Take this quiz about Google I/O 2025 to see how well you know what we announced this year at I/O.
How well do you know our I/O 2025 announcements?
Take this quiz about Google I/O 2025 to see how well you know what we announced this year at I/O.
Tag Archives: Android
Take this quiz about Google I/O 2025 to see how well you know what we announced this year at I/O.
Announcing Kotlin Multiplatform Shared Module Template
Posted by Ben Trengrove - Developer Relations Engineer, Matt Dyor - Product Manager
Shared Module Templates are found under the New Module tab
Posted by Ben Trengrove - Developer Relations Engineer, Matt Dyor - Product Manager
To empower Android developers, we’re excited to announce Android Studio’s new Kotlin Multiplatform (KMP) Shared Module Template. This template was specifically designed to allow developers to use a single codebase and apply business logic across platforms. More specifically, developers will be able to add shared modules to existing Android apps and share the business logic across their Android and iOS applications.
This makes it easier for Android developers to craft, maintain, and most importantly, own the business logic. The KMP Shared Module Template is available within Android Studio when you create a new module within a project.
A single code base for business logic
Most developers have grown accustomed to maintaining different code bases, platform to platform. In the past, whenever there’s an update to the business logic, it must be carefully updated in each codebase. But with the KMP Shared Module Template:
- Developers can write once and publish the business logic to wherever they need it.
- Engineering teams can do more faster.
- User experiences are more consistent across the entire audience, regardless of platform or form factor.
- Releases are better coordinated and launched with fewer errors.
Customers and developer teams who adopt KMP Shared Module Templates should expect to achieve greater ROI from mobile teams who can turn their attention towards delighting their users more and worrying about inconsistent code less.
KMP enthusiasm
The Android developer community remains very excited about KMP, especially after Google I/O 2024 where Google announced official support for shared logic across Android and iOS. We have seen continued momentum and enthusiasm from the community. For example, there are now over 1,500 KMP libraries listed on JetBrains' klibs.io.
Our customers are excited because KMP has made Android developers more productive. Consistently, Android developers have said that they want solutions that allow them to share code more easily and they want tools which boost productivity. This is why we recommend KMP; KMP simultaneously delivers a great experience for Android users while boosting ROI for the app makers. The KMP Shared Module Template is the latest step towards a developer ecosystem where user experience is consistent and applications are updated seamlessly.
Large scale KMP adoptions
This KMP Shared Module Template is new, but KMP more broadly is a maturing technology with several large-scale migrations underway. In fact, KMP has matured enough to support mission critical applications at Google. Google Docs, for example, is now running KMP in production on iOS with runtime performance on par or better than before. Beyond Google, Stone’s 130 mobile developers are sharing over 50% of their code, allowing existing mobile teams to ship features approximately 40% faster to both Android and iOS.
KMP was designed for Android development
As always, we've designed the Shared Module Template with the needs of Android developer teams in mind. Making the KMP Shared Module Template part of the native Android Studio experience allows developers to efficiently add a shared module to an existing Android application and immediately start building shared business logic that leverages several KMP-ready Jetpack libraries including Room, SQLite, and DataStore to name just a few.
Come check it out at KotlinConf
Releasing Android Studio’s KMP Shared Module Template marks a significant step toward empowering Android development teams to innovate faster, to efficiently manage business logic, and to build high-quality applications with greater confidence. It means that Android developers can be responsible for the code that drives the business logic for every app across Android and iOS. We’re excited to bring Shared Module Template to KotlinConf in Copenhagen, May 21 - 23.
Get started with KMP Shared Module Template
To get started, you'll need the latest edition of Android Studio. In your Android project, the Shared Module Template is available within Android Studio when you create a new module. Click on “File” then “New” then “New Module” and finally “Kotlin Multiplatform Shared Module” and you are ready to add a KMP Shared Module to your Android app.
We appreciate any feedback on things you like or features you would like to see. If you find a bug, please report the issue. Remember to also follow us on X, LinkedIn, Blog, or YouTube for more Android development updates!
Source: Android Developers Blog
Peacock built adaptively on Android to deliver great experiences across screens
Posted by Sa-ryong Kang and Miguel Montemayor - Developer Relations Engineers
Disclaimer: Peacock is available in the US only. This video will only be viewable to US viewers.
Peacock is NBCUniversal’s streaming service app available in the US, offering culture-defining entertainment including live sports, exclusive original content, TV shows, and blockbuster movies. The app continues to evolve, becoming more than just a platform to watch content, but a hub of entertainment.
Today’s users are consuming entertainment on an increasingly wider array of device sizes and types, and in particular are moving towards mobile devices. Peacock has adopted Jetpack Compose to help with its journey in adapting to more screens and meeting users where they are.
