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  • Android’s Kotlin Multiplatform announcements at Google I/O and KotlinConf 25



    Posted by Ben Trengrove – Developer Relations Engineer, Matt Dyor – Product Manager

    Google I/O and KotlinConf 2025 bring a series of announcements on Android’s Kotlin and Kotlin Multiplatform efforts. Here’s what to watch out for:

    Announcements from Google I/O 2025

    Jetpack libraries

    Our focus for Jetpack libraries and KMP is on sharing business logic across Android and iOS, but we have begun experimenting with web/WASM support.

    We are adding KMP support to Jetpack libraries. Last year we started with Room, DataStore and Collection, which are now available in a stable release and recently we have added ViewModel, SavedState and Paging. The levels of support that our Jetpack libraries guarantee for each platform have been categorised into three tiers, with the top tier being for Android, iOS and JVM.

    Tool improvements

    We’re developing new tools to help easily start using KMP in your app. With the KMP new module template in Android Studio Meerkat, you can add a new module to an existing app and share code to iOS and other supported KMP platforms.

    In addition to KMP enhancements, Android Studio now supports Kotlin K2 mode for Android specific features requiring language support such as Live Edit, Compose Preview and many more.

    How Google is using KMP

    Last year, Google Workspace began experimenting with KMP, and this is now running in production in the Google Docs app on iOS. The app’s runtime performance is on par or better than before1.

    It’s been helpful to have an app at this scale test KMP out, because we’re able to identify issues and fix issues that benefit the KMP developer community.

    For example, we’ve upgraded the Kotlin Native compiler to LLVM 16 and contributed a more efficient garbage collector and string implementation. We’re also bringing the static analysis power of Android Lint to Kotlin targets and ensuring a unified Gradle DSL for both AGP and KGP to improve the plugin management experience.

    New guidance

    We’re providing comprehensive guidance in the form of two new codelabs: Getting started with Kotlin Multiplatform and Migrating your Room database to KMP, to help you get from standalone Android and iOS apps to shared business logic.

    Kotlin Improvements

    Kotlin Symbol Processing (KSP2) is stable to better support new Kotlin language features and deliver better performance. It is easier to integrate with build systems, is thread-safe, and has better support for debugging annotation processors. In contrast to KSP1, KSP2 has much better compatibility across different Kotlin versions. The rewritten command line interface also becomes significantly easier to use as it is now a standalone program instead of a compiler plugin.

    KotlinConf 2025

    Google team members are presenting a number of talks at KotlinConf spanning multiple topics:

    Talks

      • Deploying KMP at Google Workspace by Jason Parachoniak, Troels Lund, and Johan Bay from the Workspace team discusses the challenges and solutions, including bugs and performance optimizations, encountered when launching Kotlin Multiplatform at Google Workspace, offering comparisons to ObjectiveC and a Q&A. (Technical Session)

      • The Life and Death of a Kotlin/Native Object by Troels Lund offers a high-level explanation of the Kotlin/Native runtime’s inner workings concerning object instantiation, memory management, and disposal. (Technical Session)

      • APIs: How Hard Can They Be? presented by Aurimas Liutikas and Alan Viverette from the Jetpack team delves into the lifecycle of API design, review processes, and evolution within AndroidX libraries, particularly considering KMP and related tools. (Technical Session)

      • Project Sparkles: How Compose for Desktop is changing Android Studio and IntelliJ with Chris Sinco and Sebastiano Poggi from the Android Studio team introduces the initiative (‘Project Sparkles’) aiming to modernize Android Studio and IntelliJ UIs using Compose for Desktop, covering goals, examples, and collaborations. (Technical Session)

      • JSpecify: Java Nullness Annotations and Kotlin presented by David Baker explains the significance and workings of JSpecify’s standard Java nullness annotations for enhancing Kotlin’s interoperability with Java libraries. (Lightning Session)

      • Lessons learned decoupling Architecture Components from platform specific code features Jeremy Woods and Marcello Galhardo from the Jetpack team sharing insights from the Android team on decoupling core components like SavedState and System Back from platform specifics to create common APIs. (Technical Session)

      • KotlinConf’s Closing Panel, a regular staple of the conference, returns, featuring Jeffrey van Gogh as Google’s representative on the panel. (Panel)

    Live Workshops

    If you are at KotlinConf in person, we will have guided live workshops with our new codelabs from above.

      • The codelab Migrating Room to Room KMP, also led by Matt Dyor, and Dustin Lam, Tomáš Mlynarič, demonstrates the process of migrating an existing Room database implementation to Room KMP within a shared module.

    We love engaging with the Kotlin community. If you are attending KotlinConf, we hope you get a chance to check out our booth, with opportunities to chat with our engineers, get your questions answered, and learn more about how you can leverage Kotlin and KMP.

    Learn more about Kotlin Multiplatform

    To learn more about KMP and start sharing your business logic across platforms, check out our documentation and the sample.

    Explore this announcement and all Google I/O 2025 updates on io.google starting May 22.

    1 Google Internal Data, March 2025



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  • Engage users on Google TV with excellent TV apps



    Posted by Shobana Radhakrishnan – Senior Director of Engineering, Google TV, and Paul Lammertsma – Developer Relations Engineer, Android

    Over the past year, Google TV and Android TV achieved over 270 million monthly active devices, establishing one of the largest smart TV OS footprints. Building on this momentum, we are excited to share new platform features and developer tools designed to help you increase app engagement with our expanding user base.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OosLbRBM9dA

    Google TV with Gemini capabilities

    Earlier this year, we announced that we’ll bring Gemini capabilities to Google TV, so users can speak more naturally and conversationally to find what to watch and get answers to complex questions.

