Google Android Studio Arctic Fox (2020.3.1) stable version is officially released, supporting Apple M1 Mac

On August 12, Google announced that Android Studio Arctic Fox has officially entered the stable version release channel and is welcome to download. This latest version supports Jetpack Compose 1.0, a new Android toolkit for building native interfaces. In addition, this version also emphasizes the coverage of multiple device types, including Wear OS devices, and provides a new version of the background task manager and other features to help developers improve work efficiency.

Please note: Last year, Google announced that it would change the version numbering scheme for Android Studio to match the year and version of IntelliJ IDEA, which Android Studio is based on, and to add our own patch numbers. We will use codenames (in alphabetical order): the first is Arctic Fox, the second is Bumblebee (currently in Canary). Android Studio Arctic Fox (2020.3.1) updates Android Studio to the 2020.3 version of the IntelliJ platform, which adds a lot of new features, including debugger interaction prompts, VCS updates, and several new code editor improvements to make your work more efficient. Please read the IntelliJ release notes for details:

https://blog.jetbrains.com/idea/2020/12/intellij-idea-2020-3/

To allow everyone to quickly design modern UIs, additional features have been added to Jetpack Compose. With Compose Preview, you can create previews for multiple components of the Compose UI so that you can instantly see the changes brought about by your modifications in multiple dimensions, such as themes, screens, and font sizes. The Deploy Preview to Device feature allows you to deploy Compose code snippets directly to a device or simulator to quickly test a small piece of code. We have added Compose support to the Layout Inspector, making it easy for you to understand how the layout is rendered when you need to understand it more deeply. In addition, we have added a new live character editing feature so that you can instantly see the results of changes to the Compose code in the preview and when running the app on the simulator or physical device without having to compile again.

In terms of enhanced device support, a new Wear OS pairing assistant has been built to simplify pairing the Wear OS emulator with a physical or virtual phone. You can also use the latest version of Wear OS right away through the developer preview system image of Wear OS 3. When you run the Wear OS emulator, you will also find that we have added support for the Heart Rate Sensor API. We have added the latest Google TV remote control features for apps targeting Google TV and updated the Google TV system image so that everyone can experience the latest interface design. In addition, we have improved the development and testing workflow of Automotive OS, allowing developers to use the emulator to replay car sensor data to simulate driving scenarios. For apps for tablets, we have updated all templates so that they natively support landscape. Whether you are developing for small or large-screen devices, we have added new features to help you continue to create innovative and outstanding apps.

Finally, to improve developer productivity, we have added some features that allow you to work more efficiently. For example, lint checks have been added to Android 12 to help everyone build apps for the next generation of Android. To help you test your code, we have added an Accessibility Scanner to the Layout Editor so that you can more easily identify accessibility issues in your layouts, and the new Test Matrix allows you to view test results in parallel across multiple devices in real time. In addition, we have added preview support for hardware equipped with Apple chips (arm64) and expanded simulator controls to increase test coverage. Finally, in terms of debugging, the new Background Task Inspector can help you analyze your app's background task processors (workers).

Android Studio Release Notes

https://developer.android.google.cn/studio/releases

design

Use the @Preview annotation to generate previews of your Compose code and visualize different configurations of multiple components (such as different devices or themes). Compose Preview makes it easier to create a mental map of the Composables in your code.

Compose Preview

Layout Inspector supports Compose

Whether your app is built entirely with Compose or uses a combination of Compose and Views, the Layout Inspector lets you get more details about your layout and troubleshoot problems. For example, you can see the parameters and modifiers passed to each Composable. When developing your app, you can also choose to enable Live Updates to stream data from the device.

Compose Layout Inspector

Real-time character editing

You can now quickly edit characters in your code (strings, numbers, Boolean operations, etc.) and see the results of your changes immediately on the screen (whether in preview, simulator, or physical device) without having to compile.

△ Live Character Editing: Edit a string and see the changes in real time in the preview

equipment

Wear OS pairing

The new Wear OS Pairing Assistant will help you complete the pairing, simplifying the pairing process between the Wear OS emulator and a virtual or physical phone. Please note that this feature is currently available for pairing with Wear OS 2 companion devices, and support for Wear OS 3 will be available soon. Please read the official documentation for details:

https://developer.android.google.cn/training/wearables/apps/creating#pairing-assistant

△ Wear OS simulator pairing assistant dialog box

△ Mobile phone + watch simulator pairing success status

Developer Productivity

Background Task Inspector

When using WorkManager library 2.5.0 or higher on devices running API level 26 or higher, you can use the new Background Task Inspector to visualize, monitor, and debug your app's background task processors. Access this tool by selecting View > Tool Windows > App Inspection from the menu bar. Read the official documentation for details:

https://developer.android.google.cn/r/studio-ui/background-task-inspector-help

WorkManager Library

https://developer.android.google.cn/jetpack/androidx/releases/work

Here is a brief summary of the new optimizations and features added to the stable version of Android Studio Arctic Fox (2020.3.1):

design

• Compose Preview
• Background Task Inspector
• Deploy preview to device
• Real-time character editing

equipment

• Wear OS pairing
• Heart rate sensor
• New Wear OS system image
• Google TV Remote
• Google TV System Images
• Automotive OS Sensor Playback
• Tablet template support

Developer Productivity

• IntelliJ 2020.3.1
• Android 12 lint checks
• Non-transitive R-class refactoring
• Apple Silicon Support Preview
• Android Emulator Extended Controls
• Background Task Inspector
• Accessibility Scanner in the Layout Editor
• Test Matrix
• New recording interface for the Memory Profiler
• AGP Upgrade Assistant Improvements
• C++ Editor: Setting execution points in the debugger

For more details, see the Android Studio release notes, Android Gradle plugin release notes, and Android Emulator release notes.

Android Studio Release Notes

https://developer.android.google.cn/studio/releases/#3-3-0

Android Gradle plugin release notes

https://developer.android.google.cn/studio/releases/gradle-plugin

Android Emulator Release Notes

https://developer.android.google.cn/studio/releases/emulator

Get started nowDownload Android Studio

You can download the latest version of Android Studio Arctic Fox right now, or download the Apple silicon preview. If you are using a previous version of Android Studio, just update to the latest version of Android Studio. If you want to keep the stable version of Android Studio, you can run Android Studio Arctic Fox stable and canary versions at the same time. Please read the official documentation for details:

https://developer.android.google.cn/studio/preview/install-preview

Download Android Studio

https://developer.android.google.cn/studio/

Download Apple Silicon Preview

https://developer.android.google.cn/studio#downloads