Tag Archives: Android Studio

Meet the Android Studio Team: A Conversation with Staff Developer Programs Engineer, Trevor Johns

Posted by Ashley Tschudin – Social Media Specialist, MTP at Google

Android Studio isn't just code and algorithms – it's built by real people with fascinating stories. Our "Meet the Android Studio Team" series gives you a glimpse into the lives and passions of the talented individuals who craft the tools you use every day. Tune in each month to meet new team members and discover their unique journey.

Trevor Johns: Building Android Studio for You

Trevor Johns, Staff Developer Programs Engineer

Meet Trevor Johns, a seasoned Staff Developer Programs Engineer at Google.

Reflecting on his journey, Trevor sheds light on the most impactful advancements in the Android ecosystem and offers a glimpse into his vision for the future where AI plays a pivotal role in streamlining development workflows.

Trevor discusses the Android Studio team's dedication to enhancing developer productivity through AI, highlighting their focus on understanding and addressing developer needs, and reflects on the dynamic journey of Android development while sharing valuable insights.

Can you tell us about your journey to becoming a part of the Android Studio team? What sparked your interest in Android development?

I've been at Google in various roles since Google since 2007, and transferred to Android team in 2009 shortly after the launch of the HTC G1 — the first publicly available Android phone. Even in those early days it was clear that mobile computing was a unique opportunity to reimagine many of the limitations of desktop computers and how users interact with the digital world.

Among my first projects were helping developers optimize their apps for the MyTouch 3G and Motorola Droid, as well as creating developer resources for Android's 1.6 Donut release.

Over the years, I've worked on various parts of the Android OS including our first tablet devices, Android Wear, helping develop the original Android support libraries (which later became Jetpack), and the migration to Kotlin.

Recently I joined the Android Studio team to help improve developer productivity, using AI to streamline common developer tasks and help developers have more time to focus on creativity.

How does the Android Studio team ensure that products or features meet the ever-changing needs of developers?

Like the rest of Android, we approach development of new features by listening to our developer community. We hold regular listening sessions with publishers, work with our UX research team to conduct case studies, and participate in online discussions to get a sense for where developers face the most friction — and then try to find ways to reduce that friction.

For example, we developed Gemini in Android Studio's integration with Play Vitals and Firebase Crashlytics based on feedback from members of the developer community who commented to let us know where they would find AI most useful across their developer workflow.

Speaking of, if you'd like to provide us with feedback, you can always file a bug or feature request on the Android Studio issue tracker.

How does the Studio team contribute to Google's broader vision for the Android platform?

In addition to listening to the Android community, we also keep an eye on what's being developed across the rest of the Android team and make sure that Android Studio has the right tools to help developers quickly migrate between Android versions and adopt those new platform features.

Beyond that, the Studio team provides leading edge editing tools to make sure that Android remains one of the easiest computing platforms to develop for — unlocking this unique computing platform for millions of developers.

In your opinion, what is the most impactful feature or improvement the Android team has introduced in recent years, and why?

For developers, my answer would have to be the migration to Kotlin. This language has modernized the Android developer experience — letting developers write apps with less code and fewer errors. It's also the foundation for Jetpack Compose, which is the future of Android UI development.

If you could wave a magic wand and add one dream feature to the Android universe, what would it be and why?

I'd love to see Gemini be able to not just autocomplete code for me, but generate scaffolds for new projects. That way I can focus on building features rather than worrying about basic structure when starting a new project.

Develop Android Apps with Kotlin

Follow Trevor's lead and embrace the power of Kotlin for modern Android development. Enhance your skills and write better Android apps faster with Kotlin.

Stay tuned!

Get ready for another inspiring story! The "Meet the Android Studio Team" series continues next week with a new team member in the spotlight. Don't miss their unique insights and journey.

Find Trevor Johns on LinkedIn, X, Bluesky, and Medium.

Source: Android Developers Blog

Meet the Android Studio Team: A Conversation with Director of Product Management, Jamal Eason

Posted by Ashley Tschudin – Social Media Specialist, MTP at Google

Dive into the world of Android Studio and meet the masterminds behind your favorite development tools! In our recurring blog series, "Meet the Android Studio Team," we'll introduce you to the brilliant engineers, designers, product managers, and more who are shaping the future of Android development.

Join us each week to uncover the unique perspectives and stories of the people who make Android Studio the best it can be.

Jamal Eason: Building better Android apps - insights on Gemini, Crashlytics, and App Quality

Meet Jamal Eason, a Director of Product Management at Google, whose passion for empowering developers shines through in his work on Android Studio.

His journey, from studying computer science at West Point to developing Android hardware at Intel (including contributions to the Motorola Razr i), showcases a deep understanding of the developer experience. From attending the very first Android Studio unveiling at Google I/O to now shaping its future, Jamal brings a unique perspective to the team.

Jamal shares his insights on the evolution of Android Studio, the importance of a strong developer community, and the features he's most proud of.

Can you tell us about your journey to becoming a part of the Android Studio team? What sparked your interest in Android development?

I have had an interest in programming at an early age especially since studying computer science in undergrad at the United States Military Academy (West Point), and in that time I have had an interest not just in the creation of software but also in the tools developers use to make software.

My interest in Android development came when I was preparing for my first job after my telecommunications & computer networks military career when I was joining a team at the Intel Corporation that worked with Google to build Android hardware products. I thought the best way to understand Google and mobile was to download the Android SDK and create my own app end to end. My first taste of Android was Froyo 2.2 using the Eclipse based Android Developer Tools IDE.

At Intel, I worked on creating the x86 based version of the Android Emulator and Emulator system image, and also a new Hypervisor that would accelerate the performance of the Android Emulator on x86 based laptops. After helping ship the Motorola Razr i (xt890) Android phone with Intel technology inside and x86 optimized apps on the device, I made the move to the Android team at Google. With my experience in developing Android apps, and shipping Android developer tools, the Android developer tools team was a natural fit.

Interestingly, I attended the Google I/O the year Android Studio was first revealed as an attendee, and the following year I was working on the team to bring Android Studio to its Beta release at the following years Google I/O.

