Android 16 pushes adaptive development to the forefront across 500M+ devices

At Google I/O 2025, adaptive app development took center stage as Android expands its presence across more than 500 million active devices—including phones, foldables, tablets, Chromebooks, XR headsets, and in-car displays. With Android 16 introducing desktop windowing and connected display enhancements, the ability to build flexible, responsive apps is now a strategic necessity rather than a nice-to-have.

The shift toward adaptive design is grounded in usage data: entertainment apps that work seamlessly across both mobile and tablet devices show nearly three times higher engagement compared to phone-only versions. NBCUniversal’s Peacock, for example, reports significant user migration between mobile and larger screens—highlighting the need for a single app build that adapts across form factors.

To address this need, Google introduced several developer tools and updates at I/O. The Compose Adaptive Layouts library, now at version 1.2 (alpha), offers new adaptation strategies such as “Levitate” and “Reflow” to dynamically adjust pane behavior. It enables features like pane expansion, spatialized XR UI components, and layout fluidity across screen sizes. The Socialite demo app illustrated how a unified codebase could adapt to six distinct device types.

Jetpack Navigation 3 (alpha) also debuted, simplifying UI flows across screens, especially in multi-pane scenarios. Additional updates to Jetpack Compose include right-click context menus and better support for trackpad and mouse input in version 1.9—key for Chromebook and external display use cases.

Developers can now use updated Window Size Classes from AndroidX.window 1.5, which introduces more granular layout breakpoints for large and extra-large screens. Meanwhile, Android Studio enhancements make testing adaptive layouts more accessible via resizable emulators, screenshot tests, and Gemini-driven Journeys, allowing natural language test scripting across device sizes.

Google Play Store discoverability also rewards adaptive apps, giving them higher visibility on larger screens like tablets and ChromeOS devices. However, Google cautions developers to avoid declaring non-essential hardware requirements in their manifests, as this can unintentionally limit device availability.

New platform constraints are also coming in Android 16. Apps targeting SDK 36 or higher must support resizable and multi-orientation layouts on displays at least 600dp in both dimensions. Developers can temporarily opt out with a manifest flag until SDK 37—though the change excludes games for now.

Game developers are also being encouraged to go adaptive. Unity 6 is introducing configuration APIs for screenshots, density, and aspect ratio handling. Case studies such as Asphalt Legends Unite demonstrate strong retention gains on foldable devices when adaptive features are implemented.