Android Compose has a lot of hype because it is declarative. The only problem is that it still lacks a lot of features. ConstraintLayout is by far the best layout to use to enhance the performance of an app and Android Compose still doesn't have ConstraintLayout in it. Not a lot of articles have made relevant arguments on whether to use or not to use Android Compose. In my opinion, Android Compose still has a lot to come, especially that it still isn't documented that well yet. Without all the essentials of a well-performing app, is Android Compose Production Ready?
4 Answers
UPDATE: In August 2021, a stable 1.0.0 release of Jetpack Compose shipped. By most conventional measures, Compose is production ready. The original answer is shown below in its original form.
Is Android Compose Production Ready?
I am going to assume that by "Android Compose", you mean "Jetpack Compose".
In 2019, Google has very consistently referred to Jetpack Compose as being in a preview state and not suitable for production use.
For example, on the main Jetpack Compose page, we have:
Note: Jetpack Compose is currently in Developer Preview. The API surface is not yet finalized, and changes are planned and expected.
On the main Jetpack Compose Tutorial page, we have:
Note: Jetpack Compose is currently in Developer Preview. The API surface is not yet finalized, and should not be used in production apps.
In the Android Developer Summit keynote blog post, we have:
Today we are releasing the Jetpack Compose Developer Preview. All you need to do is download the latest Preview build of Android Studio. Compose is being developed completely in the open, in AOSP. The continuous feedback we receive has led to many API improvements and we want to thank you for providing feedback in our developer studies and the Kotlinlang Slack group. As we enter developer preview, we need even more feedback as we work towards bringing Jetpack Compose to beta next year and ready for use in production apps.
(emphasis added)
So, check back in a year, and we will see if Jetpack Compose has advanced far enough that Google says you should use it in production apps.
Jetpack Compose is currently in Developer Preview Mode. Hence it's not Production ready for right now. But they have provided the developer version to play around it.
Here is the implementation, where you can play with it.
val composeVersion = "0.1.0-dev02"
implementation("androidx.ui:ui-framework:$composeVersion")
implementation("androidx.ui:ui-layout:$composeVersion")
implementation("androidx.ui:ui-material:$composeVersion")
implementation("androidx.ui:ui-tooling:$composeVersion")
Also, you can check the documentation Here
Yes, Jetpack Compose is now production-ready, version 1 has been released the 07/28/2021: https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2021/07/jetpack-compose-announcement.html
Jetpack Compose beta has been released: https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2021/02/announcing-jetpack-compose-beta.html
With this beta release, Compose is API complete and has all the features you need to build production-ready apps. Beta also means API stable, so we won’t change or remove APIs. Now is a great time to start learning Compose and begin planning for how you will use it in an upcoming project or feature once it reaches 1.0 later this year.
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