Adapting to more flexible form factors
The Peacock development team is focused on bringing the best experience to users, no matter what device they’re using or when they want to consume content. With an emerging trend from app users to watch more on mobile devices and large screens like foldables, the Peacock app needs to be able to adapt to different screen sizes. As more devices are introduced, the team needed to explore new solutions that make the most out of each unique display permutation.
The goal was to have the Peacock app to adapt to these new displays while continually offering high-quality entertainment without interruptions, like the stream reloading or visual errors. While thinking ahead, they also wanted to prepare and build a solution that was ready for Android XR as the entertainment landscape is shifting towards including more immersive experiences.
Building a future-proof experience with Jetpack Compose
In order to build a scalable solution that would help the Peacock app continue to evolve, the app was migrated to Jetpack Compose, Android’s toolkit for building scalable UI. One of the essential tools they used was the WindowSizeClass API, which helps developers create and test UI layouts for different size ranges. This API then allows the app to seamlessly switch between pre-set layouts as it reaches established viewport breakpoints for different window sizes.
The API was used in conjunction with Kotlin Coroutines and Flows to keep the UI state responsive as the window size changed. To test their work and fine tune edge case devices, Peacock used the Android Studio emulator to simulate a wide range of Android-based devices.
Jetpack Compose allowed the team to build adaptively, so now the Peacock app responds to a wide variety of screens while offering a seamless experience to Android users. “The app feels more native, more fluid, and more intuitive across all form factors,” said Diego Valente, Head of Mobile, Peacock and Global Streaming. “That means users can start watching on a smaller screen and continue instantly on a larger one when they unfold the device—no reloads, no friction. It just works.”
Preparing for immersive entertainment experiences
In building adaptive apps on Android, John Jelley, Senior Vice President, Product & UX, Peacock and Global Streaming, says Peacock has also laid the groundwork to quickly adapt to the Android XR platform: “Android XR builds on the same large screen principles, our investment here naturally extends to those emerging experiences with less developmental work.”
The team is excited about the prospect of features unlocked by Android XR, like Multiview for sports and TV, which enables users to watch multiple games or camera angles at once. By tailoring spatial windows to the user’s environment, the app could offer new ways for users to interact with contextual metadata like sports stats or actor information—all without ever interrupting their experience.
Build adaptive apps
Learn how to unlock your app's full potential on phones, tablets, foldables, and beyond.
Explore this announcement and all Google I/O 2025 updates on io.google starting May 22.
Source: Android Developers Blog
16 things to know for Android developers at Google I/O 2025
Posted by Matthew McCullough – VP of Product Management, Android Developer
Disclaimer: Peacock is available in the US only. This video will only be viewable to US viewers.
XREAL’s Project Aura
Some examples of Material 3 Expressive on Wear OS experiences
Compose Adaptive Layouts Updates in the Google Play app
Posted by
Today at Google I/O, we announced the many ways we’re helping you build excellent, adaptive experiences, and helping you stay more productive through updates to our tooling that put AI at your fingertips and throughout your development lifecycle. Here’s a recap of 16 of our favorite announcements for Android developers; you can also see what was announced last week in The Android Show: I/O Edition. And stay tuned over the next two days as we dive into all of the topics in more detail!
Building AI into your Apps
1: Building intelligent apps with Generative AI
Generative AI enhances apps' experience by making them intelligent, personalized and agentic. This year, we announced new ML Kit GenAI APIs using Gemini Nano for common on-device tasks like summarization, proofreading, rewrite, and image description. We also provided capabilities for developers to harness more powerful models such as Gemini Pro, Gemini Flash, and Imagen via Firebase AI Logic for more complex use cases like image generation and processing extensive data across modalities, including bringing AI to life in Android XR, and a new AI sample app, Androidify, that showcases how these APIs can transform your selfies into unique Android robots! To start building intelligent experiences by leveraging these new capabilities, explore the developer documentation, sample apps, and watch the overview session to choose the right solution for your app.
New experiences across devices
2: One app, every screen: think adaptive and unlock 500 million screens
Mobile Android apps form the foundation across phones, foldables, tablets and ChromeOS, and this year we’re helping you bring them to cars and XR and expanding usages with desktop windowing and connected displays. This expansion means tapping into an ecosystem of 500 million devices – a significant opportunity to engage more users when you think adaptive, building a single mobile app that works across form factors. Resources, including Compose Layouts library and Jetpack Navigation updates, help make building these dynamic experiences easier than before. You can see how Peacock, NBCUniveral’s streaming service (available in the US) is building adaptively to meet users where they are.
