Transform UI with Gemini

    • Image attachment in Gemini

      • You can now attach image files and provide additional information along with your prompt. For example: you can attach UI mock-ups or screenshots to tell Gemini context about your app’s layout. Consequently, Gemini can generate Compose code based on a provided image, or explain the composables and data flow of a UI screenshot.

      screenshot of image atteachment and preview generation via Gemini in Android Studio
      Image attachment and preview generation via Gemini in Android Studio

    • @File context in Gemini

      • You can now attach your project files as context in chat interactions with Gemini in Android Studio. This lets you quickly reference files in your prompts for Gemini. In the Gemini chat input, type @ to bring up a file completion menu and select files to attach. You can also click the Context drop-down to see which files were automatically attached by Gemini. This gives you more control over the context sent to Gemini.

      screenshot of @File context in Gemini in Android Studio
      @File context in Gemini

Rules in Prompt Library

Rules in Gemini let you define preferred coding styles or output formats within the Prompt Library. You can also mention your preferred tech stack and languages. When you set these preferences once, they are automatically applied to all subsequent prompts sent to Gemini. Rules help the AI understand project standards and preferences for more accurate and tailored code assistance. For example, you can create a rule such as “Always give me concise responses in Kotlin.”

prompt library in Android Studio
Prompt Library Improvements

Gemini in Android Studio for businesses

Gemini in Android Studio for businesses is now available. It provides all the benefits of Gemini in Android Studio, plus enterprise-grade privacy and security features backed by Google Cloud — giving your team the confidence they need to deploy AI at scale while keeping their data protected.

Developers and admins can unlock these features and benefits by subscribing to Gemini Code Assist Standard or Enterprise editions. Discover the full list of Gemini in Android for business features available for your organization.

Improved tools for creating great user experiences

Elevate your Compose UI development with the latest Android Studio enhancements.

Compose preview improvements

Compose preview interaction is now more efficient with the latest navigation improvements. Click on the preview name to jump to the preview definition or click the individual component to jump to the function where it’s defined. Hover states provide immediate visual feedback as you mouse over a preview frame. Improved keyboard arrow navigation eases movement through multiple previews, enabling faster UI iteration and refinement. Additionally, the Compose preview picker is now also available in the stable release.

moving image of compose preview navigation improvements in Android Studio
Compose preview navigation improvements

Compose preview picker in Android Studio
Compose preview picker

Resizable Previews

While in Compose Preview’s focus mode in Android Studio, you can now resize the preview window by dragging its edges. This gives you instant visual feedback on how your UI adapts to different screen sizes, ensuring responsiveness and visual consistency. This rapid iteration helps create UIs that look great on any Android device.

ALT TEXT
Resizable Preview

Embedded Android XR Emulator

The Android XR Emulator now launches by default in the embedded state. You can now deploy your application, navigate the 3D space and use the Layout Inspector directly inside Android Studio, streamlining your development flow.

Embedded XR emulator in Android Studio
Embedded XR Emulator

Improved tools for future-proofing and testing your Android apps

We’ve enhanced some of your favorite features so that you can test more confidently, future-proof your apps, and ensure app compatibility across a wide range of devices and Android versions.

Streamlined testing with Backup and Restore support

Android Studio offers built-in Backup and Restore support by letting you trigger app backups on connected devices directly from the Running Devices window. You can also configure your Run/Debug settings to automatically restore from a previous backup when launching your app. This simplifies the process of validating your app's Backup and Restore implementation and speeds up development by reducing manual setup for testing.

Streamlined testing with backup and restore support in Android Studio
Streamlined testing with Backup and Restore support

Android’s transition to 16 KB Page Size

The underlying architecture of Android is evolving, and a key step forward is the transition to 16 KB page sizes. This fundamental change requires all Android apps with native code or dependencies to be recompiled for compatibility. To help you navigate this transition smoothly, Android Studio now offers proactive warnings when building APKs or Android App Bundles that are incompatible with 16 KB devices. Using the APK Analyzer, you can also find out which libraries are incompatible with 16 KB devices. To test your apps in this new environment, a dedicated 16 KB emulator target is also available in Android Studio alongside existing 4 KB images.

Android’s transition to 16 KB page size in Android Studio
Android’s transition to 16 KB page size

Backup and Sync your Studio settings

When you sign in with your Google account or a JetBrains account in Android Studio, you can now sync your customizations and preferences across all installs and restore preferences automatically on remote Android Studio instances. Simply select “Enable Backup and Sync” while you’re logging in to Android Studio, or from the Settings > Backup and Sync page, and follow the prompts.