What unique perspective or experience do you bring to the Android Studio team, and how does it influence your work?

Unique experiences I bring include:

Technical Translation - In my prior roles, I worked with highly technical teams, and learned how to take absurd technical concepts and present them to different audiences of different technical skill levels. And in the reverse, I worked with many non-technical customers and colleagues and learned how to translate their pain points into product opportunities solved with technical solutions and innovation.
User Empathy - Previously, I was a software developer, and I regularly like to code on small side projects, and really enjoy spending time with developers who use Android Studio. From first-hand experience and user engagement, I regularly bring in the voice of the user into the discussion from the inception of a product idea to the final stages of the release process.
UX Design Sense - In a previous career, I designed and created websites, and user interfaces for software. I developed an eye for good UX design and flows particularly in technical software products. These skills aid in complementing the dedicated UX design team in Android Studio, and aids in avoiding productivity pitfalls with poor product and UX flows.

In your opinion, what is the most impactful feature or improvement the Android team has introduced in recent years, and why?

It’s hard to nail down just one, but the top three are:

1) product quality

2) integration of Gemini and

3) integrations with Crashlytics and Play with App Quality Insights.

The most impactful feature we worked on is product quality. We treat quality, especially the core code editing experience as a feature. If a developer can’t write a line of code and deploy it to a device, then everything else is secondary. Since Android is always evolving, it is an on-going effort but critical for the team to stay focused on.

On top of quality, thoughtful integration of Gemini into Android Studio is a real accelerate for app development. Our focus with AI is to make Android developers more productive, and make the harder tasks and toil easier. So from AI powered code completion, or built-in Gemini chat for Android app development, to enhancing existing tools with AI such as using Gemini to generate Jetpack Compose UI Previews, we are just at the beginning of leveraging AI to make Android app developers more productive.

Lastly, with App Quality Insights, it is now much easier for app developers to address the performance and quality issues found with Firebase Crashlytics and Android Vitals from Google Play. Surfacing these issues right next to source code and source control, make resolving issues much faster and intuitive.

How does the Android Studio team ensure that products or features meet the ever-changing needs of developers?

First step, the Android Studio team works hand-in-hand with the Android OS team so we strive to deliver developer tools in concert with new Android OS and API changes so developers are ready to adopt new Android platform capability into their apps. Then, we constantly review and prioritize developer feedback received via our issue tracker or via our bi-annaul developer survey we post on the Android Developers site. When we can, we sometimes engage with developers via various social media channels. And lastly, we regularly interview developers at various experience levels, and regions around the world in targeted User Research studies.

What advice would you give to aspiring Android developers who are just starting their journey?

Start with a robust set of code labs and tutorials.
Get inspired on the possibilities of Android and what you can build.
Join the Android developer community:

Deploy with Confidence

Inspired by Jamal's journey and dedication to empowering developers? Explore the latest Android Studio features, including App Quality Insights, to improve your app's performance and address issues quickly.

Stay tuned

Don't miss the next installment of our "Meet the Android Studio Team" series, where we'll introduce you to another amazing member of our team and share their unique journey. Stay tuned for more!

Find Jamal Eason on LinkedIn and X.

Source: Android Developers Blog

Meet the Android Studio Team: A Conversation with Product Manager, Paris Hsu

Posted by Ashley Tschudin – Social Media Specialist, MTP at Google

Welcome to "Meet the Android Studio Team"; a short blog series where we pull back the curtain and introduce you to the passionate people who build your favorite Android development tools. Get to know the talented minds – engineers, designers, product managers, and more – who pour their hearts into crafting the best possible experience for Android developers.

Join us each week to meet a new member of the team and explore their unique perspectives.

Paris Hsu: Empowering Android developers with Compose tools

Meet Paris Hsu, a Product Manager at Google passionate about empowering developers to build incredible Android apps.

Her journey to the Android Studio team started with a serendipitous internship at Microsoft, where she discovered the power of developer tools. Now, as part of the UI Tools team, Paris champions intuitive solutions that streamline the development process, like the innovative Compose Tools suite.

In this installment of "Meet the Android Studio Team," Paris shares insights into her work, the importance of developer feedback, and her dream Android feature (hint: it involves acing that forehand).

Can you tell us about your journey to becoming a part of the Android Studio team? What sparked your interest in Android development?

Honestly, I joined a bit by chance! The summer before my last year of grad school, I was in the Microsoft's Garage incubator internship program. Our project, InkToCode, turned handwritten designs into code. It was my first experience building developer tools and made me realize how powerful developer tools can be, which led me to the Android Studio team. Now, after 6 years, I'm constantly amazed by what Android developers create – from innovative productivity apps to immersive games. It's incredibly rewarding to build tools that empower developers to create more.

In your opinion, what is the most impactful feature or improvement the Android Studio team has introduced in recent years, and why?

As part of the UI Tools team in Android Studio, I'm biased towards Compose Tools! Our team spent a lot of time rethinking how we can take a code-first approach for tools as we transition the community for XML to Compose. Features like the Compose Preview and its submodes (Interactive, Animation, Deploy preview) enable fast UI iteration, while features such as Layout Inspector or Compose UI Check helps find and diagnose UI issues with ease. We are also exploring ways to apply multimodal AI into these tools to help developers write more high quality, adaptive, and inclusive Compose code quicker.

How does the Android Studio team ensure that products or features meet the ever-changing needs of developers?

We are constantly engaging and listening to developer feedback to ensure we are meeting their needs! some examples:

Direct feedback: UXR studies, Annual developer surveys, and Buganizer reports provide valuable insights.

Early access: We release Early Access Programs (EAPs) for new features, allowing developers to test them and provide feedback before official launch.

Community engagement: We have advisory boards with experienced Android developers, gather feedback from Google Developer Experts (GDEs), and attend conferences to connect directly with the community.

How does the Studio team contribute to Google's broader vision for the Android platform?

I think Android Studio contributes to Google's broader mission by providing Android developers with powerful and intuitive tools. This way, developers are empowered to create amazing apps that bring the best of Google's services and information to our users. Whether it's accessing knowledge through Search, leveraging Gemini, staying connected with Maps, or enjoying entertainment on YouTube, Android Studio helps developers build the experiences that connect people to what matters most.

