Android Developers Backstage

Episoder

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  Android AI Tools: Vibe coding, sub-agents, and the Android CLI 05.08.2026 1t 16min

  Learn how the latest Android Studio AI features can streamline your daily development tasks. While the original agent mode chat was helpful, we rebuilt it with a re-architected experience that supports parallel tool calls and background sub-agents. For instance, you can now have an agent analyze code in the background while you continue working on a different feature. Try out the updated Journeys feature to see how plain text instructions can automatically test your critical user paths. Subscribe to our YouTube channel → https://goo.gle/AndroidDevs Speakers: Tor Norbye, Chet Haase, Xavier Durcohet, Esteban de la Canal
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  The inside story of Jetpack Compose 29.07.2026 1t 7min

  Discover the origin story of Jetpack Compose and how it changed the way Android developers build applications. We discuss the original challenges of unbundling the UI toolkit from the operating system to deliver faster updates. By adopting Kotlin and a declarative approach, the team reduced the boilerplate necessary to build user interfaces. While earlier systems relied heavily on XML, Jetpack Compose shifts to a code-first model for easier iteration. Listen to the team share their insights on modifiers, performance improvements, and the future of Android design.   Resources: Android is Compose-first → https://goo.gle/compost-first Jetpack Compose overview → https://goo.gle/compose-overview   Subscribe to our YouTube channel → https://goo.gle/AndroidDevs Speakers: Clara Bayarri, Tor Norbye, Chet Haase, Romain Guy
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  What's so great about R8? 18.02.2026 1t 6min

  Join hosts Tor and Romain as they sit down with Søren Gjesse, Chris Craik, and Shai Barack. This week, the team dives into R8, the whole-program optimizer that handles the "last mile" of your code before it runs on a device. Learn why implementing R8 is effectively like giving your users a "free hardware upgrade" by making their current devices perform like models that are years newer. Enable app optimization → https://goo.gle/R8-Optimizer Chapters: 0:00 - Intro 0:23 - What is R8? 1:16 - R8 vs D8 1:40 - Tree Shaking & Dead Code 4:14 - Handling Reflection 10:10 - Performance Co-Optimization 13:03 - Kotlin-Specific Gains 16:22 - Real-World Impact 41:50 - Jetpack Compose & R8 50:51 - Keep annotations 1:03:49 - The "Free Hardware Upgrade"
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  XR: Virtually here 14.01.2026 43min

  Join hosts Tor, Chet, and Romain as they sit down with Diego Perez (Android Studio) and Patrick Fuentes (Developer Relations) to explore the new frontiers of Android XR. This episode of Android Developers Backstage breaks down the latest announcements and Developer Preview 3, offering a technical look at how developers can start building for spatial environments today. Resources: Hello Android XR sample → https://goo.gle/3Nbnrre  Build for AI Glasses with the Android XR SDK Developer Preview 3  → https://goo.gle/49lUjGr  Chapters: 0:00 - Intro 4:42 - Latest announcements 5:46 - AI Glasses 8:28 -Developer preview 3 16:13 - Spatialization 18:29 - Tools team perspective 24:07 - Using the XR Emulator 29:00 - What is an Orbiter? 37:33 - What hardware is currently available 38:39 - Final thoughts
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  Bring your own model - Android Developers Backstage 10.12.2025 58min

  In this episode Tor and Chet chat with Raluca Saucic and Eugene Yakavets about the new "Bring Your Own Model" feature in Android Studio which allows using other models than Gemini for agent mode, including models from Anthropic,  OpenAI, and more. We also discuss using local models via Ollama and LM Studio. Resources: Use a remote model → https://goo.gle/43N2Z5E Use a local model → https://goo.gle/3Xij27V   Chapters: 0:00 - Intro 0:49 - Bring your own model 4:13 - Bring your own key 7:24 - Anthropic model 13:17- How often do you need to remind the model of the context? 17:40 - Thinking vs planning 20:25 - What happens when the API needs to give multiple answers to a complex question? 24:14 - Supported models 31:18 - Are there any barriers when using a different model? 34:07 - Support for code completion 38:16 - GitHub's relationship with agents 44:35 - Using agents for development 56:36 - Studiobot 57:56 - Wrap up  
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  From natural language to UI tests: A deep dive into Journeys for Android Studio 14.10.2025 44min

