At its I/O developer conference this year, Google showcased a new 'Now in Android' app for developers. The app aims to help developers stay up to date with all areas of Android development and showcase best practices, opinionated designs, and solutions to complex real-world problems that other sample apps don't handle.

The first alpha release of the 'Now in Android' app is available for download on GitHub, and all Android app developers should definitely check it out.

Now in Android app screen designs

Before you download the app, though, here's a quick look at all the things included in the first alpha release:

  • UI built using Jetpack Compose
  • Theme components with Material3
  • Adaptive layouts for different screen sizes
  • Architecture that follows Google's official guidance
  • A reactive programming model with unidirectional data flow, implemented using Kotlin Flows
  • Room and Proto DataStore for local data storage, offline first
  • Remote/local data synchronization scheduled using WorkManager with exponential backoff

Along with these features, the 'Now in Android' app also documents the "learning journeys we took to certain decisions with the app's design and implementation." You can learn more about Google's first journey on the app's Architecture by following this link.

The Now in Android screens adapt based on device screen size
The Now in Android screens adapt based on device screen size

Google plans to add a few more features to the 'Now in Android' app with future updates, including user authentication and loading data from a real backend. However, the company has not yet shared a definite release timeline for these features. Google has also confirmed that the app will make its way to the Play Store in the near future.

If you're interested in taking a look at the 'Now in Android' app, click on the link below to download the app from GitHub. If you like the app and would like to learn more about the tools used to build the app and how it targets multiple screen sizes, you can check out the Developer Keynote and Implementing Android apps for all screen sizes talk from I/O 2022.

Download the Now in Android app


Source: Android Developers Blog