If you could wave a magic wand and add one dream feature to the Android universe, what would it be and why?

Anyone who knows me knows that I am recently super obsessed with tennis. I would love to see more coaching wearables (e.g. Pixel Watch, Pixel Racket?!). I would love real-time feedback on my serve and especially forehand stroke analysis.

Learn more about Compose Tools

Inspired by Paris’ passion for empowering developers to build incredible Android apps? To learn more about how Compose Tools can streamline your app development process, check out the Compose Tools documentation and get started with the Jetpack Compose Tutorial.

Stay tuned

Keep an eye out for the next installment in our “Meet the Android Studio Team” series, where we’ll shine the spotlight on another team member and delve into their unique insights.

Find Paris Hsu on LinkedIn, X, and Medium.

Source: Android Developers Blog

Android Studio’s 10 year anniversary

Posted by Tor Norbye – Engineering Director, Jamal Eason – Director of Product Management, and Xavier Ducrohet – Tech Lead | Android Studio

Android Studio provides you an integrated development environment (IDE) to develop, test, debug, and package Android apps that can reach billions of users across a diverse set of Android devices. Last month we reached a big milestone for the product: 10 years since the Android Studio 1.0 release reached the stable channel. You can hear a bit more about its history in the most recent episode of Android Developers Backstage, or watch some of the team’s favorite moments: 🎉

When we set out to develop Android Studio we started with these three principles:

First, we wanted to build and release a complete IDE, not just a plugin. Before Android Studio, users had to go download a JDK, then download Eclipse, then configure it with an update center to point to Android, install the Eclipse plugin for Android, and then configure that plugin to point to an Android SDK install. Not only did we want everything to work out-of-the-box, but we also wanted to be able to configure and improve everything: from having an integrated dependency management system to offering code inspections that were relevant to Android app developers to having a single place to report bugs.

Second, we wanted to build it on top of an actively maintained, open-sourced, and best-of-breed Java programing language IDE. Not too long before releasing Android Studio, we had all used IntelliJ and felt it was superior from a code editing perspective.

And third, we wanted to not only provide a build system that was better suited for Android app development, but to also enable this build system to work consistently from both from the command line and from inside the IDE. This was important because in the previous tool chain, we found that there were discrepancies in behavior and capability between the in-IDE builds with Eclipse, and CI builds with Ant.

This led to the release of Android Studio, including these highlights:

Here are some nostalgic screenshots from that first version of Android Studio:

The Setup Wizard welcome screen displays icons of a tablet, a watch, glasses, a TV, and a car, indicating the variety of devices supported in Android Studio

First-run setup wizard of Android Studio

Android Studio is open with Java code visible in the main window and project files listed in the left sidebar. A documentation window is open, displaying translation strings for a schedule view.

Editing code within Android Studio

A screenshot of Android Studio shows XML code on the left and previews of a messaging app layout on different Android devices on the right.

Editing and previewing layouts across different screen sizes

Android Studio has come a long way since those early days, but our mission of empowering Android developers with excellent tools continues to be our focus.

Let’s hear from some team members across Android, JetBrains, and Gradle as they reflect on this milestone and how far the ecosystem has come since then.

Android Studio team

“Inside the Android team, engineers who didn't work on apps had the choice between using Eclipse and using IntelliJ, and most of them chose IntelliJ. We knew that it was the gold standard for Java development (and still is, all these years later.) So we asked ourselves: if this is what developers prefer when given a choice, wouldn't this be for our users as well?

And the warm reception when we unveiled the alpha at I/O in 2013 made it clear that it was the right choice.”

- Tor Norbye, Engineering Director of Android Studio at Google

“We had a vision of creating a truly Integrated Development Environment for Android app development instead of a collection of related tools. In our previous working model, we had contributions of Android tools from a range of frameworks and UX flows that did not 100% work well end-to-end. The move to the open-sourced JetBrains IntelliJ platform enabled the Google team to tie tools together in a thoughtful way with Android Studio, plus it allowed others to contribute in a more seamless way. Lastly, looking back at the last 10 years, I’m proud of the partnership with Jetbrains and Gradle, plus the community of contributors to bring the best suite of tools to Android app developers.”

– Jamal Eason, Director of Product Management of Android Studio at Google

JetBrains

“Google choosing IntelliJ as the platform to build Android Studio was a very exciting moment for us at JetBrains. It allowed us to strengthen and build on the platform even further, and paved the way for further collaboration in other projects such as Kotlin.”

– Hadi Hariri, VP of Program Management at JetBrains

Gradle

“Android Studio's 10th anniversary marks a decade of incredible progress for Android developers. We are proud that Gradle Build Tool has continued to be a foundational part of the Android toolchain, enabling millions of Android developers to build their apps faster, more elegantly, and at scale.”

– Hans Dockter, creator of Gradle Build Tool and CEO/Founder of Gradle Inc.

“Our long-standing strategic partnership with Google and our mutual commitment to improving the developer experience continues to impact millions of developers. We look forward to continuing that journey for many years to come.”

– Piotr Jagielski, VP of Engineering, Gradle Build Tool

Last but not least, we want to thank you for your feedback and support over the last decade. Android Studio wouldn’t be where it is today without the active community of developers who are using it to build Android apps for their communities and the world and providing input on how we can make it better each day.

As we head into this new year, we’ll be bringing Gemini into more aspects of Android Studio to help you across the development lifecycle to build quality apps faster. We’ll strive to make it easier and more seamless to build, test, and deploy your apps with Jetpack Compose across the range of form factors. We are proud of what we launch, but we always have room to improve in the evolving mobile ecosystem. Therefore, quality and stability of the IDE is our top priority so that you can be as productive as possible.

We look forward to continuing to empower you with great tools and improvements as we take Android Studio forward into the next decade. 🚀 We also welcome you to be a part of our developer community on LinkedIn, Medium, YouTube, or X.

Source: Android Developers Blog

Android Studio Ladybug Feature Drop is Stable!

