Google is turning Android into a 'sloperating' system. Your thoughts?

Google released Android 17, transforming the platform from an operating system into an 'intelligence system' with deep AI integration. The update introduces mandatory large-screen resizability, AppFunctions for AI agent orchestration, and tools for developers to build adaptive apps. This shift aims to anticipate user needs and expand engagement opportunities across devices.

16 June 2026 Today we're releasing Android 17 and making it available on most supported Pixel devices. Look for new devices running Android 17 in the coming months. Android 17 marks the start of our transition to an intelligence system, putting your apps at the center. It's shifting to an adaptive-first development standard by introducing mandatory large-screen resizability, all while delivering next-generation privacy, security, media, camera, and performance. We'll cover all that in this post, as well as how we're bringing together next generation tools, libraries, and agent skills to help your apps embrace the opportunity. Throughout the past year, from our Canary channel to our Beta releases, we’ve collaborated with you in the developer community to build a platform you and your users can trust. To that end, this moment marks the availability of the source code at the Android Open Source Project https://source.android.com/ AOSP . This allows you to examine the source code https://cs.android.com/ for a deeper understanding of how Android works. Let's dive deeper into Android 17. With deep integration between hardware, software and AI, we’re transforming Android from an operating system to an intelligence system. It's about delivering new helpful experiences that anticipate user needs, and it brings more opportunities for engagement with your apps. To that end, Android 17 expands the capabilities of AppFunctions, a platform API with a corresponding Jetpack library. It allows you to contribute your app's unique capabilities as orchestratable "tools" for Android MCP, the on-device equivalent of the Model Context Protocol https://modelcontextprotocol.io/ . AI agents and assistants like Google Gemini can discover and execute AppFunctions to perform workflows on behalf of the user with direct access to the app's local state. The Jetpack library, currently in alpha, makes adding AppFunctions as easy as annotating a class and adding KDoc comments. / A note app's AppFunction s. / class NoteFunctions private val noteRepository: NoteRepository { / Adds a new note to the app. @param appFunctionContext The execution context. @param title The title of the note. @param content The note's content. / @AppFunction isDescribedByKDoc = true suspend fun createNote appFunctionContext: AppFunctionContext, title: String, content: String : Note { return noteRepository.createNote title, content } } We’ve also launched an AppFunctions agent skill http://github.com/android/skills/tree/main/on-device/appfunctions that analyzes your app’s key workflows, automatically generates the required Kotlin code, optimizes your KDocs for LLM tool-calling, and provides ADB commands for testing and debugging. The Gemini integration is currently in a private preview with trusted testers, but you can begin preparing your apps now. In addition to ADB commands to execute your AppFunctions, we've provided a test agent app http://github.com/android/appfunctions/releases/initial that includes an interface to discover and execute your app functions and simulate an AI agent integration. Join our integration early access program at goo.gle/eap-af http://goo.gle/eap-af for a chance to be among the first apps to deploy AppFunctions to production. Your users no longer rely on a single form factor; they transition between phones, foldables, tablets, laptops, automotive displays, and immersive XR environments. Now, with over 580 million large screen devices https://developer.android.com/blog/posts/adaptive-development-for-the-expanding-android-ecosystem in the hands of users and the forthcoming launch of Googlebooks https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/platforms/android/meet-googlebook/ , the next generation of ChromeOS built on the Android stack, adaptive is no longer just a technical goal. It’s a massive opportunity to reach highly engaged users, which is one of the reasons we're shifting to an adaptive-first development standard https://developer.android.com/adaptive-apps . To ensure apps deliver a premium experience across all form factors, including mobile devices running in desktop mode on connected displays, Android 17 API level 37 removes the developer opt-out for orientation and resizability restrictions on large screen devices https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/large-screens sw 600 dp for apps targeting API level 37. The system will ignore legacy manifest attributes and runtime APIs, including screenOrientation, setRequestedOrientation , resizeableActivity=false, and aspect ratio constraints minAspectRatio/maxAspectRatio . Games based on app category https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/9859673?hl=en in Google Play remain exempt. Your app must be ready to adapt to any window size, respect the user's preferred device posture, and support free-form windowing natively. Android 17 introduces powerful new windowing capabilities that redefine how users multitask, demanding even greater layout flexibility from your apps: App Bubbles and Bubble Bar in action To prevent disruptive state loss and stutter, Android 17 updates the default behavior for Activity recreation. The system will no longer restart activities by default for typical configuration changes that do not require a full UI redraw including CONFIG KEYBOARD https://developer.android.com/reference/kotlin/android/content/pm/ActivityInfo config keyboard , CONFIG KEYBOARD HIDDEN https://developer.android.com/reference/kotlin/android/content/pm/ActivityInfo config keyboard hidden , CONFIG NAVIGATION