Android Developers Backstage

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

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

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"

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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