△ Android Studio Arctic Fox startup screen

Author/Paris Hsu, Product & Design, Android

Note: Just as we doAnnounced late last yearIn that case, we have changed the version numbering scheme to match the IntelliJ IDE number on which Android Studio is based, 2020.3, plus our own patch number and a code that is easy to remember and use. We’re going to put them in alphabetical order, starting with Arctic Fox, which is currently in Beta; The next codename was Bumblebee, which is still in the Canary channel.

We are now pleased to announce Android Studio Arctic Fox (2020.3.1) Beta ❄️, the latest release of the official Android IDE, focusing on design, devices, and developer productivity. You can download it now in the Beta channel to try out all the new features that will be released during Google I/O 2021:

Developer communities around the world continue to create amazing and innovative apps, despite the challenges they have had to adapt to over the past year. Thanks to community feedback, we’ve provided and updated a set of tools designed to empower three themes:

  • Quick UI design – With Jetpack Compose, creating a modern UI has never been easier. We provide a variety of tools to help you on your design journey: create previews in different configurations, navigate your code using Compose Preview, test individually with Deploy Preview to Device, and inspect the entire application with Layout Inspector. Throughout the iteration, you can quickly edit strings and numbers and see instant updates. In addition, using the Accessibility Scanner in the Layout Editor, you can see if there are Accessibility issues with the View-based Layout.
  • Coverage new devices, regardless of size – extend your application to a wider arena than just mobile phones. Whether it’s Wear OS, Google TV, or Android Auto, we have new emulators, system images, and even real simulations for different test scenarios: Pair your watch with your phone simulator with Wear OS Pairing, go on a virtual run with Wear OS heart rate sensors, change channels remotely with Google TV Remote Control, Drive with Automotive OS Sensor Replay.
  • Enhance Developer Productivity – We want to ensure that your workspace and environment is ready for the latest systems and optimized for speed and quality. Now you can enjoy a host of new features and improvements from the IntelliJ 2020.3 major update, test the new features of Android 12 in your applications, and improve your applications with the new UI of the Memory Profiler. Clear the background task relationships with the WorkManager Inspector and use the non-transitive R class IDE Refactoring to speed up the build.

In short, this is an upgrade you can’t miss! ✨ There are many more features and improvements in the Beta around these themes for you to try out, so read on or watch the presentation below for more highlights. Or you can skip the reading and download the Android Studio Arctic Fox (2020.3.1) Beta directly from the Beta channel, and get started with the latest features! Send us feedback to help us continue to focus on the areas you care most about in the next release of Android Studio.

Android Studio Arctic Fox (2020.3.1) Beta features at a glance

Here’s a full list of the new features in the Android Studio Arctic Fox (2020.3.1) Beta, organized by three major themes:

design

  • Compose Preview – Use Compose Preview to create a Preview of the Compose UI! By using the @Preview annotation, Compose Preview can visualize multiple components at one time in different configurations (i.e., themes, devices) and create a mental map for you to navigate your code.

Delta Compose the Preview

  • Compose Layout Inspector – You can now use the Layout Inspector to check layouts written in Compose. Whether your application is a Layout written entirely in Compose, or a mix of Compose and views, the Layout Inspector can help you understand how the Layout will appear on the device or emulator. Obtain rich details, such as parameters and modifiers passed to each Composable, and debug problems that may arise. You can also now choose to enable Live Updates to continuously stream data from your device when you interact with your application, or to disable Live Updates and use the Refresh action only when needed to reduce the performance impact on your device.

Delta Compose Layout Inspector

  • Deploy Preview to Device – Use this feature to deploy a UI fragment to a device or emulator to test a small portion of your code on the device without having to launch the full application. Your preview will get the same runtime environment (permissions, resources) as the application. Simply click on the Deploy to Device icon at the top of the Compose Preview or next to the @Preview comment in the code editor gutter bar, Android Studio will deploy the @Preview to the connected device or emulator.

