Tag Archives: glance

Announcing Glance: Tiles for Wear OS made simple

Posted by Anna Bernbaum, Associate Product Manager


Last year we announced the Wear Tiles API. To complement that Java API, we are excited to announce that support for Wear OS Tiles has been added to Glance, a new framework built on top of Jetpack Compose designed to make it easier to build for surfaces outside your app on Android. We'd love to get your feedback on this alpha version.

Tiles provide Wear OS users easy access to the information and actions they need in order to get things done quickly. They also are one of the most used surfaces on Wear OS. Just one swipe away from the Watch Face, users can quickly access the most important information or actions from an app, like start a timer or get the latest weather forecast.


Watch face gif


Let's see how we can create a Tile with Glance: 


class HelloTileService : GlanceTileService() {
   @Composable
   override fun Content() {
       Text(text = "Hello Glance")
   }
}

The simple code above generates the Tile below.


“Hello Glance” Tile sample with Glance

“Hello Glance” Tile sample with Glance


Note: Using Glance-wear-tiles requires`minSdkVersion`>= 26.



How it works

Glance creates “glanceable” experiences across Android surfaces using a base-set of Composables. For Tiles on Wear OS, Glance translates Composables into Tiles.


Diagram: Glance structure 

Diagram: Glance structure


Glance requires Compose to be enabled and depends on Runtime, Graphics, and Unit UI Compose layers, but it’s not directly interoperable with other existing Jetpack Compose UI elements, like Compose for Wear OS.

What’s in the Alpha

This initial release introduces the main APIs to build wear Tiles:

We are working on bringing even more functionality with default theming, further Android Studio support, and more. Stay tuned for new releases.

Get started with Glance

For a quick start, take a look at the samples in the AndroidX repository. Glance works with the latest stable Android Studio, although since Glance relies on Compose Runtime, follow the steps on the Jetpack Compose docs to set it up first.

The Alpha version is your opportunity to influence the APIs, so please share your feedback and let us know your experience!

Happy Composing with Glance!

Announcing Jetpack Glance Alpha for app widgets

Posted by Marcel Pintó Biescas, Developer Relations Engineer, @marxallski

Illustration of a laptop with the Android rocket logo

Android 12 revamps a key feature for many Android users, App Widgets, making them more useful, beautiful, and discoverable (84% use at least 1 widget). Today, we’re making it even easier to build them by releasing the first alpha of Jetpack Glance, a new framework built on top of the Jetpack Compose runtime designed to make it faster and easier to build app widgets for the home screen and other surfaces.

We’d love you to give it a try and share your feedback!

Glance offers similar modern, declarative Kotlin APIs that you are used to with Jetpack Compose, helping you build beautiful, responsive app widgets with way less code.

Glance “Hello World” widget sample

Glance “Hello World” widget sample


class GreetingsWidget(private val name: String): GlanceAppWidget() {
    @Composable
    override fun Content() {
        Text(text = "Hello $name")
    }
}

class GreetingsWidgetReceiver : GlanceAppWidgetReceiver() {

    override val glanceAppWidget = GreetingsWidget("Glance")
}

How it works

Glance provides a base-set of Composables to help build “glanceable” experiences. Starting today with app widget components but with more coming. Using the Jetpack Compose runtime, Glance can translate Composables into actual RemoteViews, and display them in an app widget.


Diagram: Glance structure

Diagram: Glance structure


This means that Glance requires Compose to be enabled and depends on Runtime, Graphics, and Unit UI Compose layers, but it’s not directly interoperable with other existing Jetpack Compose UI elements. However, state or any other logic within your app can be shared to create a glanceable UI.


What's in Alpha

This initial release introduces the main APIs to enable you to build app widgets in addition to providing interoperability with existing RemoteViews.

Here’s an overview of what the library offers, at a glance:

We are working on bringing even more functionality with default theming, further Android Studio support, and more. Stay tuned for new releases.



Get started with Glance

Check out the sample on GitHub for a quick start. Glance works with the latest stable Android Studio, although since Glance relies on Compose Runtime, follow the steps on the Jetpack Compose docs to set it up first.

In addition, for a more advanced showcase, checkout the demos in the AndroidX repository.


ResponsiveAppWidget.kt demo

ResponsiveAppWidget.kt demo

The Alpha version is your opportunity to influence the APIs, so please share your feedback and let us know your experience!

Happy Composing with Glance!