Now in Android #116. Google IO program lineup, Jetpack… | by Meghan Mehta | Android Builders | Could, 2025

The Google I/O agenda is now accessible, and you may register to discover periods on AI, Android, Net, and Cloud, going down Could 20–21. The Google Keynote shall be on Could twentieth at 10:00 AM PT, with the Developer Keynote at 1:30 PM PT. You may be a part of on-line for livestreams Could 20–21, with on-demand periods and codelabs on Could 22. Classes will cowl AI developments utilizing Gemini fashions, constructing apps for a number of gadgets utilizing Google AI, and new options for internet improvement.

Jetpack Compose 1.8 is out with new options, API updates, and bug fixes. You may improve your Compose BOM model to 2025.04.01 to make use of the brand new launch.

Listed here are a number of the key updates:

• Now you can combine Autofill performance into your Compose purposes.
• The brand new autoSize parameter lets the textual content dimension adapt to the container dimension
• The onLayoutRectChanged modifier solves many use circumstances that the present onGloballyPositioned modifier does; nevertheless, it does so with a lot much less overhead.
• LookaheadScope is steady and consists of quite a few efficiency and stability enhancements, and features a new modifier, animateBounds

Take a look at the submit to be taught every little thing new in Jetpack Compose 1.8.

Android 16 Beta 4 is out, marking the ultimate scheduled replace and platform stability. The developer APIs and app-facing behaviors are finalized.

Apps focusing on Android 16 can now be made accessible in Google Play. This launch consists of the newest fixes and optimizations. Contemplate testing your apps in opposition to habits modifications round JobScheduler, broadcasts, ART, intents, 16KB web page dimension, accessibility, and Bluetooth.

Observe that if you happen to develop an SDK, library, device, or sport engine, it’s much more essential to organize any obligatory updates now to stop your downstream app and sport builders from being blocked by compatibility points and permit them to focus on the newest SDK options.

Whereas the API and behaviors are remaining and we’re very near launch, we’d nonetheless such as you to report points on the suggestions web page. The sooner we get your suggestions, the higher likelihood we’ll have the ability to handle it on this or a future launch.

The Google Play Console has a redesigned app dashboard that centralizes quality-focused metrics, serving to you enhance app efficiency and consumer expertise. The dashboard teams metrics into 4 core developer targets:

• check and launch
• monitor and enhance
• develop customers
• monetize with Play

A brand new notification heart helps you keep updated together with your account and apps. New metrics embody:

• pre-review checks for incorrect edge-to-edge rendering
• a low reminiscence kill metric
• extreme wake locks in Android vitals

To remain knowledgeable about all the newest Play Console enhancements and simply discover updates related to your workflow, discover our new What’s new in Play Console web page, the place you possibly can filter options by the 4 developer targets.

The Android Builders weblog introduced new Android Vitals metrics aiming that can assist you enhance app efficiency and battery life. The brand new metrics present fleet-wide visibility into efficiency and battery life, equipping you with the information wanted to diagnose and resolve efficiency bottlenecks. We simply launched the primary of those new metrics in beta: extreme wake locks. This metric straight addresses one of the vital vital frustrations for Android customers — extreme battery drain. By optimizing your app’s wake lock habits, you possibly can considerably improve battery life and consumer satisfaction.

We launched the extreme wake lock metric documentation to supply clear steering on decoding the metrics. Please try this web page and supply suggestions together with your use case on this new metric. Your enter is invaluable in refining these metrics earlier than their normal availability.

Android Builders Weblog launches “Testing at Scale” collection, that includes real-world testing methods and suggestions from massive apps. This collection enhances the brand new “Testing Methods” documentation and affords alternatives for builders to contribute their very own experiences. Take a look at the primary two elements posted under:

Partly 1 of the “Testing at Scale” collection Ken Yee, Senior Engineer at Netflix, tells us concerning the challenges of testing a playback app at an enormous scale and the way they’ve developed the testing technique.

Netflix’s Android app improvement prioritizes complete testing, particularly on bodily gadgets as a result of large system help. They’ve moved to native and are adopting Jetpack Compose. Their massive group makes use of unit checks (Strikt, Turbine, Mockito, Hilt, Robolectric), screenshot checks (Paparazzi, Espresso accessibility), and system checks (Espresso, UIAutomator). Minimizing flakiness (state, async code) is vital. They use a devoted system lab and are exploring emulators, Roborazzi, and modular “demo apps” to enhance testing effectivity. The group has created a customized toolchain to isolate and notify engineers of flaky checks. Function builders personal all points of testing.

Partly 2 of the “Testing at Scale” collection Ryan Harter, Employees Engineer at Dropbox, shares how the form of Dropbox’s testing pyramid modified over time, and what instruments they use to get well timed suggestions.

Dropbox’s Android app improvement group makes use of a multi-faceted testing method, emphasizing unit checks with instruments like JUnit and Paparazzi for screenshot testing. They’re reinvesting in end-to-end checks, leveraging their very own Dropshots library for full instrumentation testing and are experimenting with Compose Preview Screenshot Testing. Additionally they combine handbook testing with web-based instruments and third-party companies for situations troublesome to automate. They’re increasing Dropshots to help a number of system configurations.

Key Highlights for Compose Builders:

We’ve a bunch of recent Compose APIs in alpha:

Compose Animation Model 1.9.0-alpha01

• TabRow and ScrollableTabRow have been deprecated in favor of Major and Secondary variants of every that are extra performant and correct to spec.
• We added LocalResources composition native to question Assets. Calling LocalResources.present will recompose when the configuration modifications, so calls to APIs similar to stringResource() will return up to date values.

Compose Basis Model 1.9.0-alpha01

• Breaking change: clickable, combinedClickable, selectable, toggleable, and triStateToggleable overloads with out an Indication parameter now solely help IndicationNodeFactory cases offered utilizing LocalIndication. This alteration will apply if you recompile your usages of those modifiers utilizing this model of Compose and is required to allow improved efficiency, and permit Composable capabilities utilizing these modifiers to skip throughout recomposition.

Compose Materials Model 1.9.0-alpha01

• Textual content subject ornament field APIs are now not experimental
• runWithTimingDisabled is deprecated in favor of runWithMeasurementDisabled, which extra clearly describes the habits — all metrics are paused.

Compose Runtime Model 1.9.0-alpha01

• currentCompositeKeyHash is deprecated. Use currentCompositeKeyHashCode as a substitute.
• @Secure, @Immutable, and @StableMarker have been moved to runtime-annotation (in a appropriate manner). Now you can rely on runtime-annotation if you wish to use these annotations from libraries that don’t rely on compose.
• @RememberInComposition was added — that is an annotation that may mark constructors, capabilities, and property getters, to point that they need to not be known as straight inside composition, with out being remembered.

Compose UI Model 1.9.0-alpha01

• androidx.compose.ui.LocalSavedStateRegistryOwner is deprecated in favor of androidx.savedstate.compose.LocalSavedStateRegistryOwner.
• Modifier.keepScreenOn was added to set the show to stay awake whereas current

CustomView Model 1.2.0, CustomView-Poolingcontainer Model 1.1.0, Leanback Leanback-Choice, Model 1.2.0, Leanback-Grid Model 1.0.0, Leanback-Paging Leanback-Tab Model 1.1.0, and Print Model 1.1.0 are all launched in steady.

That’s it for this version, with Google IO program lineup, Jetpack Compose 1.8, Play Console insights Android Vitals Metrics, Testing at Scale weblog collection, and the newest in AndroidX!

Verify again quickly on your subsequent replace from the Android developer universe!