Skip to content

Add Android blog post answering common questions and sharing more links and info #1249

New issue

Have a question about this project? Sign up for a free GitHub account to open an issue and contact its maintainers and the community.

Sign up for GitHub

By clicking “Sign up for GitHub”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy statement. We’ll occasionally send you account related emails.

Already on GitHub? Sign in to your account

Open
finagolfin wants to merge 11 commits into
base: main
Choose a base branch
from
+81 −0
Open

Add Android blog post answering common questions and sharing more links and info #1249

Show file tree
Hide file tree
Changes from 5 commits
Commits
Show all changes
11 commits
Select commit Hold shift + click to select a range
183e379
Add Android blog post answering common questions and sharing more lin…
finagolfin Nov 12, 2025
6b5b166
Reword one sentence
finagolfin Nov 20, 2025
7f8146f
Link to GUI forums post
finagolfin Nov 21, 2025
b8e5651
Link to getting started page at end
finagolfin Nov 21, 2025
cf95466
Pull in Konrad's copy with some changes
finagolfin Nov 21, 2025
8a985a0
Make Dave's suggested changes to first paragraph
finagolfin Nov 21, 2025
11dc348
Make Dave's suggested changes to app examples and surrounding text
finagolfin Nov 21, 2025
a3fde70
Make Dave's suggested changes to future work section
finagolfin Nov 21, 2025
9d115da
Tweak pioneer paragraph
finagolfin Nov 21, 2025
79c00a9
Expand GUI tools info
finagolfin Nov 21, 2025
475de3b
Last GUI tweak
finagolfin Nov 21, 2025
File filter

Filter by extension

Filter by extension
Conversations
Failed to load comments.
Loading
Jump to
Jump to file
Failed to load files.
Loading
Diff view
Diff view
4 changes: 4 additions & 0 deletions _data/authors.yml
View file
Open in desktop
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -243,6 +243,10 @@ parkera:
github: parkera
about: "Tony Parker manages teams at Apple working on Foundation, Swift packages, and the Swift Standard Library."

android-workgroup:
name: The Android workgroup
about: "The Android workgroup works toward furthering Swift on Android."

diversity-workgroup:
name: The Diversity in Swift workgroup
about: "The Diversity in Swift workgroup is a group of volunteers working to make our community more approachable and inclusive."
Expand Down
80 changes: 80 additions & 0 deletions _posts/2025-11-21-exploring-the-swift-sdk-for-android.md
View file
Open in desktop
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
---
layout: new-layouts/post
published: false
date: 2025-11-21 10:00:00
title: "Exploring the Swift SDK for Android"
author: android-workgroup
category: "Developer Tools"
---

Since the announcement of [the preview Swift SDK for Android last month](/blog/nightly-swift-sdk-for-android/),
Copy link
Contributor

@davelester davelester Dec 15, 2025

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Suggested change
Since the announcement of [the preview Swift SDK for Android last month](/blog/nightly-swift-sdk-for-android/),
Since the announcement of [the preview Swift SDK for Android](/blog/nightly-swift-sdk-for-android/),

the Android workgroup has seen a lot of questions about how it works and what's next. Please read on for those answers.

### Swift in the World of Android
Copy link
Contributor

@davelester davelester Nov 21, 2025

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Suggested change
### Swift in the World of Android
## How Swift works on Android

Copy link
Member Author

@finagolfin finagolfin Nov 21, 2025

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

I don't think these headings matter too much, but disagree with this change: all the technical content can get very dry, so I took the opportunity to make these headings more concrete and thus symbolic.

It would be a mistake to lose that and turn this post fully into something like technical documentation.

Copy link
Contributor

@davelester davelester Dec 15, 2025

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Circling back, this and the additional heading revision are editorially consistent with the style of the blog. The swift.org blog uses headings as signposts that are descriptive in nature and make posts easy to scan.

Prose within sections can be adjusted to have more energy and personality, keeping in mind this particular post is on behalf of a workgroup vs an individual. If you can accept these changes, happy to review revised copy in the body to address your concern.


Swift is a natively-compiled language to machine code and Android is no different.
That renders it on par with C and C++ code built using the Android NDK, which are
languages more geared towards performance, while Swift essays a happier balance between
performance, safety, and usability. To enable that, Swift apps must bundle a native
runtime for Android that implements many of its features, including its standard library and
core libraries like Dispatch and [Foundation](/blog/foundation-preview-now-available/).