    A user pulls up Gemini on a TV asking for kid-friendly movie recommendations similar to Jurassic Park. Gemini responds with several movie recommendations

    After each movie or show search, our new voice assistant will suggest relevant content from your apps, significantly increasing the discoverability of your content.

    A user pulls up Gemini on a TV asking for help explaining the solar system to a first grader. Gemini responds with YouTube videos to help explain the solar system

    Plus, users can easily ask questions about topics they’re curious about and receive insightful answers with supporting videos.

    We’re so excited to bring this helpful and delightful experience to users this fall.

    Video Discovery API

    Today, we’ve also opened partner enrollment for our Video Discovery API.

    Video Discovery optimizes Resumption, Entitlements, and Recommendations across all Google TV form factors to enhance the end-user experience and boost app engagement.

      • Resumption: Partners can now easily display a user’s paused video within the ‘Continue Watching’ row from the home screen. This row is a prime location that drives 60% of all user interactions on Google TV.
      • Entitlements: Video Discovery streamlines entitlement management, which matches app content to user eligibility. Users appreciate this because they can enjoy personalized recommendations without needing to manually update all their subscription details. This allows partners to connect with users across multiple discovery points on Google TV.
      • Recommendations: Video Discovery even highlights personalized content recommendations based on content that users watched inside apps.

    Partners can begin incorporating the Video Discovery API today, starting with resumption and entitlement integrations. Check out g.co/tv/vda to learn more.

    Jetpack Compose for TV

    Compose for TV 1.0 expands on the core and Material Compose libraries

    Last year, we launched Compose for TV 1.0 beta, which lets you build beautiful, adaptive UIs across Android, including Android TV OS.

    Now, Compose for TV 1.0 is stable, and expands on the core and Material Compose libraries. We’ve even seen how the latest release of Compose significantly improves app startup within our internal benchmarking mobile sample, with roughly a 20% improvement compared with the March 2024 release. Because Compose for TV builds upon these libraries, apps built with Compose for TV should also see better app startup times.

    New to building with Compose, and not sure where to start? Our updated Jetcaster audio streaming app sample demonstrates how to use Compose across form factors. It includes a dedicated module for playing podcasts on TV by combining separate view models with shared business logic.

    Focus Management Codelab

    We understand that focus management can be challenging at times. That’s why we’ve published a codelab that reviews how to set initial focus, prepare for unexpected focus traversal, and efficiently restore focus.

    Memory Optimization Guide

    We’ve released a comprehensive guide on memory optimization, including memory targets for low RAM devices as well. Combined with Android Studio’s powerful memory profiler, this helps you understand when your app exceeds those limits and why.

    In-App Ratings and Reviews

    Ratings and reviews entry point forJetStream sample app on TV

    Moreover, app ratings and reviews are essential for developers, offering quantitative and qualitative feedback on user experiences. Now, we’re extending the In-App Ratings and Reviews API to TV to allow developers to prompt users for ratings and reviews directly from Google TV. Check out our recent blog post detailing how to easily integrate the In-App Ratings and Reviews API.

    Android 16 for TV

    Android 16 for TV

    We’re excited to announce the upcoming release of Android 16 for TV. Developers can begin using the latest beta today. With Android 16, TV developers can access several great features:

      • Platform support for the Eclipsa Audio codec enables creators to use the IAMF spatial audio format. For ExoPlayer support that includes previous platform versions, see ExoPlayer’s IAMF decoder module.
      • There are various improvements to media playback speed, consistency and efficiency, as well as HDMI-CEC reliability and performance optimizations for 64-bit kernels.
      • Additional APIs and user experiences from Android 16 are also available. We invite you to explore the complete list from the Android 16 for TV release notes.

    What’s next

    We’re incredibly excited to see how these announcements will optimize your development journey, and look forward to seeing the fantastic apps you’ll launch on the platform!

    Explore this announcement and all Google I/O 2025 updates on io.google starting May 22.



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  • Instagram Head Adam Mosseri Experiences Google Phishing Scam

    Instagram Head Adam Mosseri Experiences Google Phishing Scam


    CEOs of Big Tech, they’re just like us.

    The Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, 42, says he was very close to being a victim of a well-played phishing scheme that involved some very real-looking “secure Google domains.”

    Mosseri wrote on Threads, which, like Instagram, is owned by Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, said on Tuesday that he “experienced a sophisticated phishing attack yesterday.”

    Related: Mark Cuban’s Google Account Was Hacked By ‘Sophisticated’ Bad Actors

    Mosseri said he got a call from an 818 number (and he answered). The caller said that his “Google account was compromised, and they sent an email to confirm identity.”

    “On the phone, they asked me to change my password using my Gmail app and to *not* say my new password out loud. What was impressive was their email came from forms-receipts-noreply@google.com and linked to sites.google.com/view…, which of course asked me to sign in…,” he continued.

    “The email and the form both coming from secure Google domains (via Google products) might have got me if I hadn’t heard from a friend who experienced a similar attack a year ago,” he added. “Anybody know someone at Google that might want this context?”

    Related: If Your Bank Is Calling, Don’t Answer. It’s Probably a Scam.

    Threads users, of course, had a day in the comments. To start, many wondered how the top boss at Instagram doesn’t know someone at Google. There were also a lot of jokes.

    “>sophisticated attack, >Google called me,” one user replied.

    “Adam, I can help you out here. Just need your mom’s maiden name and the street you grew up on,” another responded.

