How to Build Android Applications with Kotlin: A hands-on guide to developing, testing, and publishing production-grade Android 16 apps

by Alex Forrester, Eran Boudjnah, Alexandru Dumbravan, Jomar Tigcal

Overview

Utilize Android programming to build scalable and reliable apps using industry best practices with practical guidance from a team of Android experts with over 40 years of combined experience

Key Features

• Build real-world Android apps with Kotlin and the Jetpack Compose UI framework
• Leverage the latest libraries to accelerate your Android development
• Overcome development challenges with tips and tricks from experienced Android professionals
• Purchase of the print or Kindle book includes a free PDF eBook

Book Description

Written by four veteran developers with 60+ years of collective experience, this updated third edition will jumpstart your Android development journey, focusing on Kotlin libraries and Jetpack Compose, Google’s powerful declarative UI framework. You’ll learn the fundamentals of app development, enabling you to use Android Studio, as well as get to grips with Jetpack Compose to create your first screens, build apps to run them on virtual devices through guided exercises, and implement Jetpack Compose’s layout groups to make the most of lists, images, and maps. The book has been updated with Kotlin’s powerful networking and coroutines libraries to help you fetch data in the background from a web service and manage displaying the data using Kotlin flows. You’ll learn about testing, creating clean architecture, and persisting data, as well as exploring the dependency injection pattern and learning how to publish your apps on the Google Play Store. You'll also work on realistic projects split up into bite-size exercises and activities, along with building apps to create quizzes, read news articles, check weather reports, store recipes, retrieve movie information, and remind you where you parked your car. By the end of this book, you'll have gained the skills and confidence to build your own creative Android apps using Kotlin.

What you will learn

• Create maintainable and scalable apps using Kotlin
• Grasp Android asynchronous programming with coroutines and the Flow API
• Simplify app development with Google architecture components
• Apply MVVM and Repository architecture patterns to standardize retrieving and displaying data from outside sources
• Increase app stability and robustness with unit and integration tests
• Use standard libraries for dependency injection, networking, data parsing, and persistence
• Publish your app on the Google Play Store

Who this book is for

This book is for beginners as well as intermediate-level developers with no prior experience in Android app development. Basic knowledge of the Kotlin programming language or experience in a similar programming language, along with a willingness to brush up on Kotlin is required.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781835882764
Publisher:	Packt Publishing
Publication date:	09/15/2025
Product dimensions:	75.00(w) x 92.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Alex Forrester is an experienced software developer with more than 20 years of experience in mobile, web development, and content management systems. He has been working with Android for over 12 years, creating flagship apps for blue-chip companies across a broad range of industries, including Sky, The Automobile Association, HSBC, The Discovery Channel, and O2. Alex lives in Hertfordshire with his wife and daughter. When he's not developing, he enjoys rugby and running in the Chiltern hills.

Eran Boudjnah is a developer with over 20 years of experience in developing desktop applications, websites, interactive attractions, and mobile applications. He has been working with Android for about 9 years, developing apps and leading mobile teams for a wide range of clients, from start-ups like JustEat to large-scale companies and conglomerates like Sky. He is passionate about board games, with a modest collection of a few hundred games, and has a Transformers collection he's quite proud of. Eran lives in North London with his wife, Lea.

Alexandru Dumbravan has been an Android Developer since 2011 and has worked across a variety of Android applications which contained features such as messaging, voice calls, file management, and location. He continues to broaden his development skills while working in London for a popular fintech company.

Jomar Tigcal is an Android developer with over 12 years of experience in mobile and software development. He has worked on various stages of app development for both small startups and large companies. Jomar has also given talks and conducted training and workshops on Android. In his free time, he enjoys running and reading. He lives in Vancouver, Canada, with his wife, Celine.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

1. Creating Your First App
2. Building User Screen Flows
3. Developing the UI with Jetpack Compose
4. Building App Navigation
5. Essential Libraries – Ktor, Kotlin Serialization, and Coil
6. Building Lists with Jetpack Compose
7. Android Permissions and Google Maps
8. Services, WorkManager, and Notifications
9. Testing with JUnit, Mockito, MockK, and Compose
10. Coroutines and Flow
11. Android Architecture Components
12. Persisting Data
13. Dependency Injection with Dagger, Hilt, and Koin
14. Architecture Patterns
15. Advanced Jetpack Compose
16. Launching Your App on Google Play