3: Material 3 Expressive: design for intuition and emotion
The new Material 3 Expressive update provides tools to enhance your product's appeal by harnessing emotional UX, making it more engaging, intuitive, and desirable for users. Check out the I/O talk to learn more about expressive design and how it inspires emotion, clearly guides users toward their goals, and offers a flexible and personalized experience.
4: Smarter widgets, engaging live updates
Measure the return on investment of your widgets (available soon) and easily create personalized widget previews with Glance 1.2. Promoted Live Updates notify users of important ongoing notifications and come with a new Progress Style standardized template.
5: Enhanced Camera & Media: low light boost and battery savings
This year's I/O introduces several camera and media enhancements. These include a software low light boost for improved photography in dim lighting and native PCM offload, allowing the DSP to handle more audio playback processing, thus conserving user battery. Explore our detailed sessions on built-in effects within CameraX and Media3 for further information.
6: Build next-gen app experiences for Cars
We're launching expanded opportunities for developers to build in-car experiences, including new Gemini integrations, support for more app categories like Games and Video, and enhanced capabilities for media and communication apps via the Car App Library and new APIs. Alongside updated car app quality tiers and simplified distribution, we'll soon be providing improved testing tools like Android Automotive OS on Pixel Tablet and Firebase Test Lab access to help you bring your innovative apps to cars. Learn more from our technical session and blog post on new in-car app experiences.
7: Build for Android XR's expanding ecosystem with Developer Preview 2 of the SDK
We announced Android XR in December, and today at Google I/O we shared a bunch of updates coming to the platform including Developer Preview 2 of the Android XR SDK plus an expanding ecosystem of devices: in addition to the first Android XR headset, Samsung’s Project Moohan, you’ll also see more devices including a new portable Android XR device from our partners at XREAL. There’s lots more to cover for Android XR: Watch the Compose and AI on Android XR session, and the Building differentiated apps for Android XR with 3D content session, and learn more about building for Android XR.
8: Express yourself on Wear OS: meet Material Expressive on Wear OS 6
This year we are launching Wear OS 6: the most powerful and expressive version of Wear OS. Wear OS 6 features Material 3 Expressive, a new UI design with personalized visuals and motion for user creativity, coming to Wear, Android, and Google apps later this year. Developers gain access to Material 3 Expressive on Wear OS by utilizing new Jetpack libraries: Wear Compose Material 3, which provides components for apps and Wear ProtoLayout Material 3 which provides components and layouts for tiles. Get started with Material 3 libraries and other updates on Wear.
9: Engage users on Google TV with excellent TV apps
You can leverage more resources within Compose's core and Material libraries with the stable release of Compose for TV, empowering you to build excellent adaptive UIs across your apps. We're also thrilled to share exciting platform updates and developer tools designed to boost app engagement, including bringing Gemini capabilities to TV in the fall, opening enrollment for our Video Discovery API, and more.
Developer productivity
10: Build beautiful apps faster with Jetpack Compose
Compose is our big bet for UI development. The latest stable BOM release provides the features, performance, stability, and libraries that you need to build beautiful adaptive apps faster, so you can focus on what makes your app valuable to users.
11: Kotlin Multiplatform: new Shared Template lets you build across platforms, easily
Kotlin Multiplatform (KMP) enables teams to reach new audiences across Android and iOS with less development time. We’ve released a new Android Studio KMP shared module template, updated Jetpack libraries and new codelabs (Getting started with Kotlin Multiplatform and Migrating your Room database to KMP) to help developers who are looking to get started with KMP. Shared module templates make it easier for developers to craft, maintain, and own the business logic. Read more on what's new in Android's Kotlin Multiplatform.
12: Gemini in Android Studio: AI Agents to help you work
Gemini in Android Studio is the AI-powered coding companion that makes Android developers more productive at every stage of the dev lifecycle. In March, we introduced Image to Code to bridge the gap between UX teams and software engineers by intelligently converting design mockups into working Compose UI code. And today, we previewed new agentic AI experiences, Journeys for Android Studio and Version Upgrade Agent. These innovations make it easier to build and test code. You can read more about these updates in What’s new in Android development tools.
13: Android Studio: smarter with Gemini
In this latest release, we're empowering devs with AI-driven tools like Gemini in Android Studio, streamlining UI creation, making testing easier, and ensuring apps are future-proofed in our ever-evolving Android ecosystem. These innovations accelerate development cycles, improve app quality, and help you stay ahead in a dynamic mobile landscape. To take advantage, upgrade to the latest Studio release. You can read more about these innovations in What’s new in Android development tools.
And the latest on driving business growth
14: What’s new in Google Play
Get ready for exciting updates from Play designed to boost your discovery, engagement and revenue! Learn how we’re continuing to become a content-rich destination with enhanced personalization and fresh ways to showcase your apps and content. Plus, explore powerful new subscription features designed to streamline checkout and reduce churn. Read I/O 2025: What's new in Google Play to learn more.