https://developer.android.com/reference/kotlin/android/content/pm/ActivityInfo config navigation , CONFIG TOUCHSCREEN https://developer.android.com/reference/kotlin/android/content/pm/ActivityInfo config touchscreen , and CONFIG COLOR MODE https://developer.android.com/reference/kotlin/android/content/pm/ActivityInfo config color mode . Instead, running activities will receive these updates via onConfigurationChanged , enabling smooth transitions. If your application explicitly relies on a full restart to reload resources for these changes, you must now explicitly opt-in using the new android:recreateOnConfigChanges https://developer.android.com/reference/kotlin/android/R.attr recreateonconfigchanges manifest attribute. Android 17 adds Continue On to help users seamlessly transition a task between Android devices. The user sees a suggestion for the most recently opened app from their mobile device in their tablet taskbar, providing a one-tap affordance to launch the app and deep-link where they left off. Continue on can support app-to-web transitions, including falling back to using the web if the app isn't installed. class MyHandoffActivity : Activity { ... override fun onCreate savedInstanceState: Bundle? { super.onCreate savedInstanceState // Do stuff ... // Enable handoff setHandoffEnabled true, null } // Override and implement onHandoffActivityDataRequested override fun onHandoffActivityDataRequested handoffRequestInfo: HandoffActivityDataRequestInfo : HandoffActivityData { // Create and return handoff data } } To help you adapt your apps to meet the new Android 17 requirements, we've launched the Jetpack Compose adaptive skill https://github.com/android/skills/tree/main/jetpack-compose/adaptive . This AI-powered developer workflow helps you implement the best adaptive practices: Compose offers the easiest way to build adaptive apps, and that's just one of the many reasons https://developer.android.com/develop/ui/compose/first why-compose-first we believe that all Android UI should be built with Compose. To that end, Android development is now Compose-first https://developer.android.com/develop/ui/compose/first . All new Android APIs, libraries, tools, and developer guidance will be built exclusively for Jetpack Compose. Legacy View components in the android.widget package and View-based Jetpack libraries like Fragments, RecyclerView, and ViewPager are now in maintenance mode. They will receive only critical bug fixes, and no new features. TIP Ready to migrate? Use our AI-driven XML to Compose Migration Skill to automatically analyze your legacy View layouts and convert them into highly-adaptive Compose code. App performance means a smooth user interface, fast app start times, and efficient multitasking; Android 17 has impactful improvements in all of these areas. Memory usage is one of the silent foundations of overall performance. When a foreground app or service grows unchecked, memory management spikes CPU and battery utilization and eventually leads to the termination of other well-behaved cached apps and background jobs, ultimately forcing slower cold starts and impaired multitasking. Starting in Android 17, the system will enforce strict app memory limits based on a device's total RAM, abruptly terminating offending processes. New things to help you navigate these tighter requirements: val profilingManager = applicationContext .getSystemService ProfilingManager::class.java val triggers = ArrayList<ProfilingTrigger .apply { add ProfilingTrigger.Builder ProfilingTrigger.TRIGGER TYPE ANOMALY .build } profilingManager.addProfilingTriggers triggers And, we're working to surface more in-field memory metrics to you within Google Play Console. Android 17 https://developer.android.com/about/versions introduces more frequent, less resource-intensive young-generation collections to ART https://developer.android.com/guide/platform art 's Concurrent Mark-Compact garbage collector GC . By separating short-lived objects from stable, long-lived ones, the system runs frequent, lightweight "young-generation" sweeps rather than expensive full-heap scans, drastically reducing CPU usage, power drain, and UI stutter. Our testing has shown significant improvements in GC interference with application threads and a reduction in the maximum memory resident set size RSS . ART improvements are also available to over a billion devices running Android 12 API level 31 and higher through Google Play System updates. For apps targeting SDK 37 or higher, the core android.os.MessageQueue https://developer.android.com/reference/android/os/MessageQueue now implements a lock-free architecture, significantly reducing missed frames, improving app startup time, and radically improving the performance of busy queues in multithreaded scenarios. Note: This can break apps that use reflection on private Starting from Android 17, apps targeting SDK 37 or higher won’t be able to modify “static final” fields, allowing the runtime to apply performance optimizations more aggressively. An attempt to do so via reflection or deep reflection will lead to an IllegalAccessException being thrown. Modifying them via JNI’s SetStatic<Type Field methods family will immediately crash the application. To reduce memory usage we are further restricting the size of custom notification views https://developer.android.com/develop/ui/views/notifications/custom-notification . This update closes a loophole that allows apps to bypass existing limits using URIs. This behavior is gated by the target SDK version and takes effect for apps targeting API 37 and higher. Maintaining user trust is at the heart of the Android ecosystem. Android 17 introduces robust features that protect sensitive data while simplifying user experiences. Historically, apps required broad, permanent permissions to access information like contacts, precise location and media files. Android 17 continues the shift toward privacy-preserving choices that grant temporary, session-based access only to the data the user explicitly selects: ACTION PICK