Backup and sync settings in Android Studio
Backup and Sync your Studio settings

Increasing developer productivity with Android’s Kotlin Multiplatform improvements

Kotlin Multiplatform (KMP) enables teams to reach new audiences across Android and iOS with less development time. Usage has been growing in the developer community, with apps such as Google Docs now using it in production. We’ve released new Android Studio KMP project templates, updated Jetpack libraries and new codelabs (Get Started with KMP and Migrate Existing Apps to Room KMP) to help developers who are looking to get started with KMP.

Experimental and features that are coming soon to Android Studio

Android Studio Cloud (experimental)

Android Studio Cloud is now available as an experimental public preview, accessible through Firebase Studio. This service streams a Linux virtual machine running Android Studio directly to your web browser, enabling Android application development from anywhere with an internet connection. Get started quickly with dedicated workspaces featuring pre-downloaded Android SDK components. Explore sample projects or seamlessly access your existing Android app projects from GitHub without a local installation. Please note that Android Studio Cloud is currently in an experimental phase. Features and capabilities are subject to significant change, and users may encounter known limitations.

Android Studio Cloud

Version Upgrade Agent (coming soon)

The Version Upgrade Agent, as part of Gemini in Android Studio, is designed to save you time and effort by automating your dependency upgrades. It intelligently analyzes your Android project, parses the release notes for included libraries, and proposes updates directly from your libs.versions.toml file or the refactoring menu (right-click > Refactor > Update dependencies). The agent automatically updates dependencies to the latest compatible version, builds the project, fixes any errors, and repeats until all errors are fixed. Once the dependencies are upgraded, the agent generates a report showing the changes it made, as well as a high level summary highlighting the changes included in the updated libraries.

Version updgrade agent in Android Studio
Version Upgrade Agent

Agent Mode (coming soon)

Agent Mode is a new autonomous AI feature using Gemini, designed to handle complex, multi-stage development tasks that go beyond typical AI assistant capabilities, invoking multiple tools to accomplish tasks on your behalf.

You can describe a complex goal, like integrating a new API, and the agent will formulate an execution plan that spans across files in your project — adding necessary dependencies, editing files, and iteratively fixing bugs. This feature aims to empower all developers to tackle intricate challenges and accelerate the building and prototyping process. You can access it via the Gemini chat window in Android Studio.

Agent Mode in Android Studio
Agent Mode

Play Policy Insights beta in Android Studio (coming soon)

Android Studio now includes richer insights and guidance on Google Play policies that might impact your app. This information, available as lint checks, helps you build safer apps from the start, preventing issues that could disrupt your launch process and cost more time and resources to fix later on. These lint checks will present an overview of the policy, do and don’ts, and links to Play policy pages where you can find more information about the policy.

Play Policy Insights beta in Android Studio
Play Policy Insights beta in Android Studio

IntelliJ Platform Update (2025.1)

Here are some important IDE improvements in the IntelliJ IDEA 2025.1 platform release

    • Kotlin K2 mode: Android Studio now supports Kotlin K2 mode in Android-specific features requiring language support such as Live Edit, Compose Preview and many more

    • Improved dependency resolution in Kotlin build scripts: Makes your Kotlin build scripts for Android projects more stable and predictable

    • Hints about code alterations by Kotlin compiler plugins: Gives you clearer insights into how plugins used in Android development modify your Kotlin code

    • Automatic download of library sources for Gradle projects: Simplifies debugging and understanding your Android project dependencies by providing immediate access to their source code

    • Support for Gradle Daemon toolchains: Helps prevent potential JVM errors during your Android project builds and ensures smoother synchronization

    • Automatic plugin updates: Keeps your Android development tools within IntelliJ IDEA up-to-date effortlessly

To Summarize

Android Studio Narwhal Feature Drop (2025.2.1) is now available in the Android Studio canary channel with some amazing features to help your Android development

AI-powered development tools for Android

    • Journeys for Android Studio: Validate app flows easily using tests and assertions in natural language
    • Suggested fixes for crashes with Gemini: Determine the root cause of a crash and fix it much faster with Gemini
    • AI features in Studio Labs
        • Compose preview generation with Gemini: Generate Compose previews with Gemini's code suggestions
        • Transform UI with Gemini: Transform UI in Compose Preview with natural language, speeding development
        • Image attachment in Gemini: Attach images to Gemini for context-aware code generation
        • @File context in Gemini: Reference project files in Gemini chats for quick AI prompts
    • Rules in Prompt Library: Define preferred coding styles or output formats within the Prompt Library