  Hosts Tor and Chet are joined by Adarsh Fernando, a Product Manager, and Ray Buse, a Software Engineer, to discuss Journeys for Android Studio. Powered by Gemini's vision and reasoning, Journeys aims to simplify end-to-end test creation and maintenance by converting the natural language you provide to describe the steps and assertions for each test, resulting in actions and evaluations performed directly on your app. Chapters: 0:00 - Intro 1:46 - Journeys: New AI-powered testing approach 3:40 - How Journeys Works with Gemini 4:27 - The natural language advantage 5:49 - Real-world use case: Google Maps 6:53 - Debugging with AI reasoning 8:08 - Why Journeys is important: Bridging the testing gap 9:56 - Journeys and End-to-End Testing 12:18 - Performance and Cached Journeys 24:14 - Android Studio and Firebase integration 25:27 - The development workflow 31:22 - AI for everyone: Beyond end-to-end testing 33:28 - Looking ahead: Feedback and the future  Resources: Journeys for Android Studio → https://goo.gle/4m9YOr3 App Testing (Android) → https://goo.gle/3HVKTqB   Tor on Bluesky → https://goo.gle/3ViCAYS Chet on Bluesky → https://goo.gle/4gzpccM Ardash on Bluesky → https://goo.gle/47JGNw9
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  Android developer verification 30.09.2025 45min

  To protect users from malware and scams, Android has announced a new layer of security: developer verification. While this is nothing new for Google Play Store apps, Android is extending this to the entire Android ecosystem. Host Tor is joined by Matthew, Patrick, Naheed, and Raz to discuss this latest security update that deters bad actors and creates a safer environment.  
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  Autofill in Compose 13.08.2025 44min

  In this episode of Android Back Stage, Hosts Tor, and Chet are joined by Melba and Ralston, Software Engineers on the Compose Team, to talk about Autofill in Compose. Learn about Autofill services, best practices, and more! Chapters: 0:00 - Intro 0:40 - What is Autofill? 1:21 - Autofill team journey and semantics 2:15 - Defining semantics in Compose 3:29 - Bridging views and Compose for Autofill 4:23 - Developer Experience: Early autofill in Compose 7:02 - Autofill services and communication flow 7:59 - User authentication and multiple autofill services 12:53 - The Autofill flow: From tap to fill 21:56 - Handling list types and saving credentials (commit) 30:11 - The "Asteriks" bug and semantics refractor 31:09 - Performance improvements in Autofill 37:48 - Compose's architectural advantages (composition over inheritance) 40:30 - Best practices and future improvements  
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  Back it up, bring it back: No data left behind 10.07.2025 48min

  It can be a draw when setting up a new device. Some info transfers, while some don't. Learn how developers can ensure the best user experience when people backup and restore an Android device. Hosts Tor and Chet are joined by Graham and Piyush on the Android Consumer Experience team  and Alon on the Android Studio team to discuss Android backup and restore.   Chapters: 0:00 - Introduction & the user pain point 1:38 - Why backup fails: Developer challenges 4:00 - Evolution of backup testing: From scripts to Android Studio 7:15 - Beyond testing: Backup for developer workflow 8:50 - Cross-device backup & GMS core integration 10:55 - Understanding backup types: Devices vs. Cloud 14:55 - Data categories & developer control 16:05 - System-level backup: Permissions & credentials 18:35 - Default backup pitfalls & key-value agents 28:15 - Database migrations & backup stress testing 32:04 - Automated testing framework 41:02 - Recap & feedback channels
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  Bot to the Future: Two Years Later 13.06.2025 46min

