Android Studio Arctic Fox (2020.3.1) Beta released

△ Android Studio Arctic Fox startup screen

/ Paris Hsu, Product & Design, Android

Note: As we announced late last year like that, we have changed the version numbering scheme to match the number IntelliJ IDE Android Studio is based, namely 2020.3, combined with our own patch number, and an easy to remember and use The code name. We will arrange the code names in alphabetical order. The first one is Arctic Fox, which is now in Beta; the next code name is Bumblebee, which is still in the Canary channel.

Now, we are happy to announce to you Android Studio Arctic Fox (2020.3.1) Beta ❄️ 🦊: The latest version of the official Android IDE, focusing on design, equipment and developer productivity. You can download it now in the Beta channel to try out all the new features released during Google I/O 2021:

Despite having to adapt to various challenges in the past year, developer communities around the world continue to create amazing and innovative applications. Thanks to feedback from the community, we have provided and updated this set of tools for everyone, aiming to empower three themes:

• Quick UI Design -With Jetpack Compose , creating a modern UI has never been easier. We provide various tools to help you complete the design journey: create previews in different configurations, use Compose Preview to navigate your code, use Deploy Preview to Device for individual testing, and use Layout Inspector to inspect the entire application. Throughout the iteration process, you can quickly edit strings and numbers and see instant updates. In addition, through the Accessibility Scanner in the Layout Editor, you can check whether there are accessibility issues in the View-based layout.
• covers new devices, regardless of size -expand your application to a broader stage, not just limited to mobile phones. Whether it is Wear OS, Google TV or Android Auto, we have prepared new emulators and system images, and even real simulations for different test scenarios: Use Wear OS Pairing to pair your watch and mobile phone emulator, use Wear OS The heart rate sensor performs a virtual run, uses Google TV Remote Control to switch channels, and uses Automotive OS Sensor Replay to drive.
• enhances developer productivity -We want to ensure that your workspace and environment are prepared for the latest system, and optimized for speed and quality. Now, you can enjoy a large number of new features and improvements brought by the major update of Intellij 2020.3, test the new features brought by Android 12 in the app, use the new UI of Memory Profiler to improve app performance, and use WorkManager Inspector to clarify the relationship between background tasks , And use Non-Transitive R-like IDE Refactoring to improve the construction speed.

In short, this is an upgrade not to be missed! ✨ Around these themes, there are many features and improvements in the Beta version for you to experience, please continue to read this article or watch the following speeches to learn more about the highlights. You can also skip reading and go directly to Beta channel download Android Studio Arctic Fox (2020.3.1) Beta, and get started now to try the latest features! Please submit feedback to us to help us continue to focus on the areas you care about most in the next version of Android Studio.

Android Studio Arctic Fox (2020.3.1) Beta features at a glance

Below is a complete list of new features in Android Studio Arctic Fox (2020.3.1) Beta, organized by three themes:

design

• Compose Preview -Use Compose Preview to create a preview of the Compose UI! By using the @Preview annotation, Compose Preview can visualize multiple components at a time in different configurations (ie, themes, devices), and create a mental map for you to navigate your code.

△ Compose Preview

• Compose Layout Inspector -You can now use the Layout Inspector to inspect layouts written in Compose. Whether your application is a layout written entirely in Compose, or a mix of Compose and View, Layout Inspector can help you understand how the layout is presented on the device or simulator, and get rich details (such as the parameters passed to each Composable And modifiers), and debug possible problems. When you interact with the app, you can now also choose to enable Live Updates (Live Updates) to continuously stream data from your device, or disable real-time updates and use refresh (Refresh) Actions to reduce the impact on the performance of the device.

△ Compose Layout Inspector

• deployment preview to device -Use this feature to deploy UI fragments to a device or simulator, so you can test a small part of your code on the device without launching the full application. Your preview will get the same operating environment (permissions, resources) as the application. Just click the Deploy to device icon, which is located at the top of the Compose preview or next to the @Preview comment in the gutter bar of the code editor, and Android Studio will deploy the @Preview to the connected device or emulator.