Posted by Steven Jenkins – Product Manager, Android Studio

Today, we are thrilled to announce the stable release of Android Studio Ladybug 🐞 Feature Drop (2024.2.2)!

Accelerate your productivity with Gemini in Android Studio, Animation Preview support for Wear Tiles, App Links Assistant and much more. All of these new features are designed to help you build high-quality Android apps faster.

Read on to learn more about all the updates, quality improvements, and new features across your key workflows in Android Studio Ladybug Feature Drop, and download the latest stable version today to try them out!

Android Studio Ladybug Feature Drop

Gemini in Android Studio

Gemini Code Transforms

Gemini Code Transforms can help you modify, optimize, or add code to your app with AI assistance. Simply right-click in your code editor and select "Gemini > Generate code" or highlight code and select "Gemini > Transform selected code." You can also use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+\ (⌘+\ on macOS) to bring up the Gemini prompt. Describe the changes you want to make to your code, and Gemini will suggest a code diff, allowing you to easily review and accept only the suggestions you want.

With Gemini Code Transforms, you can simplify complex code, perform specific code transformations, or even generate new functions. You can also refine the suggested code to iterate on the code suggestions with Gemini. It's an AI coding assistant right in your editor, helping you write better code more efficiently.

Gemini Code Transform

Rename

Gemini in Android Studio enhances your workflow with intelligent assistance for common tasks. When renaming a single variable, class, or method from the code editor, the "Refactor > Rename" action uses Gemini to suggest contextually appropriate names, making it smoother and more efficient to refactor names as you’re coding in the editor.

A code editor window open to Gemini renaming a variable in Android Studio

Rename

Rethink

For larger renaming refactors, Gemini can "Rethink variable names" across your whole file. This feature analyzes your code and suggests more intuitive and descriptive names for variables and methods, improving readability and maintainability.

A code editor window open to Gemini analyzing code and suggesting more descriptive names for variables in Android Studio

Rethink

Commit Message

Gemini now assists with commit messages. When committing changes to version control, it analyzes your code modifications and suggests a detailed commit message.

Commit Message

Generate Documentation

Gemini in Android Studio makes documenting your code easier than ever. To generate clear and concise documentation, select a code snippet, right-click in the editor and choose "Gemini > Document Function" (or "Document Class" or "Document Property", depending on the context). Gemini will generate a draft that you can then refine and perfect before accepting the changes. This streamlined process helps you create informative documentation quickly and efficiently.

A code editor window open to Gemini adding documentation to a code snippet in Android Studio

Generate Documentation

Debug

Animation Preview support for Wear OS Tiles

Animation Preview support for Wear OS Tiles helps you visualize and debug tile animations with ease. It provides a real-time view of your animations, allowing you to preview them, control playback with options like play, pause, and speed adjustment, and inspect key properties such as initial/end states and animation curves. You can even dynamically modify animation code and instantly observe the results within the inspector, streamlining the debugging and refinement process.

A code editor window open to animation preview support in Android Studio

Animation Preview support for Wear OS Tiles

Wear Health Services

The Wear Health Services feature in Android Studio simplifies the process of testing health and fitness apps by enabling Wear Health Services within the emulator. You can now easily customize various parameters for a given exercise such as heart rate, distance, and speed without needing a physical device or performing the activity itself. This streamlines the development and testing workflow, allowing for faster iteration and more efficient debugging of health-related features.

Wear Health Services

Optimize

App Links Assistant

App Links Assistant simplifies the process of implementing app links by serving valid JSON syntax that resolves broken deep links for your app. You can review the JSON file and then upload it to your website, resolving issues quickly. This eliminates the manual creation of the JSON file, saving you time and effort. The tool also allows you to compare existing JSON files with newly generated ones to easily identify any discrepancies.

App Links Assistant

Google Play SDK Insights Integration

Android Studio now provides enhanced lint warnings for public SDKs from the Google Play SDK Index and the Google Play SDK Console, helping you identify and address potential issues. These warnings alert you if an SDK is outdated, violates Google Play policies, or has known security vulnerabilities. Furthermore, Android Studio provides helpful quick fixes and recommended version ranges whenever possible, making it easier to update your dependencies and keeping your app more secure and compliant.

Android Studio displays a code editor window open to a Gradle build file. The IDE warns that an outdated Firebase authentication library is being used, preventing release to Google Play Console.

Google Play SDK Insights Integration

Quality improvements

Beyond new features, we also continued to improve the overall quality and stability of Android Studio. In fact, the Android Studio team addressed over 770 bugs during the Ladybug Feature Drop development cycle.

IntelliJ platform update

Android Studio Ladybug Feature Drop (2024.2.2) includes the IntelliJ 2024.2 platform release, which has many new features such as more intuitive full line code completion suggestions, a preview in the Search Everywhere dialog and improved log management for the Java^** and Kotlin programming languages.

See the full IntelliJ 2024.2 release notes.

Summary

To recap, Android Studio Ladybug Feature Drop includes the following enhancements and features:

Gemini in Android Studio

Gemini Code Transforms
Rename
Rethink
Commit Message
Generate Documentation

Debug

Animation Preview support for Wear OS Tiles
Wear Health Services

Optimize

App Links Assistant
Google Play SDK Insights Integration

Quality Improvements

770+ bugs addressed

IntelliJ Platform Update

More intuitive full line code completion suggestions
Preview in the Search Everywhere dialog
Improved log management for Java and Kotlin programming languages

Getting Started

Ready for next-level Android development? Download Android Studio Ladybug Feature Drop and unlock these cutting-edge features today. 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!

^**Java is a trademark or registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates.

Source: Android Developers Blog

A Smoother Ride: Android Emulator Stability and Performance Updates

Posted by Neville Sicard-Gregory – Senior Product Manager, Android Studio

Looking for a more stable, reliable, and performant Emulator? Download the latest version of Android Studio or ensure your Emulator is up to date in the SDK Manager.

A split screen shows Kotlin code on the left and the corresponding Android app display on the right in Android Studio. The app displays the Google Play Store, Photos, YouTube, Gmail, and Chrome icons.