  Join Tor and Siva Velusamy and Sandhya Mohan from the Android Studio team to learn about the latest updates to Studio Bot (Gemini in Android Studio) that dropped at Google I/O 2025 including Agent Mode. Building on their conversation from two years ago about the Studio Bot, they explore Gemini's role in every stage of development, from design to building, testing, and maintenance, the future of coding companions, and more. Studio Bot podcast episode → https://goo.gle/3ZM0Wwx     
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  ​​Kotlin Multiplatform: Have your code and eat it too 07.05.2025 58min

  Software Engineers Dustin Lam and Yigit Boyar join host Tor Norbye to chat all about Kotlin Multiplatform.  Resources: Tor's Bluesky → https://goo.gle/4iLXEAg  Yigit's Bluesky → https://goo.gle/4dmsYVj
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  Linting on the Side of Caution: Safety & Security 10.04.2025 50min

  What is app safety for Android? What is the Android team working on to ensure developers and users alike enjoy safe and reliable apps? Watch along as Tor Norbye, Chet Haase, Romain Guy, Theresa Khuu, Naheed Vora take a deep dive backstage and discuss what's new in the Android safety space.   Resources: Enhanced Tools for Secure & Efficient Development → https://goo.gle/42lo3i8   Watch more Android Developers Backstage → https://goo.gle/adb-podcast Subscribe to Android Developers → https://goo.gle/AndroidDevs    #Featured #Android #AndroidDevelopersBackstage Speakers: Tor Norbye, Chet Haase, Romain Guy, Theresa Khuu, Naheed Vora
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  Episode 213: Compose runtime and performance 04.03.2025 56min

  In this episode, Tor and Romain chat with Leland and Chuck from the Compose team about performance -- recent optimizations, upcoming optimizations, and challenges. Leland: @intelligibabble.bsky.social Chuck: @chuckjaz.bsky.social Tor: @tornorbye.bsky.social Romain: @romainguy, @romainguy.dev, romainguy@androiddev.social Catch videos on YouTube → https://goo.gle/adb-podcast   Subscribe to Android Developers  → https://goo.gle/AndroidDevs  #Featured #Compose #AndroidDevelopersBackstage   
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  Episode 212: Happy birthday, Android Studio! 24.01.2025 1t

  In this episode Chet, Romain and Tor chat with Xav and Jamal from the Android Studio team to talk about the history of Android's IDE.   Chapters: Intro (00:00) Topic of the day - Android Studio releases (00:59) What was before Android studio? (2:33) Eclipse (7:22) Jamal joins Android (13:56) Android studio 1.0 (16:40) Android studio 1.0 - launch (21:56) Android studio 3.0 (25:17) Differences after the Kotlin announcement (28:02) Studio 2.1 big complaints (31:32) Code names in Android (33:23) Favorite versions of Android Studio (38:01) Team growth 2010 - 2017 (41:22) Android Studio 4.0 - motion editor (43:26) Gradle (45:27) Profilers (53:06) Regrets? (54:04) Favorite features? (56:37) Wrap up (59:53) Links: Android Studio → https://goo.gle/36F8fcS  Android Studio 1.0 → https://goo.gle/4h4X68z  Announcing Android Studio → https://goo.gle/3EapKGH    Jamal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamaleason Xavier: ducrohet.bsky.social  Romain: @romainguy, @romainguy.dev, romainguy@androiddev.social Tor: threads.net/@tor.norbye and tornorbye@androiddev.social Chet: @chethaase, threads.net/@chet.haase, and chethaase@androiddev.social   Catch videos on YouTube → https://goo.gle/adb-podcast   Subscribe to Android Developers  → https://goo.gle/AndroidDevs    #Featured #Android #AndroidDevelopersBackstage  
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  Episode 211: Rules about performance tools 26.11.2024 1t 10min