    “Not the Head of Instagram believing Google calls you on the phone about resetting your password?” the comments continued.

    Google Workspace’s official Threads account thanked Mosseri for “flagging” and reminded him that the company will “never” call you.

    Related: Andy Cohen Lost ‘A Lot of Money’ to a Highly Sophisticated Scam

    “We suspended that form and site yesterday, and we constantly roll out defenses against these types of attacks. As a reminder: Google will never call you about your account,” they wrote, adding a link to their “how to spot scams” blog.

    Other users said it reminded them of a similar Google phishing scheme from 2022.

    Still, with all the competition in Silicon Valley, we couldn’t help but wonder: Do all executives at Meta use Gmail and Google’s suite of products?

    CEOs of Big Tech, they’re just like us.

    The Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, 42, says he was very close to being a victim of a well-played phishing scheme that involved some very real-looking “secure Google domains.”

    Mosseri wrote on Threads, which, like Instagram, is owned by Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, said on Tuesday that he “experienced a sophisticated phishing attack yesterday.”

    The rest of this article is locked.

    Join Entrepreneur+ today for access.





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  • What’s new in Google Play



    Posted by Paul Feng, VP of Product Management, Google Play

    At Google Play, we’re dedicated to helping people discover experiences they’ll love, while empowering developers like you to bring your ideas to life and build successful businesses.

    At this year’s Google I/O, we unveiled the latest ways we’re empowering your success with new tools that provide robust testing and actionable insights. We also showcased how we’re continuing to build a content-rich Play Store that fosters repeat engagement alongside new subscription capabilities that streamline checkout and reduce churn.

    Check out all the exciting developments from I/O below and learn how they’ll help you grow your business on Google Play.

    Helping you succeed every step of the way

    Last month, we introduced our latest Play Console updates focused on improving quality and performance. A redesigned app dashboard centered around four developer objectives (Test and release, Monitor and improve, Grow users, Monetize) and new Android vitals metrics offer quick insights and actionable suggestions to proactively improve the user experience.

    Get more actionable insights with new Play Console overview pages

    Building on these updates, we’ve launched dedicated overview pages for two developer objectives: Test and release and Monitor and improve. These new pages bring together more objective-related metrics, relevant features, and a “Take action” section with contextual, dynamic advice. Overview pages for Grow and Monetize will be coming soon.

    Halt fully-rolled out releases when needed

    Historically, a release at 100% live meant there was no turning back, leaving users stuck with a flawed version until a new update rolled out. Soon, you’ll be able to halt fully-live releases, through Play Console and the Publishing API to stop the distribution of problematic versions to new users.

    a moving screen grab of release manager in Play Console

    You’ll soon be able to halt fully live releases directly from Play Console and the Publishing API, stopping the distribution of problematic versions to new users.

    Optimize your store listings with better management tools and metrics

    We launched two tools to enhance your store listings. The asset library makes it easy to upload, edit, and view your visual assets. Upload them from Google Drive, organize with tags, and crop for repurposing. And with new open metrics, you gain deeper insights into listing performance so you can better understand how they attract, engage, and re-engage users.

    Stay ahead of threats with the Play Integrity API

    We’re committed to robust security and preventing abuse so you can thrive on Play’s trusted platform. The Play Integrity API continuously evolves to combat emerging threats, with these recent enhancements:

      • Stronger abuse detection for all developers that leverages the latest Android hardware-security with no developer effort required.
      • Device security update checks to safeguard your app’s sensitive actions like transfers or data access.
      • Public beta for device recall which enables you to detect if a device is being reused for abuse or repeated actions, even after a device reset. You can express interest in this beta.

    Unlocking more discovery and engagement for your apps and its content

    Last year, we shared our vision for a content-rich Google Play that has already delivered strong results. Year-over-year, Apps Home has seen over a 25% increase in average monthly visitors with apps seeing a 10% growth in acquisitions and double-digit growth in app spend for those monetizing on Google Play. Building on that vision, we’re introducing even more updates to elevate your discovery and engagement, both on and off the store.

    For example, curated spaces, launched last year, celebrate seasonal interests like football (soccer) in Brazil and cricket in India, and evergreen interests like comics in Japan. By adding daily content—match highlights, promotions, and editorial articles directly on the Apps Home—these spaces foster discovery and engagement. Curated spaces are a hit with over 920,000 highly engaged users in Japan returning to the comics space monthly. Building on this momentum, we are expanding to more locations and categories this year.

    a moving image of three mobile devices displaying curated spaces on the Play Store

    Our curated spaces add daily content to foster repeat discovery and engagement.

    We’re launching new topic browse pages that feature timely, relevant, and visually engaging content. Users can find them throughout the Store, including Apps Home, store listing pages, and search. These pages debut this month in the US with Media & Entertainment, showcasing over 100,000 shows, movies, and select sports. More localized topic pages will roll out globally later this year.

    a moving image of two mobile devices displaying new browse pages for media and entertainment in the Play Store

    New topic browse pages for media and entertainment are rolling out this month in the US.

    We’re expanding Where to Watch to more markets, including the UK, Korea, Indonesia, and Mexico, to help users find and deep-link directly into their subscribed apps for movies and TV. Since launching in the US in November 2024, we’ve seen promising results: People who view app content through Where to Watch return to Play more frequently and increase their content search activity by 30%.

    We’re also enhancing how your content is displayed on the Play Store. Starting this July, all app developers can add a hero content carousel and a YouTube playlist carousel to their store listings. These formats will help showcase your best content and drive greater user engagement and discovery.