△ Notice the Deploy to Device button in the Preview and editor gutter bar

  • Word real-time editing – The real-time editing feature for characters allows developers using Compose to quickly edit characters (strings, numbers, Boolean operations) in code and see the results immediately, without having to wait for compilation. This feature improves your productivity by allowing code changes to be seen almost instantaneously in a preview, emulator, or physical device.

△ Edit numbers and strings, and instantly see the results in preview and on the device

  • Accessibility Scanner – Android Studio in Layout Editor now integrates with the Android Accessibility Test Framework to help you discover Accessibility issues in layouts. When using the Layout Editor, click the error report button to view this panel. The Accessibility Scanner reports issues related to Accessibility and recommends fixes for common problems such as missing content descriptions, or poor comparisons.

Accessibility Test Framework Scanner in the △ Layout Editor

equipment

  • Wear OS Matching – We’ve created a new Wear OS Matching Assistant to guide developers step-by-step through pairing Wear OS emulators directly with physical or virtual phones in Android Studio. You can use this feature from the “Devices” drop-down menu > Wear OS Emulator Pairing Assistant. Please note that pairing with Wear OS 2 partners is currently only supported, and support for Wear OS 3 will be available soon. Please read the official documentation for details.

△ Wear OS Simulator Matching Assistant dialog box

△ Mobile phone + watch simulator match successful status

  • The new Wear OS System Image – Wear OS 3 Developer Preview System Image is now available, giving you a chance to play around with the latest version of Wear OS!

△ Wear OS system image

  • Heart Rate Sensor for Wear OS Simulator – To help you test Wear OS applications, Android Simulator now supports the use of the Heart Rate Sensor API while running Wear OS Simulator. Please download the Android emulator V30.4.5 from the Android Studio SDK Manager, which is the minimum version that supports this feature.

Heart rate sensors in the △ Wear OS simulator

  • Google TV Remote – In addition to supporting running the new Google TV interface, we’ve also provided an updated Remote Panel that supports the new remote features of Google TV, including user profiles and Settings.

△ Google TV remote control

  • New Google TV System Image – We’ve updated System Image to give you the freedom to explore the new Google TV experience.

△ Google TV system image

  • Automotive OS Sensor Playback – You can now simulate driving scenarios using the Android Automotive Simulator. The ability to playback vehicle sensor data (such as speed, gear) to complete your development and testing workflow.

△ Android Automotive OS Sensor Playback

Developer Productivity

  • The Android Studio Arctic Fox (2020.3.1) Beta includes the IntelliJ 2020.3 platform version 😎, which includes many new features such as debugger interactive tips, a new welcome screen, And a host of new code editor enhancements to speed up your workflow. Please read the official documentation for details.
  • Android 12 Lint checks – We’ve added lint checks for building applications for Android 12 so you can get guidance in a specific context. To name just a few: custom declarations for the boot screen, approximate position permissions for fine position use, media formats, and sensor high sample rate permissions.
  • Intransitive R Class Refactoring – Using non-transitive R classes in Android Gradle plugins can lead to faster build times for applications with multiple modules. It prevents duplication of resources by ensuring that each module contains only references to its own resources and does not extract references from dependencies. You can use this feature by refactoring > to Migrate to non-transitive R Classes.
  • Apple Silicon Support Preview – For those using MacOS on Apple Silicon (ARM64) hardware, Android Studio Arctic Fox provides preview support for this new architecture. ARM64 platform support is still under active development, but we want to provide a starting point for you to get your feedback. Since this is a preview for the ARM64 architecture, you need to look for Mac (Apple Silicon) in the Android Studio download archive page and download the version separately.
  • Extension controls in the emulator tool window – developers have access to all of the emulator’s extension controls when the emulator is open in the tool window. These extended controls will give developers powerful tools to test applications in Android Studio, such as navigation playback, virtual sensors, and snapshots. To start the Emulator in Android Studio, go to the Preferences > Tools > Emulator in Android Studio and select “Start in Tools Window”.

