More frequent Android SDK releases: faster innovation, higher quality and more polish

Posted by Matthew McCullough – Vice President, Product Management, Android Developer

Android has always worked to get innovation into the hands of users faster. In addition to our annual platform releases, we’ve invested in Project Treble, Mainline, Google Play services, monthly security updates, and the quarterly releases that help power Pixel Drops.

Going forward, Android will have more frequent SDK releases with two releases planned in 2025 with new developer APIs. These releases will help to drive faster innovation in apps and devices, with higher stability and polish for users and developers.

Two Android releases in 2025

Next year, we’ll have a major release in Q2 and a minor release in Q4, both of which will include new developer APIs. The Q2 major release will be the only release in 2025 to include behavior changes that can affect apps. We’re planning the major release for Q2 rather than Q3 to better align with the schedule of device launches across our ecosystem, so more devices can get the major release of Android sooner.

The Q4 minor release will pick up feature updates, optimizations, and bug fixes since the major release. It will also include new developer APIs, but will not include any app-impacting behavior changes.

Outside of the major and minor Android releases, our Q1 and Q3 releases will provide incremental updates to help ensure continuous quality. We’re actively working with our device partners to bring the Q2 release to as many devices as possible.

What this means for your apps

With the major release coming in Q2, you’ll need to do your annual compatibility testing a few months earlier than in previous years to make sure your apps are ready. Major releases are just like the SDK releases we have today, and can include behavior changes along with new developer APIs – and to help you get started, we’ll soon begin the developer preview and beta program for the Q2 major release.

The minor release in Q4 will include new APIs, but, like the incremental quarterly releases we have today, will have no planned behavior changes, minimizing the need for compatibility testing. To differentiate major releases (which may contain planned behavior changes) from minor releases, minor releases will not increment the API level. Instead, they'll increment a new minor API level value, which will be accessed through a constant that captures both major and minor API levels. A new manifest attribute will allow you to specify a minor API level as the minimum required SDK release for your app. We’ll have an initial version of support for minor API levels in the upcoming Q2 developer preview, so please try building against the SDK and let us know how this works for you.

When planning your targeting for 2026, there’s no change to the target API level requirements and the associated dates for apps in Google Play; our plans are for one annual requirement each year, and that will be tied to the major API level only.

How to get ready

In addition to compatibility testing on the next major release, you'll want to make sure to test your builds and CI systems with SDK's supporting major and minor API levels – some build systems (including the Android Gradle build) might need adapting. Make sure that you're compiling your apps against the new SDK, and use the compatibility framework to enable targetSdkVersion-gated behavior changes for early testing.

Meta is a great example of how to embrace and test for new releases: they improved their velocity towards targetSdkVersion adoption by 4x. They compiled apps against each platform Beta and conducted thorough automated and smoke tests to proactively identify potential issues. This helped them seamlessly adopt new platform features, and when the release rolled out to users, Meta’s apps were ready - creating a great user experience.

What’s next?

As always, we plan to work closely with you as we move through the 2025 releases. We will make all of our quarterly releases available to you for testing and feedback, with over-the-air Beta releases for our early testers on Pixel and downloadable system images and tools for developers.

Our aim with these changes is to enable faster innovation and a higher level of quality and polish across releases, without introducing more overhead or costs for developers. At the same time, we’re welcoming an even closer collaboration with you throughout the year. Stay tuned for more information on the first developer preview of Android 16.

The shift in platform releases highlights Android's commitment to constant evolution and collaboration. By working closely with partners and listening to the needs of developers, Android continues to push the boundaries of what's possible in the mobile world. It's an exciting time to be part of the Android ecosystem, and I can't wait to see what the future holds!