Improved tools for creating great user experiences

    • Compose preview improvements: Navigate the Compose Preview using clickable names and components
    • Resizable preview: Instantly see how your Compose UI adapts to different screen sizes
    • Embedded XR Emulator: XR Emulator now launches by default in the embedded state

Improved tools for future-proofing and testing your Android apps

    • Streamlined testing with Backup and Restore support: Effortless app testing, trigger backups, auto-restore for faster validation
    • Android’s transition to 16 KB Page Size: Prepare for Android's 16KB page size with Studio's early warnings and testing
    • Backup and Sync your Studio settings: Sync Android Studio settings across devices and restore automatically for convenience
    • Increasing developer productivity with Android’s Kotlin Multiplatform improvements: simplified cross-platform Android and iOS development with new tools

Experimental and features that are coming soon to Android Studio

    • Android Studio Cloud (experimental): Develop Android apps from any browser with just an internet connection
    • Version Upgrade Agent (coming soon): Automated dependency updates save time and effort, ensuring projects stay current
    • Agent Mode (coming soon): Empowering developers to tackle multistage complex tasks that go beyond typical AI assistant capabilities
    • Play Policy Insights beta in Android Studio (coming soon): Insights and guidance on Google Play policies that might impact your app

How to get started

Ready to try the exciting new features in Android Studio?

You can download the canary version of Android Studio Narwhal Feature Drop (2025.1.2) today to incorporate these new features into your workflow or try the latest AI features using Studio Labs in the stable version of Android Studio Meerkat. You can also install them side by side by following these instructions.

As always, your feedback is important to us – check known issues, report bugs, suggest improvements, and be part of our vibrant community on LinkedIn Medium, YouTube, or X. Let's build the future of Android apps together!

Explore this announcement and all Google I/O 2025 updates on io.google starting May 22.


Updates to the Android XR SDK: Introducing Developer Preview 2

Posted by Matthew McCullough – VP of Product Management, Android Developer

Since launching the Android XR SDK Developer Preview alongside Samsung, Qualcomm, and Unity last year, we’ve been blown away by all of the excitement we’ve been hearing from the broader Android community. Whether it's through coding live-streams or local Google Developer Group talks, it's been an outstanding experience participating in the community to build the future of XR together, and we're just getting started.

Today we’re excited to share an update to the Android XR SDK: Developer Preview 2, packed with new features and improvements to help you develop helpful and delightful immersive experiences with familiar Android APIs, tools and open standards created for XR.

At Google I/O, we have two technical sessions related to Android XR. The first is Building differentiated apps for Android XR with 3D content, which covers many features present in Jetpack SceneCore and ARCore for Jetpack XR. The future is now, with Compose and AI on Android XR covers creating XR-differentiated UI and our vision on the intersection of XR with cutting-edge AI capabilities.

Android XR sessions at Google I/O 2025
Building differentiated apps for Android XR with 3D content and The future is now, with Compose and AI on Android XR

What’s new in Developer Preview 2

Since the release of Developer Preview 1, we’ve been focused on making the APIs easier to use and adding new immersive Android XR features. Your feedback has helped us shape the development of the tools, SDKs, and the platform itself.

With the Jetpack XR SDK, you can now play back 180° and 360° videos, which can be stereoscopic by encoding with the MV-HEVC specification or by encoding view-frames adjacently. The MV-HEVC standard is optimized and designed for stereoscopic video, allowing your app to efficiently play back immersive videos at great quality. Apps built with Jetpack Compose for XR can use the SpatialExternalSurface composable to render media, including stereoscopic videos.

Using Jetpack Compose for XR, you can now also define layouts that adapt to different XR display configurations. For example, use a SubspaceModifier to specify the size of a Subspace as a percentage of the device’s recommended viewing size, so a panel effortlessly fills the space it's positioned in.

Material Design for XR now supports more component overrides for TopAppBar, AlertDialog, and ListDetailPaneScaffold, helping your large-screen enabled apps that use Material Design effortlessly adapt to the new world of XR.