15: Start migrating to Play Games Services v2 today
Play Games Services (PGS) connects over 2 billion gamer profiles on Play, powering cross-device gameplay, personalized gaming content and rewards for your players throughout the gaming journey. We are moving PGS v1 features to v2 with more advanced features and an easier integration path. Learn more about the migration timeline and new features.
16: And of course, Android 16
We unpacked some of the latest features coming to users in Android 16, which we’ve been previewing with you for the last few months. If you haven’t already, make sure to test your apps with the latest Beta of Android 16. Android 16 includes Live Updates, professional media and camera features, desktop windowing and connected displays, major accessibility enhancements and much more.
Check out all of the Android and Play content at Google I/O
This was just a preview of some of the cool updates for Android developers at Google I/O, but stay tuned to Google I/O over the next two days as we dive into a range of Android developer topics in more detail. You can check out the What’s New in Android and the full Android track of sessions, and whether you’re joining in person or around the world, we can’t wait to engage with you!
Explore this announcement and all Google I/O 2025 updates on io.google starting May 22.
Source: Android Developers Blog
Android’s Kotlin Multiplatform announcements at Google I/O and KotlinConf 25
Posted by Ben Trengrove - Developer Relations Engineer, Matt Dyor - Product Manager
1 Google Internal Data, March 2025
Posted by Ben Trengrove - Developer Relations Engineer, Matt Dyor - Product Manager
Google I/O and KotlinConf 2025 bring a series of announcements on Android’s Kotlin and Kotlin Multiplatform efforts. Here’s what to watch out for:
Announcements from Google I/O 2025
Jetpack libraries
Our focus for Jetpack libraries and KMP is on sharing business logic across Android and iOS, but we have begun experimenting with web/WASM support.We are adding KMP support to Jetpack libraries. Last year we started with Room, DataStore and Collection, which are now available in a stable release and recently we have added ViewModel, SavedState and Paging. The levels of support that our Jetpack libraries guarantee for each platform have been categorised into three tiers, with the top tier being for Android, iOS and JVM.
Tool improvements
We're developing new tools to help easily start using KMP in your app. With the KMP new module template in Android Studio Meerkat, you can add a new module to an existing app and share code to iOS and other supported KMP platforms.
In addition to KMP enhancements, Android Studio now supports Kotlin K2 mode for Android specific features requiring language support such as Live Edit, Compose Preview and many more.
How Google is using KMP
Last year, Google Workspace began experimenting with KMP, and this is now running in production in the Google Docs app on iOS. The app’s runtime performance is on par or better than before1.
It’s been helpful to have an app at this scale test KMP out, because we’re able to identify issues and fix issues that benefit the KMP developer community.
For example, we've upgraded the Kotlin Native compiler to LLVM 16 and contributed a more efficient garbage collector and string implementation. We're also bringing the static analysis power of Android Lint to Kotlin targets and ensuring a unified Gradle DSL for both AGP and KGP to improve the plugin management experience.
New guidance
We're providing comprehensive guidance in the form of two new codelabs: Getting started with Kotlin Multiplatform and Migrating your Room database to KMP, to help you get from standalone Android and iOS apps to shared business logic.
Kotlin Improvements
Kotlin Symbol Processing (KSP2) is stable to better support new Kotlin language features and deliver better performance. It is easier to integrate with build systems, is thread-safe, and has better support for debugging annotation processors. In contrast to KSP1, KSP2 has much better compatibility across different Kotlin versions. The rewritten command line interface also becomes significantly easier to use as it is now a standalone program instead of a compiler plugin.
