Android: An Exercise in "Ship It"
Article Summary
Airbnb rebuilt their entire Android app in weeks to meet a hard Google I/O deadline. The catch? They couldn't throw away the old codebase.
In 2013, Airbnb's Android app was lagging far behind their award-winning iOS experience. With Android dominating internationally, the newly formed in-house team had to rapidly overhaul the app while integrating Google Wallet features for the May 15th Google I/O launch.
Key Takeaways
- Converted legacy app into library project to preserve code while redesigning UI
- Used reflection to launch new activities from old code without breaking compilation
- Fixed i18n disasters: hardcoded dollar signs, English-only pluralization, unlocalized dates
- Flattened string resources into single files to simplify translation workflows
- Shipped complete redesign with new features in under two months
Critical Insight
Airbnb transformed their Android app from neglected to first-class citizen by cleverly wrapping legacy code while fixing fundamental internationalization problems.