An app adapts to XR using Material Design for XR with the new component overrides
An app adapts to XR using Material Design for XR with the new component overrides

In ARCore for Jetpack XR, you can now track hands after requesting the appropriate permissions. Hands are a collection of 26 posed hand joints that can be used to detect hand gestures and bring a whole new level of interaction to your Android XR apps:

moving image demonstrates how hands bring a natural input method to your Android XR experience.
Hands bring a natural input method to your Android XR experience.

For more guidance on developing apps for Android XR, check out our Android XR Fundamentals codelab, the updates to our Hello Android XR sample project, and a new version of JetStream with Android XR support.

The Android XR Emulator has also received updates to stability, support for AMD GPUs, and is now fully integrated within the Android Studio UI.

the Android XR Emulator in Android STudio
The Android XR Emulator is now integrated in Android Studio

Developers using Unity have already successfully created and ported existing games and apps to Android XR. Today, you can upgrade to the Pre-Release version 2 of the Unity OpenXR: Android XR package! This update adds many performance improvements such as support for Dynamic Refresh Rate, which optimizes your app’s performance and power consumption. Shaders made with Shader Graph now support SpaceWarp, making it easier to use SpaceWarp to reduce compute load on the device. Hand meshes are now exposed with occlusion, which enables realistic hand visualization.

Check out Unity’s improved Mixed Reality template for Android XR, which now includes support for occlusion and persistent anchors.

We recently launched Android XR Samples for Unity, which demonstrate capabilities on the Android XR platform such as hand tracking, plane tracking, face tracking, and passthrough.

moving image of Google’s open-source Unity samples demonstrating platform features and showing how they’re implemented
Google’s open-source Unity samples demonstrate platform features and show how they’re implemented

The Firebase AI Logic for Unity is now in public preview! This makes it easy for you to integrate gen AI into your apps, enabling the creation of AI-powered experiences with Gemini and Android XR. The Firebase AI Logic fully supports Gemini's capabilities, including multimodal input and output, and bi-directional streaming for immersive conversational interfaces. Built with production readiness in mind, Firebase AI Logic is integrated with core Firebase services like App Check, Remote Config, and Cloud Storage for enhanced security, configurability, and data management. Learn more about this on the Firebase blog or go straight to the Gemini API using Vertex AI in Firebase SDK documentation to get started.

Continuing to build the future together

Our commitment to open standards continues with the glTF Interactivity specification, in collaboration with the Khronos Group. which will be supported in glTF models rendered by Jetpack XR later this year. Models using the glTF Interactivity specification are self-contained interactive assets that can have many pre-programmed behaviors, like rotating objects on a button press or changing the color of a material over time.

Android XR will be available first on Samsung’s Project Moohan, launching later this year. Soon after, our partners at XREAL will release the next Android XR device. Codenamed Project Aura, it’s a portable and tethered device that gives users access to their favorite Android apps, including those that have been built for XR. It will launch as a developer edition, specifically for you to begin creating and experimenting. The best news? With the familiar tools you use to build Android apps today, you can build for these devices too.

product image of XREAL’s Project Aura against a nebulous black background
XREAL’s Project Aura

The Google Play Store is also getting ready for Android XR. It will list supported 2D Android apps on the Android XR Play Store when it launches later this year. If you are working on an Android XR differentiated app, you can get it ready for the big launch and be one of the first differentiated apps on the Android XR Play Store:

And we know many of you are excited for the future of Android XR on glasses. We are shaping the developer experience now and will share more details on how you can participate later this year.

To get started creating and developing for Android XR, check out developer.android.com/develop/xr where you will find all of the tools, libraries, and resources you need to work with the Android XR SDK. In particular, try out our samples and codelabs.

We welcome your feedback, suggestions, and ideas as you’re helping shape Android XR. Your passion, expertise, and bold ideas are vital as we continue to develop Android XR together. We look forward to seeing your XR-differentiated apps when Android XR devices launch later this year!

Explore this announcement and all Google I/O 2025 updates on io.google starting May 22.


Announcing Jetpack Navigation 3

Posted by Don Turner - Developer Relations Engineer

Navigating between screens in your app should be simple, shouldn't it? However, building a robust, scalable, and delightful navigation experience can be a challenge. For years, the Jetpack Navigation library has been a key tool for developers, but as the Android UI landscape has evolved, particularly with the rise of Jetpack Compose, we recognized the need for a new approach.

