Jetpack Compose

Jetpack Compose is an open-source Kotlin-based declarative UI framework for Android developed by Google. The first preview was announced in May 2019, and the framework was made ready for production in July 2021.

History
The first preview of Jetpack Compose was announced at the Google I/O conference in May 2019. The developer preview was released in October 2019, and the alpha release took place in August 2020.

Compose entered its beta phase in February 2021, with its first production release taking place that July.

Features
Jetpack Compose supports Android 5.0 and later. It uses the Kotlin programming language, and provides a reactive programming model similar to other UI frameworks such as Vue.js and React Native. Compose is designed to integrate seamlessly with existing Android apps and libraries, allowing developers to gradually convert their apps to Compose.

In Compose, a user interface is defined using functions that have been annotated with the  annotation, which are known as composable functions and define the screen's state. The annotation is used by the Compose compiler to generate the UI boilerplate code.

The 1.0 release introduced Compose Preview, which is built into Android Studio starting with Arctic Fox. It allows composables to be previewed using different configurations without deploying the app to a device.

Usage
At the time of Jetpack Compose's 1.0 release, Google said, "There are already over 2,000 apps in the Play Store using Compose – in fact, the Play Store app itself uses Compose." As of October 2022, 160 of the top 1000 apps on the Play Store included Compose. The apps included those from companies such as Airbnb, Lyft and Square.

Google rewrote parts of Android's Settings app using Compose in Android 14. Meta Platforms developed its Threads social media app in five months using Compose.

Compose Multiplatform
Compose Multiplatform is a multi-platform UI framework developed by JetBrains and based on Jetpack Compose. It is a port of Jetpack Compose for Windows, macOS, Linux and the web. Version 1.0 alpha was released in August 2021. iOS support was added in May 2023.