However, since most Android APIs are only made available through Java and Kotlin,
Swift must call into the Android Runtime (ART). That is where the [Java interoperability
project's](https://github.com/swiftlang/swift-java) `jextract` and `wrap-java`
tools come in. These tools automatically create bindings that enable you to call
Swift from Java or go the other way using the Java Native Interface (JNI), which
allows Swift to seamlessly integrate with the Android platform. The [`jextract`
tool gained a JNI mode recently](/blog/gsoc-2025-showcase-swift-java/):
please watch its author Mads Odgaard's [Server Side Swift Conference talk from last month](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOH6V1IvTAc).
You can also check out [his hello-swift example in the Android examples repository](https://github.com/swiftlang/swift-android-examples/tree/main/hello-swift-java).

### Swift in Android app stores

While Swift on Android may seem new, it's important to recognize that there are
already millions of Android devices running Swift today. Production apps with
substantial user bases have been shipping Swift on Android for years, proving
the viability of this approach:

- [Spark](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.readdle.spark) - A popular email client using Swift to share code between mobile iOS/Android and desktop macOS/Windows versions
- [flowkey](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.flowkey.app) - This interactive piano learning app has been built with Swift on Android since the open-source release
- [MediQuo](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mediquo.main) - A healthcare app leveraging Swift for cross-platform development
- [Naturitas](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.naturitas.android) - An organic products marketplace running Swift in production

These aren't experimental apps or proofs of concept—they're real businesses serving
real users at scale. The fact that millions of people unknowingly use Swift-powered
Android apps daily shows both the stability of Swift on Android and the
practical benefits it provides to development teams sharing code across platforms.

### Coming up Next
Copy link
Contributor

@davelester davelester Nov 21, 2025

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Suggested change
### Coming up Next
## What's next for Swift on Android

Copy link
Member Author

@finagolfin finagolfin Nov 21, 2025

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

I see no benefit to this change either.


Swift on Android [first got started as soon as the language was open-sourced a decade ago](https://lists.swift.org/pipermail/swift-dev/Week-of-Mon-20151207/000171.html),
but it is by no means done. [The Android project board lists areas we are working on](https://github.com/orgs/swiftlang/projects/17)
and easy debugging is a high priority for us next. While it [mostly works in limited use now](https://github.com/swiftlang/llvm-project/issues/10831),
we need to test it more and make it easy to access. That will likely mean tying
the debugger and [Swift Language Server Protocol tool, sourcekit-lsp](/blog/gsoc-2025-showcase-code-completion/),
into editors like [Visual Studio Code](/blog/gsoc-2025-showcase-swiftly-support-in-vscode/),
Android Studio, and [CodeEdit](https://www.codeedit.app/), another issue on our board.

### Sharing Logic Versus Sharing UI
Copy link
Contributor

@davelester davelester Nov 21, 2025

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Suggested change
### Sharing Logic Versus Sharing UI
## Cross-platform code sharing using Swift

Copy link
Contributor

@davelester davelester Nov 21, 2025

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

I'd suggest a slight reframing of this section to focus on the value of cross-platform code sharing in Swift. The mention of GUI toolkits is useful, but I think it'd be more natural to mention that after explaining the value of cross-platform code sharing with Swift.

Copy link
Contributor

@davelester davelester Nov 21, 2025

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Do we have a few concise examples of the type of business logic that you'd commonly see shared between platforms? It'd be great if we could outline a few examples in one paragraph, before mentioning cross-platform GUIs in a second paragraph.

Copy link
Member Author

@finagolfin finagolfin Nov 21, 2025

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Again disagree with the heading change, but good point on the business logic example, will add that.

Copy link
Member Author

@finagolfin finagolfin Nov 21, 2025

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

I agree that putting some code in this post would be nice, the problem is that almost anything we add will be nit-picked. Instead, I added some text explicitly stating that Swift is for business logic on Android, and that the GUI tools linked have not been validated by us, though we intend to work with them going forward.


A common concern is that we do not provide a cross-platform GUI toolkit. As we
write in [our draft vision document](https://github.com/swiftlang/swift-evolution/blob/807b844be42db582e434d1667fc907ae7a7a8775/visions/android.md),
Copy link
Member

@shahmishal shahmishal Nov 20, 2025

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Suggested change
write in [our draft vision document](https://github.com/swiftlang/swift-evolution/blob/807b844be42db582e434d1667fc907ae7a7a8775/visions/android.md),
write in [our draft vision document](https://github.com/swiftlang/swift-evolution/pull/2946/files),

Let's point to the vision document via PR url.

Copy link
Member Author

@finagolfin finagolfin Nov 20, 2025

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

I don't have a strong preference, but I linked it this way because it is better formatted for reading. Is there any reason you prefer this other link?

Copy link
Member

@shahmishal shahmishal Nov 20, 2025

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Readers will be directed to the most recent version of the Vision document as it is updated in the PR.

