Android has launched a brand new Canary launch channel for its early-access packages, changing the earlier developer preview mannequin. This channel offers earlier and extra constant entry to in-development platform options all year long.
The brand new Canary channel presents steady, rolling over-the-air (OTA) updates for supported Pixel gadgets, addressing earlier limitations the place previews required handbook flashing and the preview program ended as soon as a platform model reached Beta, requiring handbook flashing to enter it once more for the following cycle.
You need to use the Canary channel to:
- Entry new options and potential conduct modifications of their earliest levels.
- Combine builds into your Steady Integration (CI) methods to determine app compatibility points early.
- Obtain Canary SDKs via the SDK Supervisor and entry builds through the Android Studio Canary channel for improvement and testing.
The Canary channel operates in parallel with the prevailing Beta program. Canary builds are bleeding-edge and will include bugs or breaking modifications, making them finest suited to exploring and making an attempt out apps, slightly than major system use. The Beta channel stays because the place to focus your testing to be sure to’re prepared for the following platform launch.
You may get began by flashing your supported Pixel system utilizing the Android Flash Software or configuring the Android Emulator with a Canary picture. You possibly can present suggestions and bug stories via the Google Problem Tracker.
The newest Android Studio Narwhal Function Drop Canary launch contains “Agent Mode,” a brand new functionality that allows the AI to deal with advanced improvement duties. This function permits you to describe a purpose in pure language, and the agent formulates an execution plan that may span a number of challenge recordsdata, using IDE instruments for code modifications, constructing, and looking out.
You work together with it by describing duties after which reviewing, accepting, or rejecting the proposed modifications, with an choice for auto-approve.
Moreover, you possibly can improve Agent Mode by including your personal Gemini API key, which expands the context window to 1 million tokens with Gemini 2.5 Professional. This expanded context permits Gemini to course of extra directions and code. Enterprise tier subscribers routinely obtain this profit via their Gemini Code Help license.
Agent Mode additionally helps the Mannequin Context Protocol (MCP), offering a standardized solution to combine with exterior instruments. On this preliminary launch, MCP helps stdio transport for software interplay. You configure MCP servers through an mcp.json file in your Studio configuration listing.
Android is transitioning to 16 KB reminiscence web page sizes to reinforce app efficiency. Starting November 1, 2025, new and up to date apps developed in opposition to the NDK and concentrating on Android 15+ submitted to Google Play should assist 16 KB web page sizes. Apps developed solely with Kotlin or Java are already appropriate.
Gadgets configured for 16 KB web page sizes might even see general efficiency enhancements of 5–10%, together with sooner app launch occasions, lowered battery consumption, and faster digicam begins. Since 4KB pages are additionally aligned to 16KB boundaries, a single software binary can run on each 4 KB and 16 KB gadgets as soon as up to date.
Android Studio offers instruments to help with this transition:
Google Play is updating the way you handle one-time merchandise, introducing a brand new three-level hierarchy for outlining and promoting digital objects.
The brand new mannequin consists of:
- One-time product: Defines the merchandise being bought (e.g., “Diamond sword”).
- Buy choice: Dictates how the merchandise is granted, its worth, and availability. Now you can use “purchase” or “lease” choices.
- Provide: Modifies a purchase order choice, enabling options like reductions or pre-orders.
This lets you promote the identical product in a number of methods. New capabilities embody configuring rental durations, organising pre-orders with outlined dates and reductions, and managing regional pricing and availability for particular person buy choices and presents. The idea of a default product worth has been eliminated.
To make the most of these new options, it’s essential to improve to Play Billing Library 8.0 and use the brand new monetization.onetimeproducts service of the Play Developer API or the up to date Play Developer Console. You additionally have to combine with the queryProductDetailsAsync API. Present SKUs could be migrated, however new options aren’t supported by the older querySkuDetailsAsync API or inappproducts service. Merchandise created through the Play Console UI shall be normalized inside the new system. Pre-order performance is at the moment out there via an Early Entry Program.
Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Z Fold7, Z Flip7, and Galaxy Watch8 sequence, providing you new alternatives to construct for adaptive experiences. The foldables run Android 16 with an enhanced desktop windowing expertise, and you may create adaptive apps for them with Compose Adaptive Layouts, Jetpack Navigation 3, and Window Dimension Courses. The Galaxy Watch 8 sequence is the primary system to function Put on OS 6.
Google Play’s Indie Video games Fund in Latin America returns for its fourth yr, committing one other $2 million to assist ten indie sport studios within the area. This new spherical of funding will convey the overall funding in Latin American indie video games via this program to $8 million USD.
Chosen studios will obtain between $150,000 and $200,000, together with assist from the Google Play group. This system is open to indie sport builders who’ve already launched a sport on any platform (cell, PC, or console).
Purposes closed on July 31, 2025, with precedence given to submissions obtained by July 15, 2025.
Put on OS watch face improvement is altering to solely assist the Watch Face Format. As of January 27, 2025, you can not publish new AndroidX or Wearable Help Library (WSL) watch faces to the Play Retailer. By January 14, 2026, current legacy watch faces will now not be installable from the Play Retailer, nor will you be capable to replace them or proceed monetizing them. To proceed providing your watch faces, it’s essential to migrate them to the Watch Face Format and resubmit them to the Play Retailer by January 14, 2026. Watch Face Studio customers ought to resubmit utilizing model 1.8.7 or newer. The weblog publish lists sources which are out there to help with migration.
Amanotes, a cell sport firm based by Invoice and Silver, has surpassed 3 billion downloads for its rhythm-based music video games like Magic Tiles 3. The corporate goals to make musical efficiency accessible by combining cell gaming with rhythm-based faucets. Amanotes leveraged instruments comparable to Firebase for A/B testing and Play Console for analytics and customized pricing for its world progress on Google Play.
At I/O ’25, Google Play launched a number of updates that can assist you streamline subscriptions and maximize income.
- Subscriptions with add-ons allow multi-product checkout, permitting you to promote subscription add-ons with base subscriptions in a single transaction and aligned cost schedule. You possibly can study extra about creating add-ons right here.
- Showcasing advantages in additional locations throughout Play, together with the Subscriptions Middle, reminder emails, and through buy and cancellation processes, has lowered voluntary churn by 2%. You possibly can enter your subscription profit particulars in Play Console.
- New grace interval and account maintain durations intention to lower involuntary churn. Now you can customise a grace interval of as much as 30 days and an account maintain interval of as much as 60 days, with the overall restoration interval not exceeding 60 days. Builders extending their decline restoration interval have seen a mean 10% discount in involuntary churn for renewals. You possibly can alter these settings in Play Console.
Extra initiatives embody prompting customers to arrange cost strategies, increasing cost choices and market availability, optimizing in-app transactions with AI, and utilizing cart abandonment reminders.
Play Video games Companies (PGS) is updating its options to reinforce sport discovery and participant retention on Google Play. You need to migrate from PGS v1 to PGS v2 by Might 2026, as video games utilizing the v1 SDK will now not be publishable or updatable after this date, and v1 APIs shall be totally deprecated by Q3 2028.
Key updates and options embody:
- Achievements: Now deeply built-in throughout the Play Retailer, achievements are discoverable through search and sport element pages, and might drive engagement with Play Factors. It is best to configure not less than 15 incremental achievements, with 5 achievable inside the first two hours of gameplay. Bulk configuration is out there in Play Console.
- Promotional Content material: Viewers concentrating on capabilities have been enhanced. You need to use the Play Grouping API to create customized segments based mostly on gameplay context for tailor-made re-engagement promotions.
- Signal-in: PGS presents seamless sign-in and progress syncing throughout Android gadgets. The Recall API helps you handle hyperlinks between PGS and your in-game accounts.
Future developments embody AI-powered avatars that you would be able to combine into participant profiles inside your sport.
Wonderful Seasun Video games is launching its motion taking pictures sport, Mecha BREAK, on Google Play Video games on PC as a part of its multiplatform PC and console launch.