    For apps best experienced through sound, we’re launching audio samples on the Apps Home. A simple tap offers users a brief escape into your audio content. In early testing, audio samples made users 3x more likely to install or open an app! This feature is now available for all Health & Wellness app developers with users in the US, with more categories and markets coming soon. You can express your interest in promoting audio content.

    a moving image of three mobile devices displaying how content is displayed on the Play Store

    We’re enhancing how your content is displayed on the Play Store, 
    offering new ways to showcase your app and drive user engagement.

    Helping you take advantage of deeper engagement on Play, on and off the Store

    Last year, we introduced Engage SDK, a unified solution to deliver personalized content and guide users to relevant in-app experiences. Integrating it unlocks surfaces like Collections, our immersive full-screen experience bringing content directly to the user’s home screen.

    We’re rolling out updates to expand your content’s reach even further:

      • Engage SDK content is coming to the Play Store this summer, in addition to existing spaces like Collections and Entertainment Space on select Android tablets.
      • New content categories are now supported, starting today with Travel.
      • Collections are rolling out globally to Google Play markets starting today, including Brazil, India, Indonesia, Japan, and Mexico.

    Integrate with Engage SDK today to take advantage of this new expansion and boost re-engagement. Try our codelab to test the ease of publishing content with Engage SDK and express interest in the developer preview.

    a mobile device displaying Collections on the Play Store

    Engage SDK now supports Collections for Travel. 
    Users can find timely itineraries and recent searches, all in one convenient place.

    Maximizing your revenue with subscriptions enhancements

    With over a quarter-billion subscriptions, Google Play is one of the world’s largest subscriptions platforms. We’re committed to helping you turn engaged users into revenue growth by continually enhancing our tools to meet evolving customer needs.

    To streamline your purchase flow, we’re introducing multi-product checkout for subscriptions. This lets you sell subscription add-ons alongside base subscriptions, all under a single, aligned payment schedule. Users get a simplified experience with one price and one transaction, while you gain more control over how subscribers upgrade, downgrade, or manage their add-ons.

    a mobile devices displaying multi-checkout where a base subscription plus add ons in shown a singluar transaction on the Play Store

    You can now sell base subscriptions and add-ons together 
    in a single, streamlined transaction.

    To help you retain more of your subscribers, we’re now showcasing subscription benefits in more places across Play – including the Subscriptions Center, in reminder emails, and during purchase and cancellation flows. This increased visibility has already reduced voluntary churn by 2%. Be sure to enter your subscription benefits in Play Console so you can leverage this powerful new capability.

    five mobile devices showing subscriptions in Play

    To help reduce voluntary churn, we’re showcasing your subscriptions benefits across Play.

    Reducing involuntary churn is a key factor in optimizing your revenue. When payment methods unexpectedly decline, users might unintentionally cancel. Now, instead of immediate cancellation, you can now choose a grace period (up to 30 days) or an account hold (up to 60 days). Developers who increased the decline recovery period – from 30 to 60 days – saw an average 10% reduction in involuntary churn for renewals.

    On top of this, we’re expanding our commitment to get more buyers ready for purchases throughout their entire journey. This includes prompting users to set up payment methods and verification right at device setup. After setup, we’ve integrated prompts into highly visible areas like the Play and Google account menus. And as always, we’re continuously enabling payments in more markets and expanding payment options. Plus, our AI models now help optimize in-app transactions by suggesting the right payment method at the right time, and we’re bringing buyers back with effective cart abandonment reminders.

    Grow your business on Google Play

    Our latest updates reinforce our commitment to fostering a thriving Google Play ecosystem. From enhanced discovery and robust tools to new monetization avenues, we’re empowering you to innovate and grow. We’re excited for the future we’re building together and encourage you to use these new capabilities to create even more impactful experiences. Thank you for being an essential part of the Google Play community.

    Explore this announcement and all Google I/O 2025 updates on io.google starting May 22.



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  • 16 things to know for Android developers at Google I/O 2025



    Posted by Matthew McCullough – VP of Product Management, Android Developer

    Today at Google I/O, we announced the many ways we’re helping you build excellent, adaptive experiences, and helping you stay more productive through updates to our tooling that put AI at your fingertips and throughout your development lifecycle. Here’s a recap of 16 of our favorite announcements for Android developers; you can also see what was announced last week in The Android Show: I/O Edition. And stay tuned over the next two days as we dive into all of the topics in more detail!

    Building AI into your Apps

    1: Building intelligent apps with Generative AI

    Generative AI enhances apps’ experience by making them intelligent, personalized and agentic. This year, we announced new ML Kit GenAI APIs using Gemini Nano for common on-device tasks like summarization, proofreading, rewrite, and image description. We also provided capabilities for developers to harness more powerful models such as Gemini Pro, Gemini Flash, and Imagen via Firebase AI Logic for more complex use cases like image generation and processing extensive data across modalities, including bringing AI to life in Android XR, and a new AI sample app, Androidify, that showcases how these APIs can transform your selfies into unique Android robots! To start building intelligent experiences by leveraging these new capabilities, explore the developer documentation, sample apps, and watch the overview session to choose the right solution for your app.