Today, we're excited to introduce Jetpack Navigation 3, a new navigation library built from the ground up specifically for Compose. For brevity, we'll just call it Nav3 from now on. This library embraces the declarative programming model and Compose state as fundamental building blocks.

Why a new navigation library?

The original Jetpack Navigation library (sometimes referred to as Nav2 as it's on major version 2) was initially announced back in 2018, before AndroidX and before Compose. While it served its original goals well, we heard from you that it had several limitations when working with modern Compose patterns.

One key limitation was that the back stack state could only be observed indirectly. This meant there could be two sources of truth, potentially leading to an inconsistent application state. Also, Nav2's NavHost was designed to display only a single destination – the topmost one on the back stack – filling the available space. This made it difficult to implement adaptive layouts that display multiple panes of content simultaneously, such as a list-detail layout on large screens.

illustration of single pane and two-pane layouts showing list and detail features
Figure 1. Changing from single pane to multi-pane layouts can create navigational challenges

Founding principles

Nav3 is built upon principles designed to provide greater flexibility and developer control:

    • You own the back stack: You, the developer, not the library, own and control the back stack. It's a simple list which is backed by Compose state. Specifically, Nav3 expects your back stack to be SnapshotStateList<T> where T can be any type you choose. You can navigate by adding or removing items (Ts), and state changes are observed and reflected by Nav3's UI.
    • Get out of your way: We heard that you don't like a navigation library to be a black box with inaccessible internal components and state. Nav3 is designed to be open and extensible, providing you with building blocks and helpful defaults. If you want custom navigation behavior you can drop down to lower layers and create your own components and customizations.
    • Pick your building blocks: Instead of embedding all behavior within the library, Nav3 offers smaller components that you can combine to create more complex functionality. We've also provided a "recipes book" that shows how to combine components to solve common navigation challenges.

illustration of the Nav3 display observing changes to the developer-owned back stack
Figure 2. The Nav3 display observes changes to the developer-owned back stack.

Key features

    • Adaptive layouts: A flexible layout API (named Scenes) allows you to render multiple destinations in the same layout (for example, a list-detail layout on large screen devices). This makes it easy to switch between single and multi-pane layouts.
    • Modularity: The API design allows navigation code to be split across multiple modules. This improves build times and allows clear separation of responsibilities between feature modules.

      moving image demonstrating custom animations and predictive back features on a mobile device
      Figure 3. Custom animations and predictive back are easy to implement, and easy to override for individual destinations.

      Basic code example

      To give you an idea of how Nav3 works, here's a short code sample.

      // Define the routes in your app and any arguments.
data object Home
data class Product(val id: String)

// Create a back stack, specifying the route the app should start with.
val backStack = remember { mutableStateListOf<Any>(ProductList) }

// A NavDisplay displays your back stack. Whenever the back stack changes, the display updates.
NavDisplay(
    backStack = backStack,

    // Specify what should happen when the user goes back
    onBack = { backStack.removeLastOrNull() },

    // An entry provider converts a route into a NavEntry which contains the content for that route.
    entryProvider = { route ->
        when (route) {
            is Home -> NavEntry(route) {
                Column {
                    Text("Welcome to Nav3")
                    Button(onClick = {
                        // To navigate to a new route, just add that route to the back stack
                        backStack.add(Product("123"))
                    }) {
                        Text("Click to navigate")
                    }
                }
            }
            is Product -> NavEntry(route) {
                Text("Product ${route.id} ")
            }
            else -> NavEntry(Unit) { Text("Unknown route: $route") }
        }
    }
)

      Get started and provide feedback

      To get started, check out the developer documentation, plus the recipes repository which provides examples for:

        • common navigation UI, such as a navigation rail or bar
        • conditional navigation, such as a login flow
        • custom layouts using Scenes

      We plan to provide code recipes, documentation and blogs for more complex use cases in future.

      Nav3 is currently in alpha, which means that the API is liable to change based on feedback. If you have any issues, or would like to provide feedback, please file an issue.

      Nav3 offers a flexible and powerful foundation for building modern navigation in your Compose applications. We're really excited to see what you build with it.

      Explore this announcement and all Google I/O 2025 updates on io.google starting May 22.

New in-car app experiences

Posted by Ben Sagmoe - Developer Relations Engineer

The in-car experience continues to evolve rapidly, and Google remains committed to pushing the boundaries of what's possible. At Google I/O 2025, we're excited to unveil the latest advancements for drivers, car manufacturers, and developers, furthering our goal of a safe, seamless, and helpful connected driving experience.