The sport makes use of Google Play Video games on PC for its launch technique, together with pre-registration campaigns that attracted over 3.5 million gamers throughout beta. You possibly can entry the native PC program to obtain as much as 15% in extra earnback, together with assist for PC sport improvement, distribution, and progress. This assist contains managing PC builds, releases, and retailer listings via Play Console, and accessing PC-specific gross sales stories.
The platform offers a safe infrastructure with instruments like Play Integrity API, providing malware safety and anti-cheat capabilities. Mecha BREAK itself delivers a high-fidelity PC expertise with a proprietary 3D engine, providing various fight types comparable to 6v6 hero battles, 3v3 matches, and a PvPvE “Mashmak” extraction mode.
Listed here are the highest 3 updates for Android developer productiveness from Google I/O 2025:
- Gemini in Android Studio: Gemini-powered AI is now out there to simplify constructing and testing code, with options like “Journeys for Android Studio,” a “Model Improve Agent,” and “Agent Mode” for advanced duties. It might additionally generate Jetpack Compose previews and remodel UI code utilizing pure language.
- New Jetpack Compose launch: The newest steady model contains Navigation 3 for extra flexibility, a Materials 3 Expressive replace to reinforce consumer expertise, and new options like autofill assist and auto-sizing textual content, together with efficiency enhancements.
- Kotlin Multiplatform (KMP) shared module template: A brand new template in Android Studio helps builders share enterprise logic between Android and iOS apps, lowering improvement time. That is supported by up to date Jetpack libraries and new codelabs.
Google I/O ’25 introduced three key updates for AI on Android improvement.
- Gemini Nano for on-device AI experiences: New ML Package GenAI APIs powered by Gemini Nano can be found for duties like textual content summarization, proofreading, and picture description instantly on gadgets.
- Google AI Edge for customized fashions: The Google AI Edge platform now presents improved assist for on-device {hardware} accelerators and a brand new AI Edge Portal for benchmarking. It’s also possible to handle customized mannequin downloads effectively with Play for On-Machine AI, now in beta.
- Firebase AI Logic for cloud AI: For superior generative AI use instances, Firebase AI Logic offers a simplified, safe solution to combine bigger fashions like Gemini Flash, Gemini Professional, and Imagen, together with assist for conversational AI with Gemini Dwell API and visible asset technology with Imagen.
Moreover, the open-source Androidify app demonstrates constructing AI-driven experiences with these new APIs, and extra examples can be found within the Android AI Pattern Catalog.
Ash and Aaron cowl the brand new capabilities for Widgets and Dwell Updates.
Widgets now supply Canonical Layouts for sooner improvement and Generated Previews (enhanced in Look 1.2 for Android 15+) that show actual consumer information, requiring cautious administration of reminiscence and price limits.
For Dwell Updates & Notifications, a brand new ProgressStyleTemplate streamlines progress indicators for time-sensitive, user-initiated journeys (e.g., supply, ride-share) — not for adverts or spam. Builders can programmatically decide if notifications meet Dwell Replace standards and customise a brand new distinguished standing chip for fast consumer entry.
Google Play now allows multi-platform Android sport distribution from a single Android App Bundle, reaching billions of customers throughout telephones, tablets, foldables, and PCs. Google Play Video games on PC is nearing basic availability, providing computerized keyboard-to-touch translation for current video games and non-obligatory native mouse assist (through a manifest flag) for an enhanced PC expertise.
Jetpack Navigation 3 is now in Alpha, providing a brand new state-based method particularly designed to align with Jetpack Compose’s declarative nature.
Key newsworthy factors for Android app builders:
- Decoupled Logic: It offers a robust separation between navigation logic and UI, enhancing testability and suppleness.
- State as Single Supply of Reality: Advocates to your app’s state (together with navigation) as the only supply of reality, transferring away from event-based navigation points.
- Developer-Owned Backstack: Builders now personal the backstack state, giving extra management and simplifying advanced eventualities like type-safety throughout modules and multi-pane layouts.
- Versatile Constructing Blocks: Gives constructing blocks that combine higher with Compose’s patterns, permitting a extra sturdy and developer-controlled navigation answer.