△ Pay attention to the deploy to device button in the preview and editor gutter bar

• character real-time editing -The real-time editing function of characters allows developers using Compose to quickly edit characters (strings, numbers, Boolean operations) in the code and see the results immediately without waiting for compilation. This feature improves your productivity by allowing code changes to be reflected in the preview, simulator, or physical device almost instantly.

△ Edit numbers and strings, and instantly see the results on the preview and on the device

• Accessibility Scanner in Layout Editor -Android Studio is now integrated with Android Accessibility Test Framework to help you discover accessibility issues in layouts. When using the Layout Editor, click the error report button to view this panel. Accessibility Scanner (Accessibility Scanner) will report problems related to accessibility and recommend fixes for common problems (such as missing content description, or low contrast, etc.).

△ Accessibility Test Framework Scanner in Layout Editor

device

• Wear OS pairing -We have created a new Wear OS pairing assistant to guide developers step by step to directly pair the Wear OS emulator with a physical or virtual phone in Android Studio. You can use this function through the "Device" drop-down menu> Wear OS emulator pairing assistant ( Wear OS emulator pairing assistant Please note that currently only supports pairing with Wear OS 2 companion, support for Wear OS 3 will be launched soon. Please read official document for details.

△ Wear OS emulator pairing assistant dialog

△ Mobile phone + watch simulator pairing successfully

• New Wear OS system image -Wear OS 3 developer preview system image is now available, allowing you to play with the latest version of Wear OS!

△ Wear OS system image

• for Wear OS emulator 160b45f4cc01a0-To help you test Wear OS applications, the Android emulator now supports heart rate sensor API when running Wear OS emulator. Please download the Android emulator v30.4.5 through the Android Studio SDK Manager, which is the minimum version that supports this feature.

△ Heart rate sensor in Wear OS emulator

• Google TV remote control -In addition to supporting the new Google TV interface, we also provide an updated remote control panel that supports the new remote control functions of Google TV, including user profiles and settings.

△ Google TV remote control

• New Google TV system image -We have updated the system image to let you freely explore the new Google TV experience.

△ Google TV system image

• Automotive OS sensor playback -You can now use the Android Automotive simulator to simulate driving scenes, and be able to playback car sensor data (such as speed, gear) to complete your development and testing workflow.

△ Android Automotive OS sensor playback

Developer Productivity

• IntelliJ platform update -Android Studio Arctic Fox (2020.3.1) Beta includes IntelliJ 2020.3 platform version😎, which has many new features, such as interactive debugger prompts, new welcome screen, and a lot of new code editor enhancements, Can speed up your workflow. Please read official document for details.
• Android 12 lint check -We have added a lint check for building apps for Android 12 so that you can get guidance in a specific context. Just to name a few: custom declarations for the startup screen, approximate location permissions for fine location use, media formats, and sensor high sampling rate permissions.
• Non-transitive R class refactoring -Using non-transitive R class in the Android Gradle plugin can bring faster build speed for applications with multiple modules. It prevents duplication of resources by ensuring that each module only contains references to its own resources, without extracting references from dependencies. You can use Refactor> Migrate to Non-transitive R Classes .
• Apple Silicon supports preview -For those who use MacOS on Apple Silicon (arm64) hardware, Android Studio Arctic Fox provides preview support for this new architecture. The arm64 platform support is still under active development, but we want to provide you with a starting point to get your feedback. Since this is a preview version for the arm64 architecture, you need to find Mac (Apple Silicon) Android Studio download archive page
• Extended controls in the simulator tool window -When the simulator is opened in the tool window, developers can access all the extended controls of the simulator. These extended controls will provide developers with powerful tools to test applications in Android studio, such as navigation playback, virtual sensors, and snapshots. To start the emulator in Android Studio, please go to Settings> Tools> Emulator (Preferences> Tools> Emulator) in Android Studio, and then select "Launch in the tool window".

