Jetpack Compose

Jetpack Compose is an open-source Kotlin-based declarative UI framework for Android developed by Google.^[1] The first preview was announced in May 2019,^[2] and the framework was made ready for production in July 2021.^[1]

Jetpack Compose

Developer(s)	Google
Repository	github.com/androidx/androidx/tree/androidx-main/compose
Written in	Kotlin
Operating system	Android
Type	Library
Website	developer.android.com/develop/ui/compose

History

The first preview of Jetpack Compose was announced at the Google I/O conference in May 2019.^[2] The developer preview was released in October 2019,^[3] and the alpha release took place in August 2020.^[4]

Compose entered its beta phase in February 2021, with its first production release taking place that July.^[5]

Features

Jetpack Compose supports Android 5.0 and later.^[6] It uses the Kotlin programming language, and provides a reactive programming model similar to other UI frameworks such as Vue.js and React Native.^[2] Compose is designed to integrate seamlessly with existing Android apps and libraries, allowing developers to gradually migrate their apps to Compose.^[5]

In Compose, a user interface is defined using functions that have been annotated with the @Composable annotation, which are known as composable functions and define the screen's state.^[1][7] The annotation is used by the Compose compiler to generate the UI boilerplate code.^[7] When the state is updated, composable functions are called again with new data, which causes the widgets they emit to be redrawn in a process known as recomposition. Recomposition is only performed for composable functions that need to be updated, which improves UI efficiency.^[8]

The 1.0 release introduced Compose Preview, which is built into Android Studio starting with Arctic Fox. It allows composables to be previewed using different configurations without deploying the app to a device.^[9]

In September 2024, the 1.0 stable version of the Jetpack Compose APIs for building adaptive UIs with Material 3 was released.^[10]

Usage

At the time of Jetpack Compose's 1.0 release, Google said, "There are already over 2,000 apps in the Play Store using Compose – in fact, the Play Store app itself uses Compose."^[1] As of October 2022, 16% of the top 1000 apps on the Play Store included Compose. The apps included those from companies such as Airbnb, Lyft and Square.^[11] In May 2024, this number had grown to 40%.^[12]

Google rewrote parts of Android's Settings app using Jetpack Compose in Android 14.^[13] Meta Platforms developed its Threads social media app in five months using Jetpack Compose.^[14][15] The Instagram for Android app has also been written using Jetpack Compose.^[16]

Compose Multiplatform

Compose Multiplatform is a multi-platform UI framework developed by JetBrains and based on Jetpack Compose. It is a port of Jetpack Compose for Windows, macOS, Linux and the web. Version 1.0 alpha was released in August 2021.^[1] iOS support was added in May 2023.^[17]