CONTACTS , apps can request temporary access only to specific fields e.g., email or phone number chosen by the user, eliminating the need for the broad READ CONTACTS permission. It also fully supports work/personal profile separation. PhotoPickerUiCustomizationParams ACTION OPEN EYE DROPPER , allows your app to create a system-powered eyedropper enabling the user to select color from any pixel on the display. This provides a secure, privacy-preserving color-picking experience that eliminates the need for broad, sensitive screen capture or media projection permissions. val eyeDropperLauncher = registerForActivityResult ActivityResultContracts.StartActivityForResult { result - if result.resultCode == Activity.RESULT OK { val color = result.data?.getIntExtra Intent.EXTRA COLOR, Color.BLACK // Use the picked color in your app } } fun launchColorPicker { val intent = Intent Intent.ACTION OPEN EYE DROPPER eyeDropperLauncher.launch intent } Apps targeting Android 17 now either require the runtime permission or the use of system-mediated, privacy-preserving device pickers for local network communication, such as talking to smart home devices or casting receivers. Because ACCESS LOCAL NETWORK https://developer.android.com/reference/kotlin/android/Manifest.permission access local network ACCESS LOCAL NETWORK falls under the existing permission group, users who have already granted other NEARBY DEVICES https://developer.android.com/reference/android/Manifest.permission group NEARBY DEVICES permissions will not be prompted again. NEARBY DEVICES https://developer.android.com/reference/android/Manifest.permission group NEARBY DEVICES Android 17 expands SMS one-time-password OTP protection by delaying access to SMS messages for three hours: Android 17 is ready for the next generation of cryptographic security: With Android 17, we're making it safer to enter passwords, PINs, and other secrets when using a physical keyboard by no longer showing the last typed character by default. Users can still easily customize these display settings to match their preferences availability may vary by device manufacturer . These enhanced privacy protections are automatically supported byAndroid's built-in SDK components and will be supported in Compose 1.12 for SecureTextFields. Android 17 introduces new creator features https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/platforms/android/android-17-creator-features/ that give access to pro-quality cameras and media, all while improving the experience for consumers. MediaFormat MediaCodecInfo MediaExtractor SetVideoEncodingQuality MediaRecorder AudioDeviceInfo.TYPE BLE HEARING AID CameraX https://developer.android.com/jetpack/androidx/releases/camerax and Media3 https://developer.android.com/jetpack/androidx/releases/media3 have been updated for Android 17. They are there to do the heavy lifting, smoothing the rough edges of media development and simplifying building reliable camera capture, smooth media playback, and creative and complex editing experiences. We've released an agent skill https://github.com/android/skills/tree/main/camera that can migrate legacy Android camera implementations Camera1 or raw Camera2 APIs to CameraX. Note: You'll need to update your CameraX version to either 1.5.2 or 1.6.0+ to avoid a crash related to an added dynamic range mode on Android 17 devices. If you develop an Android SDK, library, tool, or game engine, it's critical to prepare any necessary updates now to prevent your downstream app and game developers from being blocked by compatibility issues and allow them to target the latest SDK features. Please let your downstream developers know if updates are needed to fully support Android 17. Testing involves installing your production app or a test app making use of your library or engine using Google Play or other means onto a device or emulator running Android 17 Beta 4. Work through all your app's flows and look for functional or UI issues. Each release of Android contains platform changes that improve privacy, security, and overall user experience; review the app impacting behavior changes for apps running on https://developer.android.com/about/versions/17/behavior-changes-all and targeting https://developer.android.com/about/versions/17/behavior-changes-17 Android 17 to focus your testing, including the following: ACCESS LOCAL NETWORK Your Pixel device should get Android 17 shortly if you haven't already been on the Android Beta. If you don’t have a Pixel device, you can use the 64-bit system images with the Android Emulator https://developer.android.com/about/versions/17/get on emulator in Android Studio. If you are currently on Android 17 Beta 4.1 and have not yet taken an Android 17 QPR1 beta, you can opt out of the program and you will then be offered the release version of Android 17 over the air. Android 17 is available in beta on handset, tablet, and foldable form factors from partners https://developer.android.com/about/versions/17/devices including Honor, iQOO, Lenovo, OnePlus, OPPO, Realme, Sharp, vivo, and Xiaomi. For the best development experience with Android 17, we recommend that you use the latest Canary build of Android Studio Quail https://developer.android.com/studio/preview . Once you’re set up, here are some of the things you should do: Test your current app for compatibility, learn whether your app is affected by changes in Android 17 https://developer.android.com/about/versions/17/behavior-changes-all , and install your app onto a device or Android Emulator https://developer.android.com/studio/run/emulator running Android 17 and extensively test it. Thank you again to everyone who participated in our Android developer preview and beta program. We're looking forward to seeing how your apps take advantage of the updates in Android 17, and have plans to bring you updates in a fast-paced release cadence going forward. For complete information on Android 17 please visit the Android 17 developer site https://developer.android.com/about/versions/17 .