Copy link
Member Author

@finagolfin finagolfin Nov 20, 2025

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

OK, I am aware that I'm linking to a particular commit, but I don't see a way to show the more reader-friendly view of the pull itself.

Since this pull hasn't been updated in a while, how about we keep this commit link, then I will update the blog post later once that vision pull has been merged? Once it is in the swift-evolution repo, it is easy to link to a constantly updated version that is reader-friendly. This commit link also should be fine because we don't anticipate substantive changes to the vision pull, only stylistic and minor edits from here on out.

the Android workgroup has no plans to create such a GUI toolkit, but will instead
curate a list of cross-platform UI tools. See [our recent post in the Swift forums](https://forums.swift.org/t/swift-gui-toolkits-for-android/83337)
listing a handful of popular and in-progress options.

### Diving in
Copy link
Contributor

@davelester davelester Nov 21, 2025 •
edited
Loading

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Suggested change
### Diving in
## Learn more and get involved

Copy link
Member Author

@finagolfin finagolfin Nov 21, 2025

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Same with this heading change: diving is a concrete physical action in the real world that most people know. I see no benefit to turning this into bureaucratese. 😉

Copy link
Contributor

@davelester davelester Dec 15, 2025

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Could "diving in" or "dive in" be incorporated into the prose in the section? That way you can keep the voice you're looking for, while being more-consistent with the blog's heading style.


Finally, we intend to bring you interviews and information from those using Swift
Copy link
Contributor

@davelester davelester Nov 21, 2025

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

I'd suggest revising this; currently it sounds like it's committing to future written content. Instead, perhaps it can framed along the lines of existing resources to learn more.

Copy link
Member Author

@finagolfin finagolfin Nov 21, 2025

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

That is what we're committing to, more written content.

Copy link
Contributor

@davelester davelester Dec 15, 2025

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Chatted with other members of the website workgroup about this; we'd like to avoid forward-looking statements here. We agreed that if Android use cases are shared as future blog posts, then it may make sense to update this post to link to them.

Copy link
Contributor

@davelester davelester Nov 21, 2025

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Suggested change
Finally, we intend to bring you interviews and information from those using Swift
For those who want to learn more about Swift on Android, there are several notable interviews and resources

Copy link
Member Author

@finagolfin finagolfin Nov 21, 2025

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

See above

on Android already, as pioneering companies like [Readdle](https://readdle.com/blog/swift-for-android-our-experience-and-tools)
Copy link
Contributor

@davelester davelester Nov 21, 2025

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Suggested change
on Android already, as pioneering companies like [Readdle](https://readdle.com/blog/swift-for-android-our-experience-and-tools)
available. Early Swift on Android adoptors [Readdle](https://readdle.com/blog/swift-for-android-our-experience-and-tools)

Copy link
Member Author

@finagolfin finagolfin Nov 21, 2025

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Pioneers is better than "early Swift adopters"

and [Flowkey](https://medium.com/@ephemer/why-we-put-an-app-in-the-android-play-store-using-swift-96ac87c88dfc)
have written about using Swift on Android for the last decade. The Left Bit's Pierluigi Cifani
[wrote about their experiences recently](https://forums.swift.org/t/thoughts-on-swift-for-android/80961),
gave [a great talk at NSSpain 2025 a couple months ago](https://youtu.be/EIGl6GOo210),
and was [interviewed by Swift Toolkit last month](https://www.swifttoolkit.dev/posts/dc-pier).

Swift on Android has been a community effort for the last decade, snowballing
Copy link
Contributor

@davelester davelester Nov 21, 2025

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Suggested change
Swift on Android has been a community effort for the last decade, snowballing
Swift on Android has been a community effort for the last decade, expanding

Copy link
Member Author

@finagolfin finagolfin Nov 21, 2025

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Prefer the real-world term

from that initial patch to many businesses and developers making their livelihood
Copy link
Contributor

@davelester davelester Nov 21, 2025

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Suggested change
from that initial patch to many businesses and developers making their livelihood
from an initial patch to a community of contributors and the Swift project's [Android Workgroup](https://www.swift.org/android-workgroup/).

Copy link
Member Author

@finagolfin finagolfin Nov 21, 2025

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

This ties into the production examples above and is a better case the way it is.

with it today. [Try out the preview SDK snapshots](/documentation/articles/swift-sdk-for-android-getting-started.html)
Copy link
Contributor

@davelester davelester Nov 21, 2025

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Suggested change
with it today. [Try out the preview SDK snapshots](/documentation/articles/swift-sdk-for-android-getting-started.html)
[Try out the preview SDK snapshots](/documentation/articles/swift-sdk-for-android-getting-started.html)

and help us make it even better!