    New experiences across devices

    2: One app, every screen: think adaptive and unlock 500 million screens

    Mobile Android apps form the foundation across phones, foldables, tablets and ChromeOS, and this year we’re helping you bring them to cars and XR and expanding usages with desktop windowing and connected displays. This expansion means tapping into an ecosystem of 500 million devices – a significant opportunity to engage more users when you think adaptive, building a single mobile app that works across form factors. Resources, including Compose Layouts library and Jetpack Navigation updates, help make building these dynamic experiences easier than before. You can see how Peacock, NBCUniveral’s streaming service (available in the US) is building adaptively to meet users where they are.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooRcQFMYzmA

    Disclaimer: Peacock is available in the US only. This video will only be viewable to US viewers.

    3: Material 3 Expressive: design for intuition and emotion

    The new Material 3 Expressive update provides tools to enhance your product’s appeal by harnessing emotional UX, making it more engaging, intuitive, and desirable for users. Check out the I/O talk to learn more about expressive design and how it inspires emotion, clearly guides users toward their goals, and offers a flexible and personalized experience.

    moving image of Material 3 Expressive demo

    4: Smarter widgets, engaging live updates

    Measure the return on investment of your widgets (available soon) and easily create personalized widget previews with Glance 1.2. Promoted Live Updates notify users of important ongoing notifications and come with a new Progress Style standardized template.

    moving image of Material 3 Expressive demo

    5: Enhanced Camera & Media: low light boost and battery savings

    This year’s I/O introduces several camera and media enhancements. These include a software low light boost for improved photography in dim lighting and native PCM offload, allowing the DSP to handle more audio playback processing, thus conserving user battery. Explore our detailed sessions on built-in effects within CameraX and Media3 for further information.

    6: Build next-gen app experiences for Cars

    We’re launching expanded opportunities for developers to build in-car experiences, including new Gemini integrations, support for more app categories like Games and Video, and enhanced capabilities for media and communication apps via the Car App Library and new APIs. Alongside updated car app quality tiers and simplified distribution, we’ll soon be providing improved testing tools like Android Automotive OS on Pixel Tablet and Firebase Test Lab access to help you bring your innovative apps to cars. Learn more from our technical session and blog post on new in-car app experiences.

    7: Build for Android XR’s expanding ecosystem with Developer Preview 2 of the SDK

    We announced Android XR in December, and today at Google I/O we shared a bunch of updates coming to the platform including Developer Preview 2 of the Android XR SDK plus an expanding ecosystem of devices: in addition to the first Android XR headset, Samsung’s Project Moohan, you’ll also see more devices including a new portable Android XR device from our partners at XREAL. There’s lots more to cover for Android XR: Watch the Compose and AI on Android XR session, and the Building differentiated apps for Android XR with 3D content session, and learn more about building for Android XR.

    product image of XREAL’s Project Aura against a nebulous black background

    XREAL’s Project Aura

    8: Express yourself on Wear OS: meet Material Expressive on Wear OS 6

    This year we are launching Wear OS 6: the most powerful and expressive version of Wear OS. Wear OS 6 features Material 3 Expressive, a new UI design with personalized visuals and motion for user creativity, coming to Wear, Android, and Google apps later this year. Developers gain access to Material 3 Expressive on Wear OS by utilizing new Jetpack libraries: Wear Compose Material 3, which provides components for apps and Wear ProtoLayout Material 3 which provides components and layouts for tiles. Get started with Material 3 libraries and other updates on Wear.

    moving image displays examples of Material 3 Expressive on Wear OS experiences

    Some examples of Material 3 Expressive on Wear OS experiences

    9: Engage users on Google TV with excellent TV apps

    You can leverage more resources within Compose’s core and Material libraries with the stable release of Compose for TV, empowering you to build excellent adaptive UIs across your apps. We’re also thrilled to share exciting platform updates and developer tools designed to boost app engagement, including bringing Gemini capabilities to TV in the fall, opening enrollment for our Video Discovery API, and more.

    Developer productivity

    10: Build beautiful apps faster with Jetpack Compose

    Compose is our big bet for UI development. The latest stable BOM release provides the features, performance, stability, and libraries that you need to build beautiful adaptive apps faster, so you can focus on what makes your app valuable to users.

    moving image of compose adaptive layouts updates in the Google Play app

    Compose Adaptive Layouts Updates in the Google Play app

    11: Kotlin Multiplatform: new Shared Template lets you build across platforms, easily

    Kotlin Multiplatform (KMP) enables teams to reach new audiences across Android and iOS with less development time. We’ve released a new Android Studio KMP shared module template, updated Jetpack libraries and new codelabs (Getting started with Kotlin Multiplatform and Migrating your Room database to KMP) to help developers who are looking to get started with KMP. Shared module templates make it easier for developers to craft, maintain, and own the business logic. Read more on what’s new in Android’s Kotlin Multiplatform.

    12: Gemini in Android Studio: AI Agents to help you work

    Gemini in Android Studio is the AI-powered coding companion that makes Android developers more productive at every stage of the dev lifecycle. In March, we introduced Image to Code to bridge the gap between UX teams and software engineers by intelligently converting design mockups into working Compose UI code. And today, we previewed new agentic AI experiences, Journeys for Android Studio and Version Upgrade Agent. These innovations make it easier to build and test code. You can read more about these updates in What’s new in Android development tools.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubyPjBesW-8

    13: Android Studio: smarter with Gemini

    In this latest release, we’re empowering devs with AI-driven tools like Gemini in Android Studio, streamlining UI creation, making testing easier, and ensuring apps are future-proofed in our ever-evolving Android ecosystem. These innovations accelerate development cycles, improve app quality, and help you stay ahead in a dynamic mobile landscape. To take advantage, upgrade to the latest Studio release. You can read more about these innovations in What’s new in Android development tools.

