Google: What's new in Android developer tools and performance at Android Dev Summit
Original post What's new in Android developer tools and performance at Android Dev Summit
Article Summary
Adarsh Fernando from Google just dropped a massive tooling update that fundamentally changes how developers build Android apps. AI agents can now access real physical devices, render Compose previews from the terminal, and autonomously fix memory leaks.
At Android Dev Summit 2026, Google unveiled a comprehensive suite of developer tools designed for the AI agent era. The updates span Android Studio, a new Android CLI, and performance tooling that works seamlessly with coding agents like Claude, Codex, and Google's Antigravity.
Key Takeaways
- Android Studio now supports 40+ AI agents via open Agent Client Protocol
- Android CLI enables agents to test on real physical devices remotely
- Agents with Android CLI fixed memory leaks 2x faster using 25% fewer tokens
- New Change Review feature helps developers understand what AI agents actually changed
- LeakCanary integration finds memory leaks without slowing down your app
Google is betting big on AI agents as development partners, shipping tools that let any agent build, test, and optimize Android apps from anywhere with measurable efficiency gains.
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Mar 2, 2026
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What This Article Covers
App bundles kept growing because R8 keep rules were too broad. On top of that, migrating UI from XML Views to Compose was slow, and when recomposition happened in Compose, developers often couldn't tell why.
AGP 9.3 brings the 'android analyze' command along with an R8 Configuration Analyzer. Google also added a Views-to-Compose Migration Assistant, and Compose 1.13 now includes recomposition tracing paired with the jetpack-compose-performance skill.
According to Google's internal testing, agents using the 'android preview' command finished UI tasks 77% faster and used up to 3x fewer tokens.
This page summarizes “What's new in Android developer tools and performance at Android Dev Summit” by Google, published Oct 28, 2026. All credit for the original work goes to the authors.
