There were a lot of big updates for Both Android and Google Play this year on Google I/O, so here’s a look back with Fred from the Android team at some of the big ones you can’t miss: Check out the latest updates to I/O for Android and Google Play here.

Android 12 Beta

We released the first Beta of Android 12 during Google I/O. Android 12 brings the biggest design changes in Android history and makes the system more expressive. Even the color scheme is truly personalized. We’re unifying the ecosystem of software and hardware under a single design language called Material You.

App widgets in Android 12 have been redesigned to be more useful, beautiful, and easy to discover. We’ve also added a dynamic color API to make widgets use system colors and look and feel more like the system. We’ve prepared sample widget code for you to try out.

Other updates include new over-scrolling stretching effects, improved system performance, and more privacy and security updates. Check out Android 12 Beta Release for more details.

Modern Android Development

Modern Android Development, or “Modern Android Development,” aims to help developers remove any barriers that slow down Development so that everyone can focus on building the best experience possible.

One of the most important things Jetpack does is let people focus on writing features and reduce template code. Check out Jetpack’s official website for updates to the stable, Alpha and Beta channels.

Jetpack Compose, a modern toolkit for building native UIs on Android, is currently in Beta and plans to release a stable version in July. Please read the official documentation and get ready for the 1.0 release.

Android Studio Arctic Fox (2020.3.1) is now in Beta with new features focused on three topics:

  • Quick UI Design
  • New devices covering all screen sizes
  • Improving developer productivity

Please go to the official website for details of the new and improved functions.

Another important pillar of Modern Android Development is Kotlin. Our recent survey shows that Kotlin is now the most commonly used development language for professional Android developers. Kotlin is used by more than 1.2 million apps on the Play Store and 80% of the top 1,000 apps. We’ve prepared a package of tutorials for developing Android apps with Kotlin, which you can download by clicking here.

Build applications for more screen sizes

We launched a unified platform with Samsung, combining the best of Wear and Tizen, and introduced a new user experience. Your audience will be much larger, and the same skills and tools you used to develop mobile apps can be used to build apps on new devices. There are many new apis, such as Tiles, to help build better Wear applications.

For foldable devices, tablets, and larger screens, we’ve updated many of the UI components in our Jetpack and Material Design libraries to make it easier to adapt to a variety of screen sizes.

Read The Wear Update and Foldable devices, Tablets, and Larger Screens for more details.

Google Play updates at a glance

Starting July 1, 2021, each developer will be charged a 15 percent service fee for the first $1 million earned each year from selling digital goods or services. Please read the official documentation for details.

We’ve also released a number of powerful new features, tools, and updates to help you succeed on Google Play. Read the Google Play Update for details.

You can find all of this year’s Google I/O presentations on Android and Google Play on YouTube playlists, and check out more Google I/O 2021 highlights on Bilibili.