This page lists the new features introduced in Android Studio preview releases. The preview builds provide early access to the latest features and improvements in Android Studio. You can download these preview versions. If you encounter any problems using a preview version of Android Studio, let us know. Your bug reports help to make Android Studio better.
Canary releases contain leading edge features under active development, and are lightly tested. While you can use Canary builds for development, be aware that features might be added or changed. Release Candidates (RC) are the next version of Android Studio, and are almost ready for stable release. The feature set for the next version has been stabilized. See Android Studio release names to understand Android Studio version naming.
For the latest news on Android Studio preview releases, including a list of notable fixes in each preview release, see the Release Updates in the Android Studio blog.
Current versions of Android Studio
The following table lists the current versions of Android Studio and their respective channels.
| Version | Channel |
|---|---|
| Android Studio Narwhal 3 Feature Drop | 2025.1.3 | Stable |
| Android Gradle plugin 8.13.0 | Stable |
| Android Studio Narwhal 4 Feature Drop | 2025.1.4 | RC |
| Android Studio Otter | 2025.2.1 | Canary |
Compatibility with Android Gradle plugin previews
Each preview version of Android Studio is published alongside a corresponding version of the Android Gradle plugin (AGP). Preview versions of Studio should work with any compatible stable version of AGP. However, if you're using a preview version of AGP, you must use the corresponding preview version of Studio (for example, Android Studio Chipmunk Canary 7 with AGP 7.2.0-alpha07). Attempts to use divergent versions (for example, Android Studio Chipmunk Beta 1 with AGP 7.2.0-alpha07) will cause a Sync failure, which results in a prompt to update to the corresponding version of AGP.
For a detailed log of Android Gradle plugin API deprecations and removals, see the Android Gradle plugin API updates.
Studio Labs
Studio Labs lets you try out the latest AI experimental features in a stable version of Android Studio, so you can more quickly integrate our AI assistance offerings in your development workflow. For more information, see Studio Labs.
The following are features currently available in Studio Labs.
| Feature | Description | Docs |
|---|---|---|
| Compose preview generation | Gemini can automatically generate Compose previews, including mock data for preview parameters, for a specific composable or all composables in a file. | Generate Compose previews |
| Transform UI | Use natural language to update your app UI directly from the Compose preview panel. | Transform UI |
Android Studio Narwhal 4 Feature Drop | 2025.1.4
The following are new features in Android Studio Narwhal 4 Feature Drop | 2025.1.4.
To see what's been fixed in this version of Android Studio, see the closed issues.
New setting to open new projects with the Project view
There is a new setting to have new projects open in Project view by default. To enable the setting go to File (Android Studio on macOS) > Settings > Advanced Settings > Project View and select Set Project view as the default.
Android SDK Upgrade Assistant now supports Android 16 / API 36
The migration from Android 15 / API 35 to Android 16 / API 36 has been added to the Android SDK Upgrade Assistant. To get help migrating, go to Tools > Android SDK Upgrade Assistant.
Watch Face Format support in Android Studio
Android Studio Narwhal 4 improves the workflow for creating watch faces by introducing editor support for the Watch Face XML Format to write, debug, and fine-tune your watch face designs directly within the IDE.
Android Studio lets you directly edit the XML files used in Watch Face Format. It now provides code completion for tags and attributes based on the official Watch Face Format schemas and live error validation that helps identify issues like missing required attributes. Android Studio also includes resource linking to quickly navigate to drawable resources and other referenced XML elements along with advanced syntax support for handling arithmetic expressions and data source references embedded in the XML. Finally, you can deploy watch faces directly from Android Studio.
Android Studio Otter | 2025.2.1
The following are new features in Android Studio Otter | 2025.2.1.
To see what's been fixed in this version of Android Studio, see the closed issues.
Journeys for Android Studio
Journeys for Android Studio helps make end-to-end tests easy to write and maintain by letting you use natural language to describe the steps and assertions for each test—called a journey. By leveraging Gemini's vision and reasoning capabilities, steps written in natural language are converted into actions that Gemini performs on your app, making it both easy to write and understand your journeys. Additionally, you can write and describe more complex assertions, which Gemini evaluates based on what it sees on the device in order to determine whether your journeys pass or fail.
And because Gemini reasons about which actions to perform to satisfy the goals, journeys are more resilient to subtle changes to your app's layout or behavior, resulting in fewer flaky tests when running against different versions of your app and different device configurations.