KotlinConf 2025
Google team members are presenting a number of talks at KotlinConf spanning multiple topics:
Talks
- Deploying KMP at Google Workspace by Jason Parachoniak, Troels Lund, and Johan Bay from the Workspace team discusses the challenges and solutions, including bugs and performance optimizations, encountered when launching Kotlin Multiplatform at Google Workspace, offering comparisons to ObjectiveC and a Q&A. (Technical Session)
- The Life and Death of a Kotlin/Native Object by Troels Lund offers a high-level explanation of the Kotlin/Native runtime's inner workings concerning object instantiation, memory management, and disposal. (Technical Session)
- APIs: How Hard Can They Be? presented by Aurimas Liutikas and Alan Viverette from the Jetpack team delves into the lifecycle of API design, review processes, and evolution within AndroidX libraries, particularly considering KMP and related tools. (Technical Session)
- Project Sparkles: How Compose for Desktop is changing Android Studio and IntelliJ with Chris Sinco and Sebastiano Poggi from the Android Studio team introduces the initiative ('Project Sparkles') aiming to modernize Android Studio and IntelliJ UIs using Compose for Desktop, covering goals, examples, and collaborations. (Technical Session)
- JSpecify: Java Nullness Annotations and Kotlin presented by David Baker explains the significance and workings of JSpecify's standard Java nullness annotations for enhancing Kotlin's interoperability with Java libraries. (Lightning Session)
- Lessons learned decoupling Architecture Components from platform specific code features Jeremy Woods and Marcello Galhardo from the Jetpack team sharing insights from the Android team on decoupling core components like SavedState and System Back from platform specifics to create common APIs. (Technical Session)
- KotlinConf’s Closing Panel, a regular staple of the conference, returns, featuring Jeffrey van Gogh as Google’s representative on the panel. (Panel)
Live Workshops
If you are at KotlinConf in person, we will have guided live workshops with our new codelabs from above.
- The codelab Get Started With Kotlin Multiplatform for Shared Business Logic, offered by Matt Dyor, Dustin Lam, and Tomáš Mlynarič, provides hands-on guidance for extracting business logic from native Android and iOS apps into a shared KMP module.
- The codelab Migrating Room to Room KMP, also led by Matt Dyor, and Dustin Lam, Tomáš Mlynarič, demonstrates the process of migrating an existing Room database implementation to Room KMP within a shared module.
We love engaging with the Kotlin community. If you are attending KotlinConf, we hope you get a chance to check out our booth, with opportunities to chat with our engineers, get your questions answered, and learn more about how you can leverage Kotlin and KMP.
Learn more about Kotlin Multiplatform
To learn more about KMP and start sharing your business logic across platforms, check out our documentation and the sample.
Explore this announcement and all Google I/O 2025 updates on io.google starting May 22.
1 Google Internal Data, March 2025
Source: Android Developers Blog
Announcing Jetpack Navigation 3
Posted by Don Turner - Developer Relations Engineer
Figure 1. Changing from single pane to multi-pane layouts can create navigational challenges
Figure 2. The Nav3 display observes changes to the developer-owned back stack.
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.
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.
Key features
- Animations: Built-in transition animations are provided for changes in destination, including for predictive back. It also has a flexible API for custom animation behavior, allowing animations to be overridden at both the app and the individual screen level.
- 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.
- State scoping: Enables state to be scoped to destinations on the back stack, including optional ViewModel support via a dedicated Jetpack lifecycle library.
- 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.
- common navigation UI, such as a navigation rail or bar
- conditional navigation, such as a login flow
- custom layouts using Scenes
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:
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.
Source: Android Developers Blog
Updates to the Android XR SDK: Introducing Developer Preview 2
Posted by Matthew McCullough – VP of Product Management, Android Developer
Building differentiated apps for Android XR with 3D content and The future is now, with Compose and AI on Android XR 
An app adapts to XR using Material Design for XR with the new component overrides
Hands bring a natural input method to your Android XR experience.
The Android XR Emulator is now integrated in Android Studio
Google’s open-source Unity samples demonstrate platform features and show how they’re implemented
XREAL’s Project Aura
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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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:
- Install and test your existing app in the Android XR Emulator
- Learn how to package and distribute apps for Android XR
- New! Make your XR app stand out from others on Play Store with preview assets such as stereoscopic 180° or 360° videos, as well as screenshots, app description, and non-spatial video.
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.
Source: Android Developers Blog
Google I/O 2025: What’s new in Android development tools
Posted by Mayank Jain – Product Manager, Android Studio
Journeys for Android Studio uses Gemini to test your app.
Crash analysis with Gemini
AI features in Studio Labs
Prompt Library Improvements
Compose preview navigation improvements
Compose preview picker
Resizable Preview
Embedded XR Emulator
Streamlined testing with Backup and Restore support
Android’s transition to 16 KB page size
Backup and Sync your Studio settings
Version Upgrade Agent
Agent Mode
Play Policy Insights beta in Android Studio
Posted by
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.
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!
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.
Compose preview generation with Gemini
Transform UI with Gemini
Image attachment in Gemini
@File context in 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Source: Android Developers Blog
Google I/O 2025: Build adaptive Android apps that shine across form factors
Posted by Fahd Imtiaz – Product Manager, Android Developer
*Source: internal Google data
If your app isn’t built to adapt, you’re missing out on the opportunity to reach a giant swath of users across 500 million devices! At Google I/O this year, we are exploring how adaptive development isn’t just a good idea, but essential to building apps that shine across the expanding Android device ecosystem. This is your guide to meeting users wherever they are, with experiences that are perfectly tailored to their needs.
