By Jamal Eason, Product Manager

The first version of Android Studio Arctic Fox (2020.3.1) and Android Gradle plugin (AGP) version 7.0.0-Alpha01 have both been released on Canary Channel. In this release, we adjusted the version numbering scheme for Android Studio and Gradle plug-ins. This change removes the Gradle plug-in from Android Studio’s version numbering scheme and makes it clearer which year and IntelliJ version each Android Studio release corresponds to.

Android Studio’s new version numbering scheme

Starting with Arctic Fox (2020.3.1), the version number system for Android Studio will be based on year, more in line with the version pattern of IntelliJ IDEA — the IDE on which Android Studio is built. The new version numbering scheme introduces several important attributes: the year, the version of IntelliJ it is based on, and the level of functionality and patches. This change in naming mode allows you to quickly determine which version of the IntelliJ platform you are using in Android Studio. In addition, each major release will have a standard code name, starting with Arctic Fox, and will be named alphabetically to help users easily distinguish between new and old releases.

We recommend that you use the latest version of Android Studio to experience the latest features and quality improvements. To facilitate the update, we have changed the version to explicitly separate Android Studio from the Android Gradle plugin version. One important detail to keep in mind is that when the IDE is updated, the build system does not affect how the application is compiled and packaged. In contrast, application build process changes and APK/Bundle are affected by the AGP version of your project. Therefore, you can safely update the Android Studio release even later in the development cycle, because the AGP version of your project can be updated at a different pace than the Android Studio release. Finally, with the new version of the system, as long as your AGP version remains stable, you or your team can more easily run stable and preview Android Studio in your application projects.

If the previous numbering system is used, this release will be Android Studio 4.3. The new numbering system now calls it Android Studio Arctic Fox (2020.3.1) Canary 1, or Arctic Fox for short.

In the future, the Android Studio version number scheme will follow the following pattern:

<IntelliJ version year >.<IntelliJ Major >.<Studio Major >

  • The first two sets of numbers represent the version of the IntelIiJ platform on which a particular Android Studio release is based (the earlier Canary version could still be an earlier version). For new releases, the two sets of numbers are 2020.3;

  • The third set of numbers represents the Studio major release, starting at 1 and incrementing each major release by 1;

  • For ease of referencing each version, we also provide A code name for the main version, increasing from A to Z by animal name. The new initial release is called Arctic Fox.

New version numbering scheme for Android Gradle plugin

In AGP 7.0.0, we adopted the principle of semantic versioning, which is consistent with the Gradle version required for AGP. Compatibility between Android Studio and Android Gradle plug-ins does not change. You can use a newer version of Android Studio to open projects that use stable AGP.

Another of our recent blog posts details the AGP version numbering principles and the latest changes in the new major release, AGP 7.0.

The latest changes in Android Studio Arctic Fox

We are still in the early stages of Arctic Fox feature development, but we have already invested a lot of time in implementing improvements to the IDE, including over 200 quality improvements and bug fixes in everything from the code editor to the application checking tool to the layout editor to the embedded emulator. See the release notes for details on bug fixes.

For those trying Jetpack Compose, we provide a number of updates, such as deploying @Preview Composable to devices/emulators:

△ Deployment Preview Composable

Also, try using the new Layout Validation Tool in Arctic Fox to see how your Layout responds in various screen sizes, font sizes, and Android color correction/color blindness modes. You can experience this functionality through the Layout Validation tool window while using the Layout editor.

Delta Layout Validation

Finally, for people running the latest version of Android Platform tools on MacOS (which will support other platforms soon) and Android 11 devices, You can go to the Run button’s device selection dialog box → Pair Devices Using Wi-Fi to try out the ADB wireless debugging features integrated into the IDE.

Access the ADB wireless debugging function from the menu

△ ADB Wireless debug setting window

Future plans

If you want to learn more about other changes to Android Studio and the Android Gradle plug-in in this release, be sure to check out the release notes.