Posted by Fahd Imtiaz – Product Supervisor, Android Developer
In case your app isn’t constructed to adapt, you’re lacking out on the chance to succeed in an enormous swath of customers throughout 500 million gadgets! At Google I/O this 12 months, we’re exploring how adaptive growth isn’t simply a good suggestion, however important to constructing apps that shine throughout the increasing Android gadget ecosystem. That is your information to assembly customers wherever they’re, with experiences which are completely tailor-made to their wants.
The benefit of constructing adaptive
In at this time’s multi-device world, customers anticipate their favourite functions to work flawlessly and intuitively, whether or not they’re on a smartphone, pill, or Chromebook. This expectation for seamless experiences is not nearly comfort; it is an essential issue for consumer engagement and retention.
For instance, leisure apps (together with Prime Video, Netflix, and Hulu) customers on each cellphone and pill spend nearly 200% extra time in-app (practically 3x engagement) than phone-only customers within the US*.
Peacock, NBCUniversal’s streaming service has seen a pattern of customers shifting between cellular and enormous screens and constructing adaptively allows a single construct to work throughout the totally different type components.
“This permits Peacock to have extra time to innovate sooner and ship extra worth to its prospects.”
– Diego Valente, Head of Cellular, Peacock and World Streaming
Adaptive Android growth gives the strategic resolution, enabling apps to carry out successfully throughout an increasing array of gadgets and contexts by way of clever design selections that emphasize code reuse and scalability. With Android’s steady progress into new type components and upcoming enhancements corresponding to desktop windowing and linked shows in Android 16, an app’s capability to seamlessly adapt to totally different display sizes is turning into more and more essential for retaining customers and staying aggressive.
Past direct consumer advantages, designing adaptively additionally interprets to elevated visibility. The Google Play Retailer actively helps promote builders whose apps excel on totally different type components. In case your software delivers an amazing expertise on tablets or is great on ChromeOS, customers on these gadgets may have a better time discovering your app. This creates a win-win state of affairs: higher high quality apps for customers and a broader viewers for you.
Newest in adaptive Android growth from Google I/O
That can assist you extra successfully construct compelling adaptive experiences, we shared a number of key updates at I/O this 12 months.
Construct for the increasing Android gadget ecosystem
Your cellular apps can now attain customers past telephones on over 500 million energetic gadgets, together with foldables, tablets, Chromebooks, and even suitable vehicles, with minimal adjustments. Android 16 introduces vital developments in desktop windowing for a real desktop-like expertise on giant screens and when gadgets are linked to exterior shows. And, Android XR is opening a brand new dimension, permitting your current cellular apps to be accessible in immersive digital environments.
The mindset shift to Adaptive
With the increasing Android gadget ecosystem, adaptive app growth is a basic technique. It is about how the identical cellular app runs properly throughout telephones, foldables, tablets, Chromebooks, linked shows, XR, and vehicles, laying a robust basis for future gadgets and differentiating for particular type components. You need not rebuild your app for every type issue; however relatively make small, iterative adjustments, as wanted, when wanted. Embracing this adaptive mindset at this time is not nearly preserving tempo; it is about main the cost in delivering distinctive consumer experiences throughout the whole Android ecosystem.
Leverage highly effective instruments and libraries to construct adaptive apps:
- Compose Adaptive Layouts library: This library makes adaptive growth simpler by permitting your app code to suit into canonical format patterns like list-detail and supporting pane, that mechanically reflow as your app is resized, flipped or folded. Within the 1.1 launch, we launched pane enlargement, permitting customers to resize panes. The Socialite demo app showcased how one codebase utilizing this library can adapt throughout six type components. New adaptation methods like “Levitate” (elevating a pane, e.g., right into a dialog or backside sheet) and “Reflow” (reorganizing panes on the identical degree) have been additionally introduced in 1.2 (alpha). For XR, element overrides can mechanically spatialize UI components.
- Jetpack Navigation 3 (Alpha): This new navigation library simplifies defining consumer journeys throughout screens with much less boilerplate code, particularly for multi-pane layouts in Compose. It helps deal with eventualities the place checklist and element panes is perhaps separate locations on smaller screens however proven collectively on bigger ones. Try the brand new Jetpack Navigation library in alpha.
- Jetpack Compose enter enhancements: Compose’s layered structure, sturdy enter assist, and single location for format logic simplify creating adaptive UIs. Upcoming in Compose 1.9 are right-click context menus and enhanced trackpad/mouse performance.
- Window Dimension Courses: Use window measurement lessons for top-level format selections. AndroidX.window 1.5 introduces two new width measurement lessons – “giant” (1200dp to 1600dp) and “extra-large” (1600dp and bigger) – offering extra granular breakpoints for giant screens. This helps in deciding when to broaden navigation rails or present three panes of content material. Assist for these new breakpoints was additionally introduced within the Compose adaptive layouts library 1.2 alpha, together with design steering.
- Compose previews: Get fast suggestions by visualizing your layouts throughout all kinds of display sizes and facet ratios. You may as well specify totally different gadgets by title to preview your UI on their respective sizes and with their inset values.
- Testing adaptive layouts: Validating your adaptive layouts is essential and Android Studio gives varied instruments for testing – together with previews for various sizes and facet ratios, a resizable emulator to check throughout totally different display sizes with a single AVD, screenshot exams, and instrumental habits exams. And with Journeys with Gemini in Android Studio, you possibly can outline exams utilizing pure language for much more strong testing throughout totally different window sizes.
Making certain app availability throughout gadgets
Keep away from unnecessarily declaring required options (like particular cameras or GPS) in your manifest, as this will stop your app from showing within the Play Retailer on gadgets that lack these particular {hardware} elements however might in any other case run your app completely.
Dealing with totally different enter strategies
Bear in mind to deal with varied enter strategies like contact, keyboard, and mouse, particularly with Chromebook detachables and linked shows.
Put together for orientation and resizability API adjustments in Android 16
Starting in Android 16, for apps focusing on SDK 36, manifest and runtime restrictions on orientation, resizability, and facet ratio shall be ignored on shows which are no less than 600dp in each dimensions. To fulfill consumer expectations, your apps will want layouts that work for each portrait and panorama home windows, and assist resizing at runtime. There is a short-term opt-out manifest flag at each the applying and exercise degree to delay these adjustments till targetSdk 37, and these adjustments presently don’t apply to apps categorized as “Video games”. Be taught extra about these API adjustments.
Adaptive issues for video games
Video games should be adaptive too and Unity 6 will add enhanced assist for configuration dealing with, together with APIs for screenshots, facet ratio, and density. Success tales like Asphalt Legends Unite present vital consumer retention will increase on foldables after implementing adaptive options.
Begin constructing adaptive at this time
Now could be the time to raise your Android apps, making them intuitively responsive throughout type components. With the newest instruments and updates we’re introducing, you’ve gotten the ability to construct experiences that seamlessly movement throughout all gadgets, from foldables to vehicles and past. Implementing these methods will mean you can broaden your attain and delight customers throughout the Android ecosystem.
Get impressed by the “Adaptive Android growth makes your app shine throughout gadgets” discuss, and discover all of the sources you’ll want to begin your journey at developer.android.com/adaptive-apps!
Discover this announcement and all Google I/O 2025 updates on io.google beginning Could 22.
*Supply: inner Google information