Builders are inspired to discover the Alpha and supply suggestions.
Compose Previews in Android Studio considerably speed up UI improvement by permitting you to check Jetpack Compose UI modifications immediately with out full builds.
Key options embody:
Essential finest practices embody:
- Avoiding direct
ViewModelinstantiation in previews. - Utilizing
@PreviewParameterfor environment friendly information provision. - Making a “sticker sheet” with a number of
@Previewannotations for visible part documentation and sooner group onboarding.
The Embedded Structure Inspector in Android Studio is a vital software for debugging Jetpack Compose UIs, permitting you to examine format hierarchy. It’s accessed through the Operating Gadgets Software Window whereas your app is operating.
Android 14 launched SDK Runtime, a brand new expertise enhancing privateness and safety by isolating third-party SDKs (known as Runtime-enabled SDKs or RE SDKs) in a safe sandbox. Apps/SDKs (known as Runtime-aware SDKs or RA SDKs) work together with these RE SDKs through routinely generated “shims,” with backward compatibility supplied by Jetpack.
For SDK builders, constructing an RE SDK requires important modifications: a selected challenge construction utilizing Android SDK Bundles (ASB), new Gradle configurations (together with Privateness Sandbox plugins and specialised Jetpack dependencies), and declaring APIs with new annotations (@PrivacySandboxService, @PrivacySandboxInterface). Particular issues apply for UI and launching actions, and a selected entry level should be applied. This marks a basic shift in how SDKs shall be constructed and built-in on Android.
Key Takeaways:
- Physique Sensor Permissions are Evolving: Beginning with Android 16, Google is changing broad physique sensor permissions with new, particular, privacy-focused ones (e.g.,
android.permission.well being.READ_HEART_RATE). Apps accessing delicate well being information (coronary heart price, oxygen, pores and skin temp) might want to adapt to those new permissions, requiring authorized, user-benefiting use instances. - Blockchain/Crypto Apps — Nation-Particular Guidelines: A brand new Assist Middle article offers country-specific necessities for apps providing blockchain content material (crypto exchanges/wallets). Builders on this area ought to pay attention to potential location-specific varieties.
- AI-Generated Content material Finest Practices: New steerage is out there on finest practices for apps that embody AI-generated content material, specializing in defending customers and apps.
- Content material Rankings & Advertisements: Content material rankings solely replicate your app’s inside content material, not adverts. Guarantee advert content material displayed inside your app isn’t considerably extra mature than your app’s content material ranking.
- Upcoming Deadlines: Bear in mind to evaluate 2025 deadlines for varied insurance policies, together with Photograph/Video Permissions, Traces of Credit score, Information/Magazines, and Well being Content material & Companies.
Google Play has up to date its coverage for private mortgage apps concentrating on Pakistan: Apps selling short-term private loans (reimbursement inside 60 days or much less) at the moment are usually prohibited. When you’ve got such apps, ensure to evaluate your compliance.
For Android apps coping with blockchain content material (like crypto exchanges or software program wallets), Google Play now offers a Blockchain-based Content material Coverage Assist Middle. This useful resource particulars country-specific compliance necessities, together with potential location-specific varieties. In case your app targets a location not explicitly listed, you should declare it as a crypto change or software program pockets within the Monetary Options declaration. See goo.gle/blockchain-policy for full particulars.
Going through declining cell gaming progress in 2023, Google Play highlights ‘style enlargement’ as an important technique for builders. This entails integrating gameplay, monetization, or aesthetics throughout genres to amass broader audiences, deepen engagement, and enhance monetization (e.g., 4X video games including informal mini-games). It is best to concentrate on early UA testing, understanding participant motivations, guaranteeing seamless integration, and using Play Console instruments like retailer itemizing experiments and staged rollouts for efficient iteration.
Google’s Android group highlights Vulkan and the Adaptive Efficiency Framework (ADPF) as essential for contemporary Android sport improvement. Vulkan is a sophisticated graphics API providing elevated effectivity and entry to superior GPU options, enabling you to maximise your video games’ potential on modern {hardware}.