△ Extended control in the simulator tool window

• Background Task Inspector -Now, when using WorkManager library 2.5.0 or later, you can use Background Task Inspector to visualize, monitor and debug the application's background worker. You can use the menu bar View> Window Tools> Application Inspector (View> Tool Windows> App Inspection) to use this feature. When you deploy the application on devices with API level 26 and above, you can see the activity of the worker in the Background Task Inspector tab, as shown in the figure below. Please read official document for details.

△ Background Task Inspector

• Parallel device testing with Test Matrix -Instrumentation test can now be paralleled on multiple devices and viewed through a dedicated instrumentation test result panel. The panel is called Test Matrix, which can stream test results in real time. Please read official document for details.

△ Test Matrix runs tests in parallel on multiple devices

• Memory Profiler’s new recording interface -We have integrated the Memory Profiler interface for different recording activities, such as capturing heap dumps and recording Java, Kotlin and native memory allocations.

△ Memory Profiler: Java/Kotlin allocation record

• Update system requirements -To ensure that we provide the best experience for Android developers, we have updated the system requirements for using Android Studio. These requirements also represent the configuration we used to thoroughly test Android Studio to ensure high quality and high performance, and we plan to update these requirements more frequently in the future. Although you can still use the system below the configuration requirements, we cannot guarantee compatibility or support when doing so. Please go to the official developer website check the updated system requirements.

Finally, summarize the new and improved features included in the beta version of Android Studio Arctic Fox (2020.3.1):

design

• Compose Preview
• Compose Layout Inspector
• Deploy preview to device
• Real-time editing of characters
• Accessibility Scanner in Layout Editor

device

• Wear OS pairing
• Heart rate sensor
• New Wear OS system image
• Google TV remote
• Google TV system image
• Automotive OS sensor playback

Productivity

• Intellij 2020.3.1
• Android 12 lint check
• Non-transitive R refactoring
• Apple Silicon Support Preview
• Android emulator extension control
• Background Task Inspector
• Test Matrix
• Memory Profiler new recording interface

You may also see other new features at the I/O conference. These features are not included in the above list, but are arranged in Android Studio (2021.1.1) Bumblebee Canary. They are not fully ready for Beta Channel release:

Design

• Interactive Compose preview
• Compose Animation preview
• Preview Configuration Picker
• Animated vector Drawable preview
• Compose Blueprint Mode
• Compose Constraints Preview of ConstraintLayout

device

• Automotive OS USB Passthrough-coming soon
• Automotive OS Rotary Controls-coming soon

Productivity

• Kotlin coroutine debugger
• Device Manager
• Integrate Gradle Instrumented Test Runner in Android Studio
• Gradle hosting device

n’t miss the presentation on Google I/O 2021

With the release of this exciting version, the Android Studio team also released a series of talks about Android Studio. Watch the following presentation videos to learn about the latest features and get tips and insights on how to use Android Studio 📺:

• Android development tool update list
• Android Kotlin latest status
• design tool update list
• Android Gradle plugin update list
• Android test tool update list

Get started using

Android Studio Arctic Fox (2020.3.1) is an important version, and now is download and experience the Beta version, so that new features can be incorporated into your workflow in time. Although the beta version is close to the quality of the stable version, like any beta version, errors may still exist. So, if you do find a problem, please let us know and we will work hard to fix it. If you are already using Android Studio, you can check Beta channel updates through the navigation menu ( Help> Check for Update [Windows/Linux], Android Studio> Check for Updates [OS X] ). After updating to the Beta version, you can use the new version of Android Studio and Android emulator.

As always, I hope you can submit more feedback and tell us which features you like and what problems you see. If you find an error or bug, please submit it to us as soon as possible.

Your product feedback and questions are very important to us, welcome to submit feedback to us through the QR code below. Your question may appear in the next FAQ and be answered. thank you for your support!