    moving image of Gemini in Android Studio Agentic Experiences including Journeys and Version Upgrade

    And the latest on driving business growth

    14: What’s new in Google Play

    Get ready for exciting updates from Play designed to boost your discovery, engagement and revenue! Learn how we’re continuing to become a content-rich destination with enhanced personalization and fresh ways to showcase your apps and content. Plus, explore powerful new subscription features designed to streamline checkout and reduce churn. Read I/O 2025: What’s new in Google Play to learn more.

    a moving image of three mobile devices displaying how content is displayed on the Play Store

    15: Start migrating to Play Games Services v2 today

    Play Games Services (PGS) connects over 2 billion gamer profiles on Play, powering cross-device gameplay, personalized gaming content and rewards for your players throughout the gaming journey. We are moving PGS v1 features to v2 with more advanced features and an easier integration path. Learn more about the migration timeline and new features.

    16: And of course, Android 16

    We unpacked some of the latest features coming to users in Android 16, which we’ve been previewing with you for the last few months. If you haven’t already, make sure to test your apps with the latest Beta of Android 16. Android 16 includes Live Updates, professional media and camera features, desktop windowing and connected displays, major accessibility enhancements and much more.

    Check out all of the Android and Play content at Google I/O

    This was just a preview of some of the cool updates for Android developers at Google I/O, but stay tuned to Google I/O over the next two days as we dive into a range of Android developer topics in more detail. You can check out the What’s New in Android and the full Android track of sessions, and whether you’re joining in person or around the world, we can’t wait to engage with you!

    Explore this announcement and all Google I/O 2025 updates on io.google starting May 22.



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  • Prepare your apps for Google Play’s 16 KB page size compatibility requirement



    Posted by Dan Brown – Product Manager, Google Play

    Google Play empowers you to manage and distribute your innovative and trusted apps and games to billions of users around the world across the entire breadth of Android devices, and historically, all Android devices have managed memory in 4 KB pages.

    As device manufacturers equip devices with more RAM to optimize performance, many will adopt larger page sizes like 16 KB. Android 15 introduces support for the increased page size, ensuring your app can run on these evolving devices and benefit from the associated performance gains.

    Starting November 1st, 2025, all new apps and updates to existing apps submitted to Google Play and targeting Android 15+ devices must support 16 KB page sizes.

    This is a key technical requirement to ensure your users can benefit from the performance enhancements on newer devices and prepares your apps for the platform’s future direction of improved performance on newer hardware. Without recompiling to support 16 KB pages, your app might not function correctly on these devices when they become more widely available in future Android releases.

    We’ve seen that 16 KB can help with:

      • Faster app launches: See improvements ranging from 3% to 30% for various apps.
      • Improved battery usage: Experience an average gain of 4.5%.
      • Quicker camera starts: Launch the camera 4.5% to 6.6% faster.
      • Speedier system boot-ups: Boot Android devices approximately 8% faster.

    We recommend checking your apps early especially for dependencies that might not yet be 16 KB compatible. Many popular SDK providers, like React Native and Flutter, already offer compatible versions. For game developers, several leading game engines, such as Unity, support 16 KB, with support for Unreal Engine coming soon.

    Reaching 16 KB compatibility

    A substantial number of apps are already compatible, so your app may already work seamlessly with this requirement. For most of those that need to make adjustments, we expect the changes to be minimal.

      • Apps with no native code should be compatible without any changes at all.
      • Apps using libraries or SDKs that contain native code may need to update these to a compatible version.
      • Apps with native code may need to recompile with a more recent toolchain and check for any code with incompatible low level memory management.

    Our December blog post, Get your apps ready for 16 KB page size devices, provides a more detailed technical explanation and guidance on how to prepare your apps.

    Check your app’s compatibility now

    It’s easy to see if your app bundle already supports 16 KB memory page sizes. Visit the app bundle explorer page in Play Console to check your app’s build compliance and get guidance on where your app may need updating.

    App bundle explorer in Play Console

    Beyond the app bundle explorer, make sure to also test your app in a 16 KB environment. This will help you ensure users don’t experience any issues and that your app delivers its best performance.

    For more information, check out the full documentation.

    Thank you for your continued support in bringing delightful, fast, and high-performance experiences to users across the breadth of devices Play supports. We look forward to seeing the enhanced experiences you’ll deliver with 16 KB support.



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  • Google Plans to Roll Out Gemini A.I. Chatbot to Children Under 13

    Google Plans to Roll Out Gemini A.I. Chatbot to Children Under 13


    Google plans to roll out its Gemini artificial intelligence chatbot next week for children under 13 who have parent-managed Google accounts, as tech companies vie to attract young users with A.I. products.

    “Gemini Apps will soon be available for your child,” the company said in an email this week to the parent of an 8-year-old. “That means your child will be able to use Gemini” to ask questions, get homework help and make up stories.

    The chatbot will be available to children whose parents use Family Link, a Google service that enables families to set up Gmail and opt into services like YouTube for their child. To sign up for a child account, parents provide the tech company with personal data like their child’s name and birth date.

    Gemini has specific guardrails for younger users to hinder the chatbot from producing certain unsafe content, said Karl Ryan, a Google spokesman. When a child with a Family Link account uses Gemini, he added, the company will not use that data to train its A.I.

    Introducing Gemini for children could accelerate the use of chatbots among a vulnerable population as schools, colleges, companies and others grapple with the effects of popular generative A.I. technologies. Trained on huge amounts of data, these systems can produce humanlike text and realistic-looking images and videos.