  In this episode Chet, Romain and Tor chat with Shai Barack about how the Android platform team studies performance and understands system health - and what is system health anyway? We talk about measuring performance, deciding trade-offs, and our favorite tools such as Perfetto, Compiler Explorer, and Android Studio's Memory Profiler.   Chapters: Intro (00:00) System health (0:27) Efforts to make apps more efficient (3:35) Telemetry data (5:59) Trade offs between long battery life and good performance (8:21) Scheduling groups (10:38) Static drain (13:32) Collaborating with App developers vs operating system (19:10) High refresh rates (23:26) Reach vs engagement (32:02) What tools does your team use to optimize performance? (34:10) Godbolt.org (37:09) Demystifying (39:39) The best tools are multi-player (43:52) R8 or R-Not? (45:42) Optimizing for feature sets (48:05) Tools, not Rules (50:08) What are the tools I should be aware of as an app developer looking to upscale performance? (54:36) Allocation tracker (55:37) Open source tools (57:08) Useful resources for devs to understand various tools (59:04) Final thoughts (1:06:19) Links: Compiler Explorer → https://goo.gle/3Zbq6DV  Perfetto → https://goo.gle/3OtD3UK and https://goo.gle/3B3S3p5  Tools, not Rules  → https://goo.gle/416CyY7    Shai:  Romain: @romainguy, threads.net/@romainguy, romainguy@androiddev.social Tor: threads.net/@tor.norbye and tornorbye@androiddev.social Chet: @chethaase, threads.net/@chet.haase, and chethaase@androiddev.social   Catch videos on YouTube → https://goo.gle/adb-podcast   Subscribe to Android Developers  → https://goo.gle/AndroidDevs
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  Episode 210: Studio Jewelry 24.10.2024 50min

  In this episode Chet, Romain and Tor chat with Sebastiano about how the Android Studio team builds UIs. We talk about how Compose for Desktop is used in parts of Android Studio and how the Compose Markdown renderer available in the Jewel library makes Studio Bot tick.   Chapters: Intro (00:00) Android Dev UX team (00:39) What kind of libraries and languages are used to build Android studio? (1:52) Swing (2:53) Reactive and declarative programming models (8:25) SKIA for Kotlin (10:01) Jetpack Compose widgets (11:54) Jewel (13:07) Text rendering across platforms (15:51) Differences in behaviors (17:40) Support for markdown files (20:26) What is markdown? (21:25) Swing and html (25:45) Selection handling in StudioBot (28:46) Boosting productivity with Compose (30:40) Standalone vs plugin artifacts (34:29) The difference between Jewel & Swing (35:30) HTML vs Markdown (39:31) Markdeep (41:53) Jewel's Markdown API (43:46) Where to find Jewel? (46:54) Sebastiano's podcast - Code with the Italians (47:34) Final thoughts (49:13)   Links: Jetpack Compose Compose Multiplatform, for Desktop  Jewel Jewel Markdown Renderer   Sebastiano: ​​https://github.com/rock3r, https://codewiththeitalians.it/ Romain: @romainguy, threads.net/@romainguy, romainguy@androiddev.social Tor: threads.net/@tor.norbye and tornorbye@androiddev.social Chet: @chethaase, threads.net/@chet.haase, and chethaase@androiddev.social   Catch videos on YouTube → https://goo.gle/adb-podcast   Subscribe to Android Developers  → https://goo.gle/AndroidDevs 
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  Episode 209: Compose animations 12.09.2024 59min