Today's car cabins are increasingly digital, offering developers exciting new opportunities with larger displays and more powerful computing. Android Auto is now supported in nearly all new cars sold, with almost 250 million compatible vehicles on the road.

We're also seeing significant growth in cars powered by Android Automotive OS with Google built-in. Over 50 models are currently available, with more launching this year. This growth is fueled by a thriving app ecosystem, including over 300 apps already available on the Play Store. These include apps optimized for a safe and seamless experience while driving as well as entertainment apps for while you're parked and waiting in your car—many of which are adaptive mobile apps that have been seamlessly brought to cars through the Car Ready Mobile Apps Program.

A vibrant developer community is essential to delivering these innovative in-car experiences utilizing the different screens within the car cabin. This past year, we've focused on key areas to help empower developers to build more differentiated experiences in cars across both platforms, as we embark on the Gemini era in cars!

Gemini for Cars

Exciting news for in-car experiences: Gemini, Google's advanced AI, is coming to vehicles! This unlocks a new era of safe and helpful interactions on the go.

Gemini enables natural voice conversations and seamless multitasking, empowering drivers to get more done simply by speaking naturally. Imagine effortlessly finding charging stations or navigating to a location pulled directly from an email, all with just your voice.

You can learn how to leverage Gemini's potential to create engaging in-car experiences in your app.

Navigation apps can integrate with Gemini using three core intent formats, allowing you to start navigation, display relevant search results, and execute custom actions, such as enabling users to report incidents like traffic congestion using their voice.

Gemini for cars will be rolling out in the coming months. Get ready to build the next generation of in-car AI experiences!

New developer programs and tools

table of app categories showing availability in android Auto and cars with Google built-in, including media, navigation, point-of-interest, internet of things, weather, video, browsers, games, and communication such as messaging and voip

Last year, we introduced car app quality tiers to inspire developers to create high quality in-car experiences. By developing your app in compliance with the Car ready tier, you can bring video, gaming, or browser apps to run while parked in cars with Google built-in with almost no additional effort. Learn more about Car Ready Mobile Apps.

Your app can further shine in cars within the Car optimized and Car differentiated tiers to unlock experiences while the car is in motion, and also when transitioning between parked and driving modes, while utilizing the different screens within the modern car cabin. Check the car app quality guidelines for details.

To start with, across both Android Auto and for cars with Google built-in, we've made some exciting improvements for Car App Library:

    • The Weather app category has graduated from beta: any developer can now publish weather apps to production tracks on both Android Auto and cars with Google Built-in. Before you publish your app, check that it meets the quality guidelines for weather apps.


    • Two new templates, the SectionedItemTemplate and MediaPlaybackTemplate, are now available in the Car App Library 1.8 alpha release for use on Android Auto. These templates are a great fit for building templated media apps, allowing for increased customization in layout and browsing structure.

      example of sectioneditemtemplate on the left and mediaplaybacktemplate on the right

On Android Auto, many new app categories and capabilities are now in beta:

    • We are adding support for Building media apps with the Car App Library, enabling media app developers to build both richer and more complete experiences that users are used to on their phones. During beta, developers can build and publish media apps built using the Car App Library to internal testing and closed testing tracks. You can also express interest in being an early access partner to publish to production while the category is in beta. 

    • The communications category is in beta. We've simplified calling integration for calling apps by utilizing the CallsManager Jetpack API. Together with the templates provided by the Car App Library, this enables communications apps to build features like full message history, upcoming meetings list, rich in-call views, and more. During beta, developers can build and publish communications apps to internal testing and closed testing tracks. You can also express interest in being an early access partner to publish to production while the category is in beta.

    • Games are now supported in Android Auto, while parked, on phones running Android 15 and above. You can already find some popular titles like Angry Birds 2, Farm Heroes Saga, Candy Crush Soda Saga and Beach Buggy Racing 2. The Games category is in Beta and developers can publish games to internal testing and closed testing tracks. You can also express interest in being an early access partner to publish to production while the category is in beta.

Finally, we have further simplified building, testing and distribution experience for developers building apps for Android Automotive OS cars with Google built-in:

The road ahead

You can look forward to more updates later this year, including:

    • Video apps will be supported on Android Auto, starting with phones running Android 16 on select compatible cars. If your app is already adaptive, enabling your app experience while parked only requires minimal steps to distribute to cars.