    Google and other A.I. chatbot developers are locked in a fierce competition to capture young users. President Trump recently urged schools to adopt the tools for teaching and learning. Millions of teenagers are already using chatbots as study aids, writing coaches and virtual companions. Children’s groups warn the chatbots could pose serious risks to child safety. The bots also sometimes make stuff up.

    UNICEF, the United Nation’s children’s agency, and other children’s groups have noted that the A.I. systems could confuse, misinform and manipulate young children who may have difficulty understanding that the chatbots are not human.

    “Generative A.I. has produced dangerous content,” UNICEF’s global research office said in a post on A.I. risks and opportunities for children.

    Google acknowledged some risks in its email to families this week, alerting parents that “Gemini can make mistakes” and suggesting they “help your child think critically” about the chatbot.

    The email also recommended parents teach their child how to fact-check Gemini’s answers. And the company suggested parents remind their child that “Gemini isn’t human” and “not to enter sensitive or personal info in Gemini.”

    Despite the company’s efforts to filter inappropriate material, the email added, children “may encounter content you don’t want them to see.”

    A Google email to parents this week warned about the risks of Gemini for children.

    Over the years, tech giants have developed a variety of products, features and safeguards for teens and children. In 2015, Google introduced YouTube Kids, a stand-alone video app for children that is popular among families with toddlers.

    Other efforts to attract children online have prompted concerns from government officials and children’s advocates. In 2021, Meta halted plans to introduce an Instagram Kids service — a version of its Instagram app intended for those under the age of 13 — after the attorneys general of several dozen states sent a letter to the company saying the firm had “historically failed to protect the welfare of children on its platforms.”

    Some prominent tech companies — including Google, Amazon and Microsoft — have also paid multimillion-dollar fines to settle government complaints that they violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. That federal law requires online services aimed at children to obtain a parent’s permission before collecting personal information, like a home address or a selfie, from a child under 13.

    Under the Gemini rollout, children with family-managed Google accounts would initially be able to access the chatbot on their own. But the company said it would alert parents and that parents could then manage their child’s chatbot settings, “including turning access off.”

    “Your child will be able to access Gemini Apps soon,” the company’s email to parents said. “We’ll also let you know when your child accesses Gemini for the first time.”

    Mr. Ryan, the Google spokesman, said the approach to providing Gemini for young users complied with the federal children’s online privacy law.



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  • Making Google Play the best place to grow PC games



    Posted by Aurash Mahbod – VP and GM of Games on Google Play

    We’re stepping up our multiplatform gaming offering with exciting news dropping at this year’s Game Developers Conference (GDC). We’re bringing users more games, more ways to play your games across devices, and improved gameplay. You can read all about the updates for users from The Keyword. At GDC, we’ll be diving into all of the latest games coming to Play, plus new developer tools that’ll help improve gameplay across the Android ecosystem.

    Today, we’re sharing a closer look at what’s new from Play. We’re expanding our support for native PC games with a new earnback program and making Google Play Games on PC generally available this year with major upgrades. Check out the video or keep reading below.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP-Bzzn8q4s

    Google Play connects developers with over 2 billion monthly active players1 worldwide. Our tools and features help you engage these players across a wide range of devices to drive engagement and revenue. But we know the gaming landscape is constantly evolving. More and more players enjoy the immersive experiences on PC and want the flexibility to play their favorite games on any screen.

    That’s why we’re making even bigger investments in our PC gaming platform. Google Play Games on PC was launched to help mobile games reach more players on PC. Today, we’re expanding this support to native PC games, enabling more developers to connect with our massive player base on mobile.

    Expanding support for native PC games

    For games that are designed with a PC-first audience in mind, we’ve added even more helpful tools to our native PC program. Games like Wuthering Waves, Remember of Majesty, Genshin Impact, and Journey of Monarch have seen great success on the platform. Based on feedback from early access partners, we’re taking the program even further, with comprehensive support across game development, distribution, and growth on the platform.

      • Develop with Play Games PC SDK: We’re launching a dedicated SDK for native PC games on Google Play Games, providing powerful tools, such as easier in-app purchase integration and advanced security protection.
      • Distribute through Play Console: We’ve made it easier for developers to manage both mobile and PC game builds in one place, simplifying the process of packaging PC versions, configuring releases, and managing store listings.
      • Grow with our new earnback program: Bring your PC games to Google Play Games on PC to unlock up to 15% additional earnback.2

    We’re opening up the program for all native PC games – including PC-only games – this year. Learn more about the eligibility requirements and how to join the program.

    Moving image of thumbnails for popular PC Games on Google Play – Remember of Majesty, Genshin Impact, Joourney of Monarch, and Wuthering Waves

    Native PC games on Google Play Games

    Making PC an easy choice for mobile developers

    Bringing your game to PC unlocks a whole new audience of engaged players. To help maximize your discoverability, we’re making all mobile games available3 on PC by default with the option to opt out anytime.

    Games will display a playability badge indicating their compatibility with PC. “Optimized” means that a game meets all of our quality standards for a great gaming experience while “playable” means that the game meets the minimum requirements to play well on a PC. With the support of our new custom control mappings, many games can be playable right out of the box. Learn more about the playability criteria and how to optimize your games for PC today.

    Moving image of playable PC Games on Google Play

    Thousands of new games are added to Google Play Games

    To enhance our PC experience, we’ve made major upgrades to the platform. Now, gamers can enjoy the full Google Play Games on PC catalog on even more devices, including AMD laptops and desktops. We’re partnering with PC OEMs to make Google Play Games accessible right from the start menu on new devices starting this year.

