Android's strength and difficulty are the same thing: device diversity. A robust Android app is one that has been tested across API levels, manufacturers, memory classes, and the aggressive background restrictions that vary by vendor. Build for that range from the start.
Key takeaways
- Test across API levels, manufacturers, memory classes, and background restrictions.
- Keep Gradle, native dependencies, permissions, and signing configuration maintainable.
- Monitor crashes, ANRs, startup time, and background behavior after release.
Modern UI and native modules
Build new native UI with Jetpack Compose and Kotlin; keep Java and View-based screens where they already work well rather than rewriting for its own sake. In a React Native app, use a native module for capabilities like foreground services, exact alarms, or vendor SDKs that have no reliable JavaScript path.
Respect the platform's background execution model — WorkManager for deferrable work, foreground services for ongoing tasks — because OEM battery optimizations will silently kill work that ignores it.
Build configuration and release health
Keep Gradle, the Android Gradle Plugin, native dependencies, permissions, and signing config maintainable and documented; build the release as an Android App Bundle with a managed signing key. Target the current API level the Play Console requires and test the minimum you support.
After release, watch Android vitals — crash rate, ANR rate, excessive wakeups, and cold-start time — in the Play Console, and reproduce regressions on real low-end hardware, not just the emulator.