    • For Android Automotive OS cars running Android 14+ with Google built-in, we are working with car manufacturers to add additional app compatibility, to enable thousands of adaptive mobile apps in the next phase of the Car Ready Mobile Apps Program.

    • Updated design documentation that visualizes car app quality guidelines and integration paths to simplify designing your app for cars.

    • Google Play Services for cars with Google built-in are expanding to bring them on-par with mobile, including:
        • a. Passkeys and Credential Manager APIs for a more seamless user sign-in experience.
        b. Quick Share, which will enable easy cross-device sharing from phone to car.



    • Pre-launch reports for Android Automotive OS are coming soon to the Play Console, helping you ensure app quality before distributing your app to cars.

Be sure to keep up to date through goo.gle/cars-whats-new on these features and more as we continuously invest in the future of Android in the car. Stay tuned for more resources to help you build innovative and engaging experiences for drivers and passengers.

Ready to publish your car app? Check our guidance for distributing to cars.

Explore this announcement and all Google I/O 2025 updates on io.google starting May 22.

In-App Ratings and Reviews for TV

Posted by Paul Lammertsma – Developer Relations Engineer

Ratings and reviews are essential for developers, offering quantitative and qualitative feedback on user experiences. In 2022, we enhanced the granularity of this feedback by segmenting these insights by countries and form factors.

Now, we're extending the In-App Ratings and Reviews API to TV to allow developers to prompt users for ratings and reviews directly from Google TV.

Ratings and reviews on Google TV

Ratings and reviews entry point forJetStream sample app on TV

Users can now see rating averages, browse reviews, and leave their own review directly from an app's store listing on Google TV.

Ratings and written reviews input screen on TV

Users can interact with in-app ratings and reviews on their TVs by doing the following:

    • Select ratings using the remote control D-pad.
    • Provide optional written reviews using Gboard’s on-screen voice input, or by easily typing from their phone.
    • Send mobile notifications to themselves to complete their TV app review directly on their phone.

User instructions for submitting TV app ratings and reviews on mobile

Additionally, users can leave reviews for other form factors directly from their phone by simply selecting the device chip when submitting an app rating or writing a review.

We've already seen a considerable lift in app ratings on TV since bringing these changes to Google TV, and now, we're making it possible for developers to trigger a ratings prompt as well.

Before we look at the integration, let's first carefully consider the best time to request a review prompt. First, identify optimal moments within your app to request user feedback, ensuring prompts appear only when the UI is idle to prevent interruption of ongoing content.

In-App Review API

Integrating the Google Play In-App Review API is the same as on mobile and it's only a couple of method calls:

val manager = ReviewManagerFactory.create(context)
manager.requestReviewFlow().addOnCompleteListener { task ->
    if (task.isSuccessful) {
        // We got the ReviewInfo object
        val reviewInfo = task.result
        manager.launchReviewFlow(activity, reviewInfo)
    } else {
        // There was some problem, log or handle the error code
        @ReviewErrorCode val reviewErrorCode =
            (task.getException() as ReviewException).errorCode
    }
}

First, invoke requestReviewFlow() to obtain a ReviewInfo object which is used to launch the review flow. You must include an addOnCompleteListener() not just to obtain the ReviewInfo object, but also to monitor for any problems triggering this flow, such as the unavailability of Google Play on the device. Note that ReviewInfo does not offer any insights on whether or not a prompt appeared or which action the user took if a prompt did appear.

The challenge is to identify when to trigger launchReviewFlow(). Track user actions—identifying successful journeys and points where users encounter issues—so you can be confident they had a delightful experience in your app.

For this method, you may optionally also include an addOnCompleteListener() to ensure it resumes when the returned task is completed.

Note that due to throttling of how often users are presented with this prompt, there are no guarantees that the ratings dialog will appear when requesting to start this flow. For best practices, check this guide on when to request an in-app review.

Get started with In-App Reviews on Google TV

You can get a head start today by following these steps:

    1. Identify successful journeys for users, like finishing a movie or TV show season.
    2. Identify poor experiences that should be avoided, like buffering or playback errors.
    3. Integrate the Google Play In-App Review API to trigger review requests at optimal moments within the user journey.
    4. Test your integration by following the testing guide.
    5. Publish your app and continuously monitor your ratings by device type in the Play Console.

We're confident this integration enables you to elevate your Google TV app ratings and empowers your users to share valuable feedback.