The advantage of building adaptive
In today's multi-device world, users expect their favorite applications to work flawlessly and intuitively, whether they're on a smartphone, tablet, or Chromebook. This expectation for seamless experiences isn't just about convenience; it's an important factor for user engagement and retention.
For example, entertainment apps (including Prime Video, Netflix, and Hulu) users on both phone and tablet spend almost 200% more time in-app (nearly 3x engagement) than phone-only users in the US*.
Peacock, NBCUniversal’s streaming service has seen a trend of users moving between mobile and large screens and building adaptively enables a single build to work across the different form factors.
“This allows Peacock to have more time to innovate faster and deliver more value to its customers.”– Diego Valente, Head of Mobile, Peacock and Global Streaming
Adaptive Android development offers the strategic solution, enabling apps to perform effectively across an expanding array of devices and contexts through intelligent design choices that emphasize code reuse and scalability. With Android's continuous growth into new form factors and upcoming enhancements such as desktop windowing and connected displays in Android 16, an app's ability to seamlessly adapt to different screen sizes is becoming increasingly crucial for retaining users and staying competitive.
Beyond direct user benefits, designing adaptively also translates to increased visibility. The Google Play Store actively helps promote developers whose apps excel on different form factors. If your application delivers a great experience on tablets or is excellent on ChromeOS, users on those devices will have an easier time discovering your app. This creates a win-win situation: better quality apps for users and a broader audience for you.
Latest in adaptive Android development from Google I/O
To help you more effectively build compelling adaptive experiences, we shared several key updates at I/O this year.
Build for the expanding Android device ecosystem
Your mobile apps can now reach users beyond phones on over 500 million active devices, including foldables, tablets, Chromebooks, and even compatible cars, with minimal changes. Android 16 introduces significant advancements in desktop windowing for a true desktop-like experience on large screens and when devices are connected to external displays. And, Android XR is opening a new dimension, allowing your existing mobile apps to be available in immersive virtual environments.
The mindset shift to Adaptive
With the expanding Android device ecosystem, adaptive app development is a fundamental strategy. It's about how the same mobile app runs well across phones, foldables, tablets, Chromebooks, connected displays, XR, and cars, laying a strong foundation for future devices and differentiating for specific form factors. You don't need to rebuild your app for each form factor; but rather make small, iterative changes, as needed, when needed. Embracing this adaptive mindset today isn't just about keeping pace; it's about leading the charge in delivering exceptional user experiences across the entire Android ecosystem.
Leverage powerful tools and libraries to build adaptive apps:
- Compose Adaptive Layouts library: This library makes adaptive development easier by allowing your app code to fit into canonical layout patterns like list-detail and supporting pane, that automatically reflow as your app is resized, flipped or folded. In the 1.1 release, we introduced pane expansion, allowing users to resize panes. The Socialite demo app showcased how one codebase using this library can adapt across six form factors. New adaptation strategies like "Levitate" (elevating a pane, e.g., into a dialog or bottom sheet) and "Reflow" (reorganizing panes on the same level) were also announced in 1.2 (alpha). For XR, component overrides can automatically spatialize UI elements.
- Jetpack Navigation 3 (Alpha): This new navigation library simplifies defining user journeys across screens with less boilerplate code, especially for multi-pane layouts in Compose. It helps handle scenarios where list and detail panes might be separate destinations on smaller screens but shown together on larger ones. Check out the new Jetpack Navigation library in alpha.
- Jetpack Compose input enhancements: Compose's layered architecture, strong input support, and single location for layout logic simplify creating adaptive UIs. Upcoming in Compose 1.9 are right-click context menus and enhanced trackpad/mouse functionality.
- Window Size Classes: Use window size classes for top-level layout decisions. AndroidX.window 1.5 introduces two new width size classes – "large" (1200dp to 1600dp) and "extra-large" (1600dp and larger) – providing more granular breakpoints for large screens. This helps in deciding when to expand navigation rails or show three panes of content. Support for these new breakpoints was also announced in the Compose adaptive layouts library 1.2 alpha, along with design guidance.
- Compose previews: Get quick feedback by visualizing your layouts across a wide variety of screen sizes and aspect ratios. You can also specify different devices by name to preview your UI on their respective sizes and with their inset values.
- Testing adaptive layouts: Validating your adaptive layouts is crucial and Android Studio offers various tools for testing – including previews for different sizes and aspect ratios, a resizable emulator to test across different screen sizes with a single AVD, screenshot tests, and instrumental behavior tests. And with Journeys with Gemini in Android Studio, you can define tests using natural language for even more robust testing across different window sizes.