Write and run journeys right from Android Studio against any local or remote Android device. The IDE provides a new editor experience for crafting journeys as well as rich results that help you better follow Gemini's reasoning and execution of your journey.
Backup and Sync
You can now back up Android Studio settings to cloud storage using either your Google or JetBrains account. This helps sync your settings, such as keymaps, Code Editor settings, system settings, and more. To get started, do one of the following:
After opening a project in Android Studio, sign into your Google Account by clicking the avatar in the top-right corner of the IDE, and clicking Sign in.
- Follow the prompts in the dialog that appears and make sure to check the box to authorize Android Studio to access your Google Account Storage.
- Follow the prompts to authorize Android Studio.
Navigate to Settings > Backup and Sync.
- Select Google to use your Google Account Storage to sync your app data across Android Studio installs. Alternatively, you can use a JetBrains account to sync your app data across IntelliJ and Android Studio installs.
- After you follow the prompts to authorize Android Studio to access your preferred account's storage, return to Android Studio.
- On the Settings > Backup and Sync page, you can review the categories of app data that you want to sync to your account.
- To disable Backup and Sync, uncheck the box that enables the feature.
If you already have data synced to your selected device, Android Studio gives you the option to either download settings from your remote storage (this is the default option) or upload your local settings and overwrite settings synced to your remote storage.
Suggested fixes for crashes
In Android Studio Meerkat Feature Drop, we launched Gemini insights for crashes reported in the App Quality Insights tool window. Now, Android Studio can use Gemini to analyze the crash data along with your source code to suggest potential fixes. After selecting a crash in the App Quality Insights tool window, navigate to the Insights tab and click Suggest a fix after Gemini generates an insight for the crash. Gemini then generates suggested code changes that you can review and accept in an editor diff tab.
Compose Preview Screenshot Testing tool
Use the Compose Preview Screenshot Testing tool to test your Compose UIs and prevent regressions. The new tool helps you generate HTML reports that let you visually detect any changes to your app's UI. Learn more at Compose Preview Screenshot Testing.
Use a local LLM
Android Studio Otter lets you choose the LLM that powers the IDE's AI features.
The LLM must be on your local machine, which is advantageous if you have limited internet connectivity or restrictions regarding the use of AI models, or you just want to experiment with open-source research models.
A local LLM offers an alternative to the LLM support built into Android Studio. However, Gemini in Android Studio typically provides the best Android development experience because Gemini is tuned for Android and supports all features of Android Studio. With Gemini, you can choose from a variety of models for your Android development tasks, including the no-cost default model or models accessed with a paid Gemini API key.
Support for local LLMs requires installation of an LLM provider such as LM Studio or Ollama on your local computer along with a compatible model of your choice.
Monochrome icon support in Asset Studio
Android Studio Narwhal Feature Drop 2025.1.3 Canary 2 and later simplify the creation of themed app icons. With Android 13 (API level 33) and higher, users can opt for themed app icons, which adapt to the wallpaper and theme of the user's device.
To support this feature, Android Studio integrates a new monochrome icon option directly into the Image Asset Studio wizard. When you're creating an adaptive app icon, you now see a dedicated Monochrome tab in addition to the existing Foreground and Background tabs. You can either provide a separate monochrome app icon (see the design specs), or allow Android Studio to default to reusing the foreground layer of the adaptive icon for the monochrome layer.
You can access Image Asset Studio through the Resource Manager, or by right-clicking a project directory and navigating to New > Image Asset.
Select Launcher icons (Adaptive and Legacy) as the icon type to see the new Monochrome tab.
After importing the icons, you can preview your themed app icons.
Automatic Logcat retracing
With Android Studio Otter and AGP 8.12, Logcat automatically retraces stack
traces when R8 is enabled (minifyEnabled = true).
Because code processed by R8 can change in various ways, the stack trace no
longer refers to the original code. For example, line numbers and the names of
classes and methods can change. Previously, to debug with the original stack
trace, developers had to use R8's retrace command-line tool.
With AGP 8.12, Android Studio automatically retraces stack traces so that you can see the original stack trace directly in Android Studio, with no extra work, improving the debugging experience when R8 is enabled.
Support for remote MCP servers
Starting with Android Studio Otter 1 Canary 3, you can connect to remote MCP servers using Android Studio. With a remote MCP server, the Gemini in Android Studio agent can access external tools and resources, and you don't have to do as much work installing and maintaining the server yourself. For example, you can connect to Figma's remote MCP server to connect to Figma files without installing Figma's desktop app. To learn more about how to add an MCP server, see Add an MCP server.