We know how critical the stability, reliability, and performance of the Android Emulator is to your everyday work as an Android developer. After listening to valuable feedback about stability, reliability, and performance, the Android Studio team took a step back from large feature work on the Android Emulator for six months and started an initiative called Project Quartz. This initiative was made up of several workstreams aimed at reducing crashes, speeding up startup time, closing out bugs, and setting up better ways to detect and prevent issues in the future.

Improved stability and reliability

A key goal of Project Quartz aimed to reduce Emulator crashes, which can frustrate and block developers, decreasing their productivity. We focused on fixing issues causing backend and UI crashes and freezes, updated the UI framework, updated our hypervisor framework, and our graphics libraries, and eliminated tech debt. This included:

Moving to a newer version of Qt, the cross-platform framework for building the graphical user interfaces of the Android Emulator, and making it stable on all platforms (as of version 34.2.13/ This was also a required change to ensure things like Google Maps and the location settings UI continued to work in the Android Emulator.

Updating gfxstream, the graphics rendering system used in the Android Emulator, to improve our graphics layer.

Adding more than 600 end-to-end tests to the existing pytests test suite.

As a result, we have seen 30% fewer crashes in the latest stable version of Android Studio, as reported by developers who have opted-in to sharing crash details with us. Along with additional end-to-end testing, this means a more stable, reliable, and higher quality experience with fewer interruptions while using the Android Emulator to test your apps.

A horizontal bar graph showing performance times of different versions of the Android emulator in milliseconds

This chart illustrates the reduction in reported crashes by stable versions of the Android Emulator (newer versions are at the top and shorter is better).

We have also enhanced our opt-in telemetry and logging to better understand and identify the root causes of crashes, and added more testing to our pre-launch release process to improve our ability to detect potential issues prior to release.

Improved release quality

We also implemented several measures to improve release quality, including increasing the number and frequency of end-to-end, automated, and integration tests on macOS, Microsoft Windows, and Linux. Now, more than 1,100 end-to-end tests are ran in postsubmit, up from 500 tests in the past implementation, on all supported operating system platforms . These tests cover various scenarios, including (among other features) different Android Emulator snapshot configurations, diverse graphics card considerations , networking and Bluetooth functionality, and performance benchmarks between Android Emulator system image versions.

This comprehensive testing ensures these critical components function correctly and translates to a more reliable testing environment for developers. As a result, Android app developers can accurately assess their app's behavior in a wider range of scenarios.

Reduced open issues and bugs

It was also important for us to reduce the number of open issues and bugs logged for the Android Emulator by addressing their root cause and ensuring we cover more of the use cases you run into in production. During Project Quartz, we reduced our open issues by 43.5% from 4,605 to 2,605. 17% of these were actively fixed during Quartz and the remaining were closed as either obsoleted or previously fixed (e.g. in an earlier version of the Android Emulator) or duplicates of other issues.

Next Steps

While these improvements are exciting, it's not the end. We will continue to build on the quality improvements from Project Quartz to further enhance the Android Emulator experience for Android app developers.

As always, your feedback has and continues to be invaluable in helping us make the Android Emulator and Android Studio more robust and effective for your development needs. Sharing your metrics and crashdumps is crucial in helping us understand what specifically causes your crashes so we can prioritize fixes.

You can opt-in by going to Settings, then Appearance and Behavior, then System Settings, then Data Sharing, and selecting the checkbox marked ‘Send usage statistics to Google.'

The Android Studio settings menu displays the Data Sharing settings page, where 'Send usage statistics to Google' option is selected.

Be sure to download the latest version of the Android Emulator alongside Android Studio to experience these improvements.

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. Together, we can create incredible Android experiences for users worldwide!

Source: Android Developers Blog

Gemini in Android Studio: Code Completion Gains Powerful Model Improvements

Posted by Sandhya Mohan – Product Manager, Android Studio and Sarmad Hashmi – Software Engineer, Labs

The Android team believes AI has the potential to revolutionize coding, drive unprecedented innovation and productivity in software development, and supercharge your development productivity. AI code completion is a key part of this effort within Gemini in Android Studio.

Since launching in May 2024, we've been hard at work improving this feature to provide the best possible experience for all Android developers. In this post, we want to take you “under the hood” on how we achieved a 40% relative increase in acceptance rate since release, and share some of our excitement for how we have seen Android developers use this feature. We hope you'll give it a try and let us know what you think.

An AI coding companion for every developer

Our vision for Gemini in Android Studio is to empower developers to build high quality Android apps — making it easy for developers to quickly write correct code aligned with Android's best practices. Launched last year, the first version of Studio Bot provided a chat experience where developers could access Android-specific guidance, powered by Google's latest AI models. Developers are able to ask Gemini in Android Studio to provide developer guidance, summarize technical documentation, and critique their Android code. But in all these cases the feedback is reactive, responding to a user's question.

AI code completion takes these capabilities a step further by providing real-time feedback as you work as a developer, thinking ahead and suggesting the next few lines of code that you are likely to type based on the context from the surrounding file and what was just typed. You can think of AI Code Completion as a partner in your work — a coding companion waiting to offer guidance when you need it.

This feature is particularly well suited for tasks like defining business logic, creating database schemas, making network requests, or even writing tests — tasks that are often time-consuming and distract from building the core experience for your app. Many developers have told us how much they enjoy the speed AI completions brings to their app development workflow.

A moving image demonstrating AI autocomplete in Android Studio

Bringing more intelligent code completion to Android development

While we are excited to see how AI Code Completions have improved developers’ workflows, we know there's still more we can do to improve developer productivity. Development of Gemini in Android Studio is an ongoing, large-scale collaborative effort by many teams across Google. Earlier this year, we switched to Gemini 1.5 models and saw a significant improvement in the quality of code completions, resulting in a 2x increase in our developer productivity metrics, including overall acceptance rate for suggestions.

Once we started doing A/B test experiments to improve AI code completion we found several improvements around model quality, context, and heuristics. This overall effort led to a 40% relative increase in acceptance rate — how often users accept the AI's proposed code suggestions — since we launched. Since then, we've been exploring several improvements like:

Retrieval augmentation: With your opt-in consent, we use the files and dependencies most relevant to your current coding context to enhance the accuracy of suggestions. This is just the first step and we're continuing to experiment with adding even more context from the IDE as part of each request.