  In this episode Chet, Romain and Tor chat with Doris Liu from the Compose team about animations in Compose -- covering everything from the basic primitives up to the recently added Shared Element Transitions.   Chapters: Intro (00:00) Animation capabilities of Compose (1:06) Different types of animation specs (3:43) Layers of functionality, transitions (7:49) TargetBasedAnimation (9:48) Vectors & velocity of color change (12:43) Second layer parallel to animation spec (16:39) Animation interruptions (18:48) Motion layout problem-solving (20:19) Both scale and move in question (25:45) Different mental models for layout animation in Compose vs. View (26:20) Shared element (31:05) Are there things you wish more people were aware of? (34:19) What's the tooling story for this? (41:57) What is Look Ahead? (43:16) All software is regret (48:49) New API: Modifier.animateBounds (51:52) How to reach Doris – leave a comment (55:57) Motion Frame of Reference Placement (57:29) Wrap up (59:10) Links: Shared element tutorial → https://goo.gle/3XrGYp5  Shared element talk → https://goo.gle/47tm3qm  A quick guide to compose animations → https://goo.gle/3Tm853p  The API layers except the highest level APIs we chatted about in the podcast → https://goo.gle/3MGsiNE Doris: @doris4lt Romain: @romainguy, threads.net/@romainguy, romainguy@androiddev.social Tor: threads.net/@tor.norbye and tornorbye@androiddev.social Chet: @chethaase, threads.net/@chet.haase, and chethaase@androiddev.social   Catch more Android Developers Backstage on YouTube → https://goo.gle/adb-podcast    Subscribe to Android Developers YouTube → https://goo.gle/AndroidDevs 
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  Episode 208: Micro optimizations 18.07.2024 51min

  In this episode Tor and Romain find themselves without a guest and decide to chat about micro optimizations and writing custom tools. Tor and Romain Chapters: Intro (00:00) Micro optimizations (00:32) Kotlin explorer (3:25) Avoiding object allocations (6:49) Code Inefficiencies (8:10) Compilers (12:13) Understand assembly with AI (18:39) Layout opt (21:20) Programmers writing tools (21:52) char.isBlank (25:35) Lint checks (27:59) Companion objects (29:40) Java assertion mechanism (32:00) Hash maps (35:13) When to micro optimize and when not to (43:46) Benchmarking (47:26) New optimizations (48:46) Wrap up (50:46)   Romain: @romainguy, threads.net/@romainguy, romainguy@androiddev.social Tor: threads.net/@tor.norbye and tornorbye@androiddev.social   Catch videos on YouTube → https://goo.gle/adb-podcast   Subscribe to Android Developers  → https://goo.gle/AndroidDevs 
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  Episode 207: AI development assistance 20.06.2024 52min

  In this episode we talk with Kathy Korevec from the AIDA team at Google about AI assisted developer tools, such as Android Studio -- which is using Gemini AI models provided by AIDA. Romain, Kathy, and Tor Kathy:  twitter.com/simpsoka Romain: @romainguy, threads.net/@romainguy, romainguy@androiddev.social Tor: threads.net/@tor.norbye and tornorbye@androiddev.social   Check out → https://goo.gle/3wK4EM4    Catch videos on YouTube → https://goo.gle/adb-podcast   Subscribe to Android Developers  → https://goo.gle/AndroidDevs
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  Episode 206: Make it faster 22.05.2024 1t

  In this episode we cover ADB -- not "Android Developers Backstage", but "Android Debug Bridge", the technology powering device connections. Romain and Tor talk with Fabien Sanglard from the Android Studio team on his work to improve the debug stack -- including the new USB speed detection feature recently unveiled at Google I/O. Chapters: Intro (00:00) You may know Fabien from… (00:50) Applying relevant knowledge to Android Studio (3:28) Communicating with remote devices and debugging (12:18) Accommodating a debugger (13:55) Fixed protocols and how to work around (16:10) What other versions of ADB do you use to get the suite faster? (19:27) Other ways to make the debugger faster  (20:38) The differences between USB cables (21:51) How to find the right cable (30:17) ADB over wifi (32:41) How to detect which usb port is faster on your laptop? (34:46) Complexity of new cables (36:57) Install time of APK's (37:41) New ways of helping full stack devs (45:44) Final thoughts (49:19) Viewer questions (57:54) Romain: @romainguy, threads.net/@romainguy, romainguy@androiddev.social Tor: threads.net/@tor.norbye and tornorbye@androiddev.social Fabien: @fabynou,    Check out → https://goo.gle/3wK4EM4    Catch videos on YouTube → https://goo.gle/adb-podcast   Subscribe to Android Developers  → https://goo.gle/AndroidDevs