Play Console Ratings graphic

Resources

Explore this announcement and all Google I/O 2025 updates on io.google starting May 22.

Chrome Beta for Desktop Update

The Beta channel has been updated to 137.0.7151.32 for Windows, Mac and Linux.

A partial list of changes is available in the Git log. Interested in switching release channels? Find out how. If you find a new issue, please let us know by filing a bug. The community help forum is also a great place to reach out for help or learn about common issues.

Chrome Release Team
Google Chrome

New UI-Only Image Optimization Features for Performance Max Campaigns

We're providing an important update regarding new image optimization features rolling out in the Google Ads user interface, specifically impacting Performance Max campaigns.

What are these new UI features?

  • Landing Page Images: This setting allows Google AI to automatically source relevant images directly from your ad's landing page. The aim is to dynamically incorporate these visuals into your ads, potentially improving relevance and extending your reach across more placements.
  • Image Enhancements: With this feature, Google AI can automatically make improvements to your uploaded image assets. This can include smart cropping to create different versions of your images, helping to unlock more ad inventory and boost performance. Future enhancements may also include capabilities like uncropping or animating images.

You can find more information about these features in the Google Ads Help Center.

Automatic Opt-In:

Please be aware that image enhancements will be on by default for all Performance Max users. Landing Page Images will be on by default if the user has account level dynamic image settings turned on.

Key Information for API Users:

At this time these new UI features for Performance Max campaigns can only be managed with the Google Ads user interface.

  • These features will not be viewable through the Google Ads API.
  • At this time, you will not be able to opt-in or opt-out of these new settings (Landing Page Images and Image Enhancements) using the Google Ads API. To change the status of these settings you must use the Google Ads UI.

API Integration Impact:

Your existing API integrations will continue to function for the features and settings currently supported by the API. However, these new additional Performance Max settings will need to be managed by your users directly in the Google Ads interface.

We encourage you to familiarize yourselves with the details provided in the Google Ads Help Center to understand the scope of these UI changes for Performance Max campaigns. This will enable you to effectively support your users and clarify what can and cannot be controlled via the API.

We are committed to keeping our developer community informed. Stay tuned to this blog for further updates on control of these image optimization settings in the Google Ads API.

 - Sarah Pollack, Google Ads API Team

Use Google Classroom in even more languages

What’s changing 

We recently announced the ability to use the Google Classroom in additional languages on web and mobile, and today we’re excited to introduce even more languages in the web and mobile experience: 
  • Albanian 
  • Armenian 
  • Azerbaijani 
  • Burmese (Myanmar) 
  • Georgian 
  • Irish 
  • Macedonian 
  • Nepali 
  • Sinhala 
  • Uzbek 

Additional details 

Certain Google Classroom features might not be accessible in all languages, including Read Along in Classroom, Practice sets, Originality reports, and Gemini in Classroom.
 

Getting started 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

Available for Google Workspace: 
  • Education Fundamentals, Standard, Plus, the Teaching and Learning add-on, and the Endpoint Education add-on 
  • Customers with the Gemini Education or Gemini Education Premium add-on 

Resources

Ask Gemini in Gmail on mobile to perform Google Calendar related actions

What’s changing

We've recently introduced new web features that bring Gemini into Gmail to perform calendar related actions, such as adding an event to your calendar directly from your inbox. Today, we're excited to announce that we're bringing similar capabilities to Android and iOS devices. You can now: 

  • Ask Gemini to create, delete or edit an event on your calendar. Tapping the pencil icon on the created event lets you easily update the event information. If you click on the event directly, it will open the event view in the Calendar app. 
  • Ask Gemini about your daily schedule. 

Who’s impacted 

End users 

Why you’d use it

This update expands access to Calendar features using Gemini in Gmail to mobile devices, making it easier to create or interact with events on your calendar, regardless of your device. 

Getting started 

Rollout pace 


Availability

Available for Google Workspace: 
  • Business Starter, Standard and Plus 
  • Enterprise Starter, Standard and Plus 
  • Google One AI Premium 
  • Customers with the Gemini Education or Gemini Education Premium add-on 
Anyone who previously purchased these add-ons will also receive this feature: 
  • Gemini Business* 
  • Gemini Enterprise* 
*As of January 15, 2025, we’re no longer offering the Gemini Business and Gemini Enterprise add-ons for sale. Please refer to this announcement for more details.

Resources