Filtering out low-confidence completions: Prioritize showing high quality suggestions where they are most relevant, and therefore most likely to be accepted. We do this by using a combination of the probabilities returned by the model and using a classifier trained to identify high-quality completions based on developer feedback.

Smarter post-processing: The LLM's output for AI Code Completion is fundamentally different from the output users expect in a chat session. Responses need to be tightly scoped in order to quickly output useful code, without surrounding expository text. We apply additional heuristics on the model output to ensure responses are concise and accurate, as well as making sure that the generated code is valid within the context of the user's codebase.

Improved models: We use opt-in feedback from Android Studio users, such as noting when a code suggestion is accepted or rejected, to adapt the code completion model to their coding style and preferences over time. We regularly ship new models with higher quality data based on your feedback.

We are also exploring metrics beyond acceptance rate to better measure AI impact on developer velocity, such as the percentage of total code written by AI.

Try it out!

We are rolling out these successful experiments and others as quickly as possible.

If you haven't tried AI code completions yet, you can enable this feature by clicking on the Gemini button in your editor window and signing in to your Google account.

A screenshot of Android Studio with a pop-up notification about the Gemini AI coding companion. The notification explains that Gemini is a free feature in preview and requires a Google account login to use.

Figure 1. Launching Gemini in Android Studio for the first time

After doing so, navigate to Settings > Tools > Gemini and select "Enable AI-based inline code completions".

A screenshot of the settings menu within Android Studio, with the 'Gemini' section expanded showing options related to the AI coding companion, including privacy and context awareness.

Figure 2. Enabling "AI-based inline code completions"

As always, Google is committed to the responsible use of AI. Android Studio won't send any of your source code to servers without your consent — which means you'll need to opt-in to enable Gemini's developer assistance features in Android Studio. You can read more on Gemini in Android Studio's commitment to privacy.

Try enabling AI Code Completions in your project and tell us what you think on social media with #AndroidGeminiEra. We're excited to see how these enhancements help you build amazing apps!

This blog post is part of our series: AI on Android Spotlight Week, where we provide resources — blog posts, videos, sample code, and more — all designed to to explore the latest in AI and its potential for Android app development.

Source: Android Developers Blog

Android Studio Koala Feature Drop is Stable!

Posted by Sandhya Mohan, Product Manager, Android Studio

Today, we are thrilled to announce the stable release of Android Studio Koala Feature Drop (2024.1.2)!🐨

Earlier this year, we announced that every Android Studio animal version will have two releases: a platform release and a feature drop release. These more frequent updates get important IntelliJ updates to you faster, while we focus on quality and polish for Android-specific features. The Koala platform release was launched in June. Today, we'll walk through the feature drop release.

Get access to cutting-edge features like new devices in device streaming, Compose previews for Glance widgets, USB cable speed detection, support for Android 15 in the Android SDK Upgrade Assistant, and much more. All of these new features are designed to accelerate your Android app development workflow in building next-generation and high-quality apps.

Read on to learn more about all the updates, quality improvements, and new features across your key workflows in Android Studio Koala Feature Drop, and download the latest stable version today to try them out!

Develop

Android Device Streaming: more devices and improved sign-up

Android Device Streaming now includes the following devices, in addition to the portfolio of 20+ device models already available:

Google Pixel 9

Google Pixel 9 Pro

Google Pixel 9 Pro XL

Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold

Google Pixel 8a

Samsung Galaxy Fold5

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra

Additionally, if you're new to Firebase, Android Studio automatically creates and sets up a no-cost Firebase project for you when you sign-in to Android Studio to use Device Streaming. As a result, you can get to streaming the device you need much faster. Learn more about Android Device Streaming quotas, including promotional quota for the Firebase Blaze plan projects available for a limited time.

As we announced at Google I/O 2024, we’re further expanding the selection of devices available by working with partners, such as Samsung, Xiaomi, and OnePlus, to allow you to connect to devices hosted in their device labs. To learn more and enroll in the upcoming Early Access Preview, see the official blog post.

Device Streaming

Target Android 15 using Android SDK Upgrade Assistant

The Android SDK Upgrade Assistant provides a step-by-step wizard to help you upgrade your targetSdkVersion. It also pulls documentation directly into Android Studio, saving you time and effort. Android Studio Koala Feature Drop adds support for upgrading projects to Android 15 (API Level 35).

Android SDK Upgrade Assistant

Updated sign-in flow to Google services

It's now easier to sign in to multiple Google services with one authentication step. Whether you use Gemini in Android Studio, Firebase for Android Device Streaming, Crashlytics in App Quality Insights, Google Play for Android Vitals reports, or some combination of these services, the new sign-in flow makes it easier to get up and running. With granular permissions scoping, you'll always be in control of which services have access to your account. To get started, click the profile avatar on the top right corner and sign-in with your developer account.

Updated sign-in wizard

Wear OS Tile Preview Panel

You can now view snapshots of your Wear OS app's tiles by including version 1.4 of the Jetpack Tiles library. This preview panel is particularly useful if your tile's appearance changes based on certain conditions, such as content that depends on the device's display size, or a sports event reaching halftime.

Wear OS Tile Preview Panel

Compose Glance widget previews

Android Studio Koala Feature Drop makes it easy to preview your Jetpack Compose Glance widgets directly within the IDE. You can even use multi-previews to preview at standard widget sizes and their designed widget breakpoints (sample code). Catch potential UI issues and fine-tune your widget's appearance early in the development process or while debugging any UI issues. Learn more.

Previews for Compose Glance widgets

Live Edit (Compose)

Live Edit is now enabled in manual mode by default. It has increased stability and more robust change detection, including support for import statements. Note that starting with Android Studio Koala Feature Drop, the default shortcut to push your changes in manual mode has been updated to Control+' (Command+' on macOS). You can customize the shortcut on the Keymap settings page.