Right here’s a abstract of the latest AndroidX modifications:
Important Bug Fixes & Stability Enhancements:
Paging (3.4.0-alpha01): A number of important bugs affecting UI stability and information loading have been fastened:
- Resolved IndexOutOfBoundsException when scrolling whereas updating RecyclerView.
- Mounted points stopping extra hundreds from triggering when refreshing whereas scrolling.
- Addressed crashes occurring when scrolling whereas refreshing Paging objects.
Room (2.8.0-alpha01): Mounted a impasse that would often happen when utilizing suspending transactions with the AndroidSQLiteDriver.
Important New Options & API Enhancements:
WebKit (1.15.0-alpha01): Main enhancements for WebView management:
- HTTP Header Management: A brand new API (Profile.setOriginMatchedHeader) to set HTTP header name-value pairs on requests to particular origins inside WebViews and repair staff.
- Improved Cookie Dealing with: Builders can now embody Cookie headers in WebResourceRequest.getRequestHeaders() and course of Set-Cookie values from WebResourceResponseCompat.setCookies inside shouldInterceptRequest callbacks. This significantly improves management over cookie administration in intercepted WebView requests.
- Renderer Heat-up: An experimental API to heat up the WebView renderer course of for a Profile, enhancing efficiency for advanced WebView lifecycles.
Room (2.8.0-alpha01): Launched androidx.room:room-sqlite-wrapper and the RoomDatabase.getSupportWrapper() extension operate. This enables builders adopting SQLiteDriver to nonetheless acquire a SupportSQLiteDatabase wrapper, easing incremental migration for codebases which have intensive SupportSQLite API usages.
Expanded Kotlin Multiplatform (KMP) Help (Medium Precedence, Excessive for KMP Builders):
Put on OS Particular Updates (Medium Precedence, Excessive for Put on Builders):
Different Notable Adjustments (Decrease Precedence for basic app improvement, however necessary for particular use instances):
- SQLite (2.6.0-alpha01): Provides an API (
SQLiteConnection.hasActiveTransaction()) to verify if aSQLiteConnectionhas an lively transaction, which may assist in managing advanced transaction logic. - Take a look at UI Automator (1.0.0-alpha01): A brand new uiautomator-shell library permits executing shell instructions as a shell consumer, backporting
UiAutomation#executeShellCommandRwe(from API 34) for testing and instrumentation functions.
The Android Builders Backstage podcast is again with two extra episodes.
AI-powered Gemini options in Android Studio have considerably developed, providing complete developer assist from design to upkeep. Key developments embody clever code completion, design software integrations (e.g., composable previews), and unit take a look at situation technology.
Newsworthy options:
- Model Improve Assistant: Automates dependency updates and fixes compilation errors, lowering developer “toil.”
- Agent Mode (public preview): Permits Gemini to instantly modify code inside the IDE based mostly on directions, with developer approval required for modifications.
- Privateness: Gemini operates inside the IDE, protecting code non-public with out exterior transmission for mannequin coaching, with enhanced privateness choices for companies.
Android Studio now automates app information backup and restore testing, eliminating cumbersome handbook ADB instructions. This considerably simplifies validating your app’s information persistence (settings, sport states, permissions) throughout gadgets and emulators. Builders can configure backup scope through the manifest, differentiating between cloud (25MB) and device-to-device (1–2GB) transfers. Customization of backup descriptors is feasible for advanced eventualities, although delicate information is excluded for safety. This new tooling streamlines testing for dependable information switch and a seamless consumer expertise.
That’s it for this version of Now in Android, together with the Android platform Canary Channel, the primary launch of Agentic AI in Android Studio, Play updates together with 16 KB Web page Dimension necessities and different coverage modifications, new capabilities round one-time purchases, Play Video games Companies v2, and Google Play Video games on PC, I/O recaps on AI and dev productiveness, subsequent gen Samsung gadgets operating Android 16, and Compose ideas.
Examine again quickly to your subsequent replace from the Android developer universe!