    We’re also bringing new features for players to customize their gaming experiences. Custom controls is now available to help tailor their setup for optimal comfort and performance. Rolling out this month, we’re adding a handy game sidebar for quick adjustments and enabling multi-account and multi-instance support by popular demand.

    Moving image demonstrating customizable controls while playing Dye Hard - Color War on PC on Google Play

    You can customize controls while playing Dye Hard – Color War

    Unlocking exclusive rewards on PC with Play Points

    To help you boost engagement, we’re also rolling out a more seamless Play Points4 experience on PC. Play Points balance is now easier to track and more rewarding, with up to 10x points boosters5 on Google Play Games. This means more opportunities for players to earn and redeem points for in-game items and discounts, enhancing the overall PC experience.

    Moving image showing Google Play Points in Google Play Games

    Google Play Points is integrated seamlessly with Google Play Games

    Bringing new PC UA tools powered by Google Ads

    More developers are launching games on PC than ever, presenting an opportunity to reach a rapidly growing audience on PC. We want to make it easier for developers to reach great players with Google Ads. We’re working on a solution to help developers run user acquisition campaigns for both mobile emulated and native PC titles within Google Play Games on PC. We’re still in the early stages of partner testing, but we look forward to sharing more details later this year.

    Join the celebration!

    We’re celebrating all that’s to come to Google Play Games on PC with players and developers. Take a look at the behind-the-scenes from our social channels and editorial features on Google Play. At GDC, you can dive into the complete gaming experience that is available on the best Android gaming devices. If you’ll be there, please stop by and say hello – we’re at the Moscone Center West Hall!

    1 Source: Google internal data measuring monthly users who opened a game downloaded from the Play store.

    2 Additional terms apply for the earnback program.

    3 Your game’s visibility on Google Play Games on PC is determined by its playability badge. If your game is labeled as “Untested”, this means it will only appear if a user specifically searches for it in the Google Play Games on PC search menu. The playability badge may change once testing is complete. You can express interest in having Play evaluate your game for playability using this form.

    5 Offered for a limited time period. Additional terms apply.



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  • How Much Do Google Employees Make? Median Salaries Revealed

    How Much Do Google Employees Make? Median Salaries Revealed


    A mid-level Google employee made $331,894 in 2024, a 5% increase from the median salary of $315,531 in 2023, per a new filing submitted by Google’s parent company, Alphabet, to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

    The figure aligns with compensation at other tech giants in recent years. At Meta, for example, the median pay for employees in 2023 was $379,000 a year.

    The filing further showed that Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai received total annual compensation of $10,725,043 last year, about 32 times more than the median employee. Pichai received a nearly $2 million raise from the $8,802,824 he made in 2023.

    Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Photo by Klaudia Radecka/NurPhoto via Getty Images

    The bulk of Pichai’s compensation came from the “All Other Compensation” category, besides his $2,015,385 base salary and $405,630 in stock awards.

    The remaining $8,304,028 included Pichai’s personal security costs, which climbed 22% from the $6,775,631 Google paid in 2023 to $8,267,123 in 2024. The category also included his retirement plan and use of company aircraft or cars.

    Related: Google CEO Sundar Pichai Says ‘You’ll Be Surprised’ By How Google Search Changes in 2025

    “Due to Sundar’s significant public profile, Alphabet provides him with security protection,” Alphabet’s 2025 proxy statement reads. “In 2024, Sundar’s security arrangements included residential security and consultation fees, security monitoring services, car and driver services, and personal security during all travel.”

    Alphabet called Pichai’s personal security expenses “reasonable, appropriate, necessary and in the best interests of Alphabet and its stockholders.”

    Other tech CEOs also have seven or eight-figure security costs. For example, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s $27.2 million total compensation in 2024 included a $14 million pre-tax security allowance. Meanwhile, Nvidia spent nearly $2.5 million in 2024 on CEO Jensen Huang’s security costs.

    Related: Here’s How Much 8 CEOs Made in 2024, From JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon to Disney’s Bob Iger



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  • Android Developers Blog: Get ready for Google I/O: Program lineup revealed



    Posted by the Google I/O team

    The Google I/O agenda is live. We’re excited to share Google’s biggest announcements across AI, Android, Web, and Cloud May 20-21. Tune in to learn how we’re making development easier so you can build faster.

    We’ll kick things off with the Google Keynote at 10:00 AM PT on May 20th, followed by the Developer Keynote at 1:30 PM PT. This year, we’re livestreaming two days of sessions directly from Mountain View, bringing more of the I/O experience to you, wherever you are.

    Here’s a sneak peek of what we’ll cover:

      • AI advancements: Learn how Gemini models enable you to build new applications and unlock new levels of productivity. Explore the flexibility offered by options like our Gemma open models and on-device capabilities.
      • Build excellent apps, across devices with Android: Crafting exceptional app experiences across devices is now even easier with Android. Dive into sessions focused on building intelligent apps with
        Google AI and boosting your productivity, alongside creating adaptive user experiences and leveraging the power of Google Play.
      • Powerful web, made easier: Exciting new features continue to accelerate web development, helping you to build richer, more reliable web experiences. We’ll share the latest innovations in web UI, Baseline progress, new multimodal built-in AI APIs using Gemini Nano, and how AI in DevTools streamline building innovative web experiences.

    Plan your I/O

    Join us online for livestreams May 20-21, followed by on-demand sessions and codelabs on May 22. Register today and explore the full program for sessions like these:

    We’re excited to share what’s next and see what you build!



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