Making an update with Live Edit in manual mode

Debug

USB Cable Speed Detection

Android Studio now detects when it's possible to connect your Android device with a faster USB cable and suggests an upgrade that maximizes your device capabilities. Using an appropriate USB cable optimizes app installation time and minimizes latency when using tools such as the Android Studio debugger. USB cable speed detection is currently available for macOS and Linux. Learn more.

While most readily available USB cables are still the older USB 2.0 standard, the majority of modern devices support the significantly faster USB 3.0. Upgrading to a USB 3.0 cable can potentially increase your data transfer speeds up to 10x.

USB cable speed detection

Device UI Shortcuts

To help you build and debug your UI, we've introduced Device UI shortcuts button action in the Running Devices tool window in Android Studio. Use the shortcuts to view the effect of common UI settings such as dark theme, font size, screen size, app language and TalkBack. You can use the shortcuts with emulators, mirrored physical devices, and devices streamed from Firebase Test Lab. Device UI shortcuts are available for devices running API level 33 or higher. Learn more.

Device UI Setting Shortcuts in Running Device Window

Pixel 8a in Emulator

The Android Emulator (35.1+) now supports the Pixel 8a in the stable channel, enabling you to test your apps on more Pixel devices without needing a physical device. Find the new Pixel 8a in the phone category when you create a new virtual device. Additionally, you can find Pixel 9 devices in the canary release channel of Android Studio.

Pixel 8a in Emulator

Optimize

Faster and improved Profiler with a task-centric approach

Popular performance optimization tasks like capturing a system trace with profileable apps now start up to 60% faster^*. The Profiler's task-centric redesign also makes it easier to start the task you're interested in, whether it's profiling your app's CPU, memory, or power usage. For example, you can start a system trace task to profile and improve your app's startup time right from the UI as soon as you open the Profiler.

Faster and improved Profiler with a task-centric approach* Based on internal data, as tested in April 2024

Quality improvements

Beyond new features, we also continue to improve the overall quality and stability of Android Studio. In fact, the Android Studio team addressed over 520 bugs during the Koala Feature Drop development cycle.

IntelliJ platform update

Android Studio Koala Feature Drop (2024.1.2) includes the IntelliJ 2024.1 platform release, which has many new features such as comprehensive support for the latest Java** 22 features, an improved terminal, and sticky lines in the editor to simplify working with large files and exploring new codebases.

The improved terminal features a fresh new look, with commands separated into distinct blocks, along with an expanded set of features, such as smooth navigation between blocks, command completion, and easy access to the command history. Learn more.

Sticky lines in the editor keeps key structural elements, like the beginnings of classes or methods, pinned to the top of the editor as you scroll and provides an option to promptly navigate through the code by clicking on a pinned line. Learn more.

Basic IDE functionalities like code highlighting and completion now work for Java and Kotlin during project indexing, which should enhance your startup experience.

See the full release notes here.

Summary

To recap, Android Studio Koala Feature Drop includes the following enhancements and features:

Develop

Android Device Streaming: more devices and improved sign-up

Target Android 15 using Android SDK Upgrade Assistant

Updated sign-in flow to Google services

Wear OS Tile Preview Panel

Compose Glance widget previews

Live Edit (Compose)

Debug

USB Cable Speed Detection

Device UI Settings Picker

Pixel 8a in Emulator

Optimize

New Task UX for Profilers

Quality Improvements

520+ bugs addressed

IntelliJ Platform Update

Improved terminal

Sticky lines in the editor to simplify working with large codebases

Enhanced startup experience

Getting Started

Ready for next-level Android development? Download Android Studio Koala Feature Drop and unlock these cutting-edge features today! 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!

**Java is a trademark or registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates.

Source: Android Developers Blog

Create exceptional experiences on Pixel’s new watches and foldables

Posted by Maru Ahues Bouza – Product Management Director

Pixel just announced the latest devices coming to the Android ecosystem, including Pixel 9 Pro Fold and Pixel Watch 3. These devices bring innovation to the foldable and wearable spaces, with larger screen sizes and exceptional performance.

Not only are these devices exciting for consumers, but they are also important for developers to consider when building their apps. To prepare you for the new Pixel devices and all the innovations in large screens and wearables, we’re diving into everything you need to know about building adaptive UIs, creating great Wear OS 5 experiences, and enhancing your app for larger watch displays.

Building for Pixel 9 Pro Fold with Adaptive UIs

Pixel unveiled their new foldable, Pixel 9 Pro Fold with Gemini, at Made By Google. This device has the largest inner display on a phone¹ and is 80% brighter than last year’s Pixel Fold. When it’s folded, it’s just like a regular phone, with a 6.3-inch front display. Users have options for how to engage and multitask based on the screen they are using and the folded state of their device - meaning there are multiple different experiences that developers should be considering when building their apps.

Developers can help their app look great across the four different postures – inner, front, tabletop, and tent – available on Pixel 9 Pro Fold by making their app adaptive. By dynamically adjusting their layouts—swapping components and showing or hiding content based on the available window size rather than simply stretching UI elements—adaptive apps take full advantage of the available window size to provide a great user experience.

When building an adaptive app, our core guidance remains the same – use WindowSizeClasses to define specific breakpoints for your UI. Window size classes enable you to change your app layout as the display space available to your app changes, for example, when a device folds or unfolds, the device orientation changes, or the app window is resized in multi‑window mode.

Announced at Google I/O 2024, we’ve introduced APIs that, under the hood, take advantage of these WindowSizeClasses for you. These APIs provide a new way to implement common adaptive layouts in Compose. The three components in the library – NavigationSuiteScaffold, ListDetailPaneScaffold, and SupportingPaneScaffold – are designed to help you build an adaptive app with UI that looks great across window sizes.

Finally, developers who want to build a truly exceptional experience for foldables should consider supporting tabletop mode, where the phone sits on a surface, the hinge is in a horizontal position, and the foldable screen is half opened. You can use the Jetpack WindowManager library, leveraging FoldingFeature.State and FoldingFeature.Orientation to determine whether the device is in tabletop mode. Once you know the posture the device is in, update your app layout accordingly. For example, media apps that adapt to tabletop mode typically show audio information or a video above the fold and include controls and supplementary content just below the fold for a hands-free viewing or listening experience.

