17 is out no

The transition to an intelligence system in which your apps are at the center begins with Android 17. It’s shifting to an adaptive-first development standard by introducing mandatory large-screen resizability, all while delivering next-generation privacy, security, media, camera, and performance. In this post, we’ll talk about all of that and how we’re bringing together next-generation libraries, tools, and agent skills to help your apps take advantage of the opportunity. Throughout the past year, from our Canary channel to our Beta releases, we’ve collaborated with you in the developer community to build a platform you and your users can trust. To that end, this moment marks the availability of the source code at the Android Open Source Project (AOSP). With this, you can look at the source code to learn more about how Android works. Let’s dive deeper into Android 17.

An intelligence system
With deep integration between hardware, software and AI, we’re transforming Android from an operating system to an intelligence system. It’s about providing new, useful experiences that anticipate user requirements and increases opportunities for app engagement. To that end, Android 17 expands the capabilities of AppFunctions, a platform API with a corresponding Jetpack library. It allows you to contribute your app’s unique capabilities as orchestratable “tools” for Android MCP, the on-device equivalent of the Model Context Protocol. AI agents and assistants (like Google Gemini) can discover and execute AppFunctions to perform workflows on behalf of the user with direct access to the app’s local state.We’ve also launched an AppFunctions agent skill that analyzes your app’s key workflows, automatically generates the required Kotlin code, optimizes your KDocs for LLM tool-calling, and provides ADB commands for testing and debugging.
The Gemini integration is currently in a private preview with trusted testers, but you can begin preparing your apps now. In addition to ADB commands to execute your AppFunctions, we’ve provided a test agent app that includes an interface to discover and execute your app functions and simulate an AI agent integration. Join our integration early access program at goo.gle/eap-af for a chance to be among the first apps to deploy AppFunctions to production.
Adaptive-first
Your users no longer rely on a single form factor; they transition between phones, foldables, tablets, laptops, automotive displays, and immersive XR environments. Now, with over 580 million large screen devices in the hands of users and the forthcoming launch of Googlebooks, the next generation of ChromeOS built on the Android stack, adaptive is no longer just a technical goal. One of the reasons we’re moving to an adaptive-first development standard is that we see this as a huge opportunity to reach users who are extremely engaged. No resizability/orientation restrictions on large screens
To ensure apps deliver a premium experience across all form factors, including mobile devices running in desktop mode on connected displays, Android 17 (API level 37) removes the developer opt-out for orientation and resizability restrictions on large screen devices (sw > 600 dp) for apps targeting API level 37. The system will ignore legacy manifest attributes and runtime APIs, including screenOrientation, setRequestedOrientation(), resizeableActivity=false, and aspect ratio constraints (minAspectRatio/maxAspectRatio). Games remain exempt, according to Google Play’s app category. Your app needs to be capable of adjusting to any window size, take into account the user’s preferred device position, and natively support free-form windowing. Next-gen multitasking: App Bubbles, Bubble Bar, and desktop interactive PiP
Android 17 introduces powerful new windowing capabilities that redefine how users multitask, demanding even greater layout flexibility from your apps:
App Bubbles: Moving beyond the messaging bubbles API, users can now transform any app into a floating bubble by long-pressing its icon on the launcher. For any workflow, this feature, which is available on phones, foldables, and tablets, enables lightweight multitasking. The Bubble Bar: The system taskbar now includes a Bubble Bar for organizing, switching between, and docking these floating app bubbles on large screens (tablets and foldables). Desktop interactive PiP: In desktop environments, Android 17 introduces interactive Picture-in-Picture (PiP). Unlike traditional PiP windows which are read-only, these pinned windows remain fully interactive while staying always-on-top of other application windows.