△ Extended controls in the emulator tool window

  • Background Task Inspector – Now, when using the WorkManager library 2.5.0 or later, you can use the Background Task Inspector to visualize, monitor, and debug your application’s Background workers. You can use this function through the View > Tool Windows > App Inspection in the menu bar. When you deploy your application on a device with API level 26 or higher, you can see the activity of the worker in the Background Task Inspector TAB, as shown in the figure below. Please read the official documentation for details.

Delta Background Task Inspector

  • Parallel Device Testing with Test Matrix – Piling tests can now be run in parallel on multiple devices and viewed through a dedicated Piling Test results panel. This panel, called Test Matrix, streams the results in real time. Please read the official documentation for details.

△ Test Matrix runs tests on multiple devices in parallel

  • New Recording Interface for Memory Profiler – We have integrated the Memory Profiler interface for different recording activities, such as capturing heap dumps and recording Java, Kotlin, and native Memory allocations.

△ Memory Profiler: Java/Kotlin allocation records

  • Update System Requirements – To ensure that we provide the best experience for Android developers, we updated the system requirements for using Android Studio. These requirements also represent the configurations we used to thoroughly test Android Studio to ensure high quality and performance, and we plan to update these requirements more frequently in the future. While you will still be able to use systems that fall short of your configuration requirements, we cannot guarantee compatibility or support when doing so. Please go to the official developer site to see the updated system requirements.

Finally, a summary of the new and improved features included in the Android Studio Arctic Fox (2020.3.1) beta:

design

  • Compose Preview
  • Compose Layout Inspector
  • Deploy the preview to the device
  • Character real-time editing
  • Accessibility Scanner in Layout Editor

equipment

  • Wear OS matching
  • Heart rate sensor
  • The new Wear OS system image
  • Google TV remote control
  • Google TV system image
  • Automotive OS sensor playback

productivity

  • Intellij 2020.3.1
  • Android 12 Lint checks
  • Intransitive R-class refactoring
  • Apple Silicon supports previews
  • Android emulator extension control
  • Background Task Inspector
  • Test Matrix
  • New recording interface for Memory Profiler

You may also have seen other new features at I/O that were not included in the list above, but instead were included in Android Studio (2021.1.1) BumbleBee Canary and are not yet fully ready for Beta release:

design

  • Interactive Compose preview
  • Compose Animation preview
  • Preview Configuration Picker
  • Animate vector Drawable preview
  • Compose Blueprint Mode
  • Compose Constraints Preview for ConstraintLayout

equipment

  • Automotive OS USB Passthrough – Coming Soon
  • Automotive OS Rotary Controls – Coming soon

productivity

  • Kotlin coroutine debugger
  • Device Manager
  • Integrated Gradle Instrumented Test Runner in Android Studio
  • Gradle hosts the device

Don’t miss the Google I/O 2021 presentation

Along with this exciting release, the Android Studio team has also released a series of presentations about Android Studio. Watch the video presentation below to learn about the latest features and get tips and insights on how to use Android Studio 📺 :

  • Android development tools updated at a glance
  • Android Kotlin’s latest status
  • Design tool update overview
  • Android Gradle plugin update
  • Android testing tools updated at a glance

Use it immediately

Android Studio Arctic Fox (2020.3.1) is an important release, and now is a good time to download and play with the Beta so that new features can be integrated into your workflow in time. Beta is close to stable quality, but as with any Beta, bugs can still exist. So, if you do find a problem, please let us know and we’ll try to fix it. If you’re already using Android Studio, You can view Updates to the Beta channel through the navigation menu (Help > Check for Update [Windows/Linux], Android Studio > Check for Updates [OS X]). Update to Beta to use the new version of Android Studio and Android Emulator.

As always, let us know what features you like and what problems you see. If you find any errors or bugs, please submit them to us as soon as possible.

Your feedback and questions about our products are very important to us. Please send us your feedback via the QR code below. Your questions may be answered in the next FAQ. Thank you for your support!