Ensuring app availability across devices
Avoid unnecessarily declaring required features (like specific cameras or GPS) in your manifest, as this can prevent your app from appearing in the Play Store on devices that lack those specific hardware components but could otherwise run your app perfectly.
Handling different input methods
Remember to handle various input methods like touch, keyboard, and mouse, especially with Chromebook detachables and connected displays.
Prepare for orientation and resizability API changes in Android 16
Beginning in Android 16, for apps targeting SDK 36, manifest and runtime restrictions on orientation, resizability, and aspect ratio will be ignored on displays that are at least 600dp in both dimensions. To meet user expectations, your apps will need layouts that work for both portrait and landscape windows, and support resizing at runtime. There's a temporary opt-out manifest flag at both the application and activity level to delay these changes until targetSdk 37, and these changes currently do not apply to apps categorized as "Games". Learn more about these API changes.
Adaptive considerations for games
Games need to be adaptive too and Unity 6 will add enhanced support for configuration handling, including APIs for screenshots, aspect ratio, and density. Success stories like Asphalt Legends Unite show significant user retention increases on foldables after implementing adaptive features.
Start building adaptive today
Now is the time to elevate your Android apps, making them intuitively responsive across form factors. With the latest tools and updates we’re introducing, you have the power to build experiences that seamlessly flow across all devices, from foldables to cars and beyond. Implementing these strategies will allow you to expand your reach and delight users across the Android ecosystem.
Get inspired by the “Adaptive Android development makes your app shine across devices” talk, and explore all the resources you’ll need to start your journey at developer.android.com/adaptive-apps!
Explore this announcement and all Google I/O 2025 updates on io.google starting May 22.
*Source: internal Google data
Source: Android Developers Blog
I/O 2025: What’s new in Google Play
Posted by Paul Feng, VP of Product Management, Google Play
You'll soon be able to halt fully live releases directly from Play Console and the Publishing API, stopping the distribution of problematic versions to new users.
Our curated spaces add daily content to foster repeat discovery and engagement.
New topic browse pages for media and entertainment are rolling out this month in the US.
We're enhancing how your content is displayed on the Play Store, offering new ways to showcase your app and drive user engagement.
Engage SDK now supports Collections for Travel. Users can find timely itineraries and recent searches, all in one convenient place.
You can now sell base subscriptions and add-ons together in a single, streamlined transaction.
To help reduce voluntary churn, we’re showcasing your subscriptions benefits across Play.
Posted by Paul Feng, VP of Product Management, Google Play
At Google Play, we're dedicated to helping people discover experiences they'll love, while empowering developers like you to bring your ideas to life and build successful businesses.
At this year’s Google I/O, we unveiled the latest ways we’re empowering your success with new tools that provide robust testing and actionable insights. We also showcased how we’re continuing to build a content-rich Play Store that fosters repeat engagement alongside new subscription capabilities that streamline checkout and reduce churn.
Check out all the exciting developments from I/O below and learn how they'll help you grow your business on Google Play.
Helping you succeed every step of the way
Last month, we introduced our latest Play Console updates focused on improving quality and performance. A redesigned app dashboard centered around four developer objectives (Test and release, Monitor and improve, Grow users, Monetize) and new Android vitals metrics offer quick insights and actionable suggestions to proactively improve the user experience.
Get more actionable insights with new Play Console overview pages
Building on these updates, we've launched dedicated overview pages for two developer objectives: Test and release and Monitor and improve. These new pages bring together more objective-related metrics, relevant features, and a "Take action" section with contextual, dynamic advice. Overview pages for Grow and Monetize will be coming soon.
Halt fully-rolled out releases when needed
Historically, a release at 100% live meant there was no turning back, leaving users stuck with a flawed version until a new update rolled out. Soon, you'll be able to halt fully-live releases, through Play Console and the Publishing API to stop the distribution of problematic versions to new users.
Optimize your store listings with better management tools and metrics
We launched two tools to enhance your store listings. The asset library makes it easy to upload, edit, and view your visual assets. Upload them from Google Drive, organize with tags, and crop for repurposing. And with new open metrics, you gain deeper insights into listing performance so you can better understand how they attract, engage, and re-engage users.
Stay ahead of threats with the Play Integrity API
We're committed to robust security and preventing abuse so you can thrive on Play’s trusted platform. The Play Integrity API continuously evolves to combat emerging threats, with these recent enhancements:
- Stronger abuse detection for all developers that leverages the latest Android hardware-security with no developer effort required.
- Device security update checks to safeguard your app’s sensitive actions like transfers or data access.
- Public beta for device recall which enables you to detect if a device is being reused for abuse or repeated actions, even after a device reset. You can express interest in this beta.