Asphalt Legends Unite (Gameloft)

Even games are making use of foldable features: from racing games like Asphalt Legends Unite and Disney Speedstorm to action games like Modern Combat 5 and Dungeon Hunter 5, Gameloft optimized their games so that you can play not just in full-screen but also in split-view tabletop mode which provides a handheld game console experience. With helpful features like detailed game maps and enhanced controls for more immersive gameplay, you’ll be drifting around corners, leveling up your character, and beating the bad guys in record time!

Preparing for Pixel Watch 3: Wear OS 5 and Larger Displays

Pixel Watch 3 is the latest smartwatch engineered by Google, designed for performance inside and out. With this new device, there are also new considerations for developers. Pixel Watch 3 rings in the stable release of Wear OS 5, the latest platform version, and has the largest display ever from the Pixel Watch series - meaning developers should think about the updates introduced in Wear OS 5 and how their UI will look on varied display sizes.

Wear OS 5 is based on Android 14, so developers should take note of the system behavior changes specific to Android 14. The system includes support for the privacy dashboard, giving users a centralized view of the data usage for all apps running on Wear OS 5. For apps that have updated their target SDK version to Android 14, there are a few additional changes. For example, the system moves always-on apps to the background after they're visible in ambient mode for a certain period of time. Additionally, watches that launch with Wear OS 5 or higher will only support watch faces that use the Watch Face Format, so we recommend that developers migrate to using the format. You can see all the behavior changes you should prepare your app for.

Another important consideration for developers is that the Pixel Watch 3 is available in two sizes, 41 mm and 45 mm. Both sizes offer more display space than ever², having 16% smaller bezels, which gives the 41 mm watch 10% more screen area and the 45 mm watch 40% more screen area than on the Pixel Watch 2! As a developer, review and apply the principles on building adaptive layouts to give users an optimal experience. We created tools and guidance on how to develop apps and tiles for different screen sizes. This guidance will help to build responsive layouts on the wrist using the latest Jetpack libraries, and make use of Android Studio’s preview support and screenshot testing to confirm that your app works well across all screens.

Learn more about all these exciting updates in the Building for the future of Wear OS technical session, shared during this year’s Google I/O event.

Learn more about how to get started preparing your app

With these new announcements from Pixel, it’s a great time to make sure your app looks great on all the screens your users love most. Get your app ready for large screens by building adaptive layouts and learn more about all things Wear OS on our Wear OS developer site. For game developers, be sure to read our large screen game optimization guide and check the sample project to learn the best practices for leveling up your game for large screen and foldable devices.

For even more of the latest from Android, tune into the Android Show on August 27th. We’ll talk about Wear OS, adaptive apps, Jetpack Compose, and more!

1 Among foldable phones in the United States. Based on inner display.

2 Compared with Pixel Watch 2.

Source: Android Developers Blog

Android Device Streaming: Announcing Early Access to Samsung, Xiaomi, and Oppo Device Labs

Posted by Grant Yang (Product Manager for OmniLab) & Adarsh Fernando (Product Manager for Android Studio)

At Google I/O 2024, we announced Android Device Streaming in open beta, which allows you as a developer to more easily access and interactively test your app on real physical devices located in Google data centers and streamed directly to Android Studio. This enables teams in any location to access a variety of devices across top Android device manufacturers, including the latest family of Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy series devices.

We’re significantly expanding on the diversity of devices available in this service by working closely with Android device manufacturers (also known as original equipment manufacturers, or OEMs)—such as Samsung, Xiaomi, and Oppo—to connect their device labs to Android Device Streaming, so you can access even more physical devices directly in your workflow in Android Studio. This integration is offered with the same performance, stability, and security benefits you get with devices provided by Google. Keep reading for more details below, as well as how you can sign up for the early access and take advantage of these new devices.

screen grab of Device Streaming in Android Studio

Access devices hosted by Google and other OEMs, such as Samsung, with Android Device Streaming, powered by Firebase

Signup for Early Access to OEM Lab Devices

If you haven’t already done so, follow the steps to get up and running with the beta release of Android Device Streaming, which will give you access to all the Google-hosted devices to test with directly from Android Studio. Later this year, we will start an Early Access Program that allows participants to use Android Device Streaming to connect to devices hosted by our OEM partners. This expands the catalog of test devices available to you with Android Device Streaming.

To kick off this program, we’re first partnering with Samsung, Xiaomi, and Oppo. These labs will be situated in various locations around the world, and you will be able to use the Firebase project you’re already using with Android Device Streaming in Android Studio to access them. Your Firebase project’s administrator will have control to enable or disable individual OEM labs.

If you’d like to participate in the EAP for accessing OEM device labs, fill out this form, and we will let you know if you and your team have been accepted. During the EAP, OEM-provided devices will not be billed or counted against your promotional monthly quota.

We look forward to sharing more details during Google’s I/O Connect Beijing in early August 2024.

In the meantime, we encourage you to try out the devices currently available in Android Device Streaming. Currently, the Android Device Streaming program is in a promotional period, with a higher amount of monthly minutes offered at no cost, which will last until approximately February 2025.

OEM Labs powered by OmniLab

Some of you may wonder how these devices are being connected through to Android Studio. Under the hood, Android Device Streaming is built on top of the device platform for Google, OmniLab. OmniLab, the same device platform that powers all internal device labs, is also powering the OEM labs. Omnilab did this by open sourcing their Android Test Station (ATS) framework available to its open source.

OmniLab provides a framework to ensure that your Android Device Streaming session is secure and performant. You’re able to deploy, debug, and interact with your app on these remote devices through a direct ADB over SSL connection, all without having to leave the IDE. And when the session ends, the device data is fully wiped and factory reset before it’s made available to another developer.

In summary, if you’d like to participate in the EAP for accessing OEM device labs, fill out this form, and we will let you know if you and your team have been accepted. During the EAP, OEM-provided devices will not be billed or counted against your promotional monthly quota.

Be part of our vibrant community on LinkedIn, Medium, YouTube, or X and share your experiences on using Android Device streaming in Android Studio.