Unlocking more discovery and engagement for your apps and its content
Last year, we shared our vision for a content-rich Google Play that has already delivered strong results. Year-over-year, Apps Home has seen over a 25% increase in average monthly visitors with apps seeing a 10% growth in acquisitions and double-digit growth in app spend for those monetizing on Google Play. Building on that vision, we're introducing even more updates to elevate your discovery and engagement, both on and off the store.
For example, curated spaces, launched last year, celebrate seasonal interests like football (soccer) in Brazil and cricket in India, and evergreen interests like comics in Japan. By adding daily content—match highlights, promotions, and editorial articles directly on the Apps Home—these spaces foster discovery and engagement. Curated spaces are a hit with over 920,000 highly engaged users in Japan returning to the comics space monthly. Building on this momentum, we are expanding to more locations and categories this year.
We're launching new topic browse pages that feature timely, relevant, and visually engaging content. Users can find them throughout the Store, including Apps Home, store listing pages, and search. These pages debut this month in the US with Media & Entertainment, showcasing over 100,000 shows, movies, and select sports. More localized topic pages will roll out globally later this year.
We’re expanding Where to Watch to more markets, including the UK, Korea, Indonesia, and Mexico, to help users find and deep-link directly into their subscribed apps for movies and TV. Since launching in the US in November 2024, we've seen promising results: People who view app content through Where to Watch return to Play more frequently and increase their content search activity by 30%.
We're also enhancing how your content is displayed on the Play Store. Starting this July, all app developers can add a hero content carousel and a YouTube playlist carousel to their store listings. These formats will help showcase your best content and drive greater user engagement and discovery.
For apps best experienced through sound, we're launching audio samples on the Apps Home. A simple tap offers users a brief escape into your audio content. In early testing, audio samples made users 3x more likely to install or open an app! This feature is now available for all Health & Wellness app developers with users in the US, with more categories and markets coming soon. You can express your interest in promoting audio content.
Helping you take advantage of deeper engagement on Play, on and off the Store
Last year, we introduced Engage SDK, a unified solution to deliver personalized content and guide users to relevant in-app experiences. Integrating it unlocks surfaces like Collections, our immersive full-screen experience bringing content directly to the user's home screen.
We're rolling out updates to expand your content’s reach even further:
- Engage SDK content is coming to the Play Store this summer, in addition to existing spaces like Collections and Entertainment Space on select Android tablets.
- New content categories are now supported, starting today with Travel.
- Collections are rolling out globally to Google Play markets starting today, including Brazil, India, Indonesia, Japan, and Mexico.
Integrate with Engage SDK today to take advantage of this new expansion and boost re-engagement. Try our codelab to test the ease of publishing content with Engage SDK and express interest in the developer preview.
Maximizing your revenue with subscriptions enhancements
With over a quarter-billion subscriptions, Google Play is one of the world's largest subscriptions platforms. We're committed to helping you turn engaged users into revenue growth by continually enhancing our tools to meet evolving customer needs.
To streamline your purchase flow, we’re introducing multi-product checkout for subscriptions. This lets you sell subscription add-ons alongside base subscriptions, all under a single, aligned payment schedule. Users get a simplified experience with one price and one transaction, while you gain more control over how subscribers upgrade, downgrade, or manage their add-ons.
To help you retain more of your subscribers, we’re now showcasing subscription benefits in more places across Play – including the Subscriptions Center, in reminder emails, and during purchase and cancellation flows. This increased visibility has already reduced voluntary churn by 2%. Be sure to enter your subscription benefits in Play Console so you can leverage this powerful new capability.
Reducing involuntary churn is a key factor in optimizing your revenue. When payment methods unexpectedly decline, users might unintentionally cancel. Now, instead of immediate cancellation, you can now choose a grace period (up to 30 days) or an account hold (up to 60 days). Developers who increased the decline recovery period – from 30 to 60 days – saw an average 10% reduction in involuntary churn for renewals.
On top of this, we're expanding our commitment to get more buyers ready for purchases throughout their entire journey. This includes prompting users to set up payment methods and verification right at device setup. After setup, we've integrated prompts into highly visible areas like the Play and Google account menus. And as always, we’re continuously enabling payments in more markets and expanding payment options. Plus, our AI models now help optimize in-app transactions by suggesting the right payment method at the right time, and we're bringing buyers back with effective cart abandonment reminders.
Grow your business on Google Play
Our latest updates reinforce our commitment to fostering a thriving Google Play ecosystem. From enhanced discovery and robust tools to new monetization avenues, we're empowering you to innovate and grow. We're excited for the future we're building together and encourage you to use these new capabilities to create even more impactful experiences. Thank you for being an essential part of the Google Play community.
Explore this announcement and all Google I/O 2025 updates on io.google starting May 22.