From natural language to UI tests: A deep dive into Journeys for Android Studio
Hosts Tor and Chet are joined by Adarsh Fernando, a Product Manager, and Ray Buse, a Software Engineer, to discuss Journeys for Android Studio. Powered by Gemini's vision and reasoning, Journeys aims to simplify end-to-end test creation and maintenance by converting the natural language you provide to describe the steps and assertions for each test, resulting in actions and evaluations performed directly on your app. Chapters: 0:00 - Intro 1:46 - Journeys: New AI-powered testing approach 3:40 - How Journeys Works with Gemini 4:27 - The natural language advantage 5:49 - Real-world use case: Google Maps 6:53 - Debugging with AI reasoning 8:08 - Why Journeys is important: Bridging the testing gap 9:56 - Journeys and End-to-End Testing 12:18 - Performance and Cached Journeys 24:14 - Android Studio and Firebase integration 25:27 - The development workflow 31:22 - AI for everyone: Beyond end-to-end testing 33:28 - Looking ahead: Feedback and the future Resources: Journeys for Android Studio → https://goo.gle/4m9YOr3 App Testing (Android) → https://goo.gle/3HVKTqB Tor on Bluesky → https://goo.gle/3ViCAYS Chet on Bluesky → https://goo.gle/4gzpccM Ardash on Bluesky → https://goo.gle/47JGNw9
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Android developer verification
To protect users from malware and scams, Android has announced a new layer of security: developer verification. While this is nothing new for Google Play Store apps, Android is extending this to the entire Android ecosystem. Host Tor is joined by Matthew, Patrick, Naheed, and Raz to discuss this latest security update that deters bad actors and creates a safer environment.
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Autofill in Compose
In this episode of Android Back Stage, Hosts Tor, and Chet are joined by Melba and Ralston, Software Engineers on the Compose Team, to talk about Autofill in Compose. Learn about Autofill services, best practices, and more! Chapters: 0:00 - Intro 0:40 - What is Autofill? 1:21 - Autofill team journey and semantics 2:15 - Defining semantics in Compose 3:29 - Bridging views and Compose for Autofill 4:23 - Developer Experience: Early autofill in Compose 7:02 - Autofill services and communication flow 7:59 - User authentication and multiple autofill services 12:53 - The Autofill flow: From tap to fill 21:56 - Handling list types and saving credentials (commit) 30:11 - The “Asteriks” bug and semantics refractor 31:09 - Performance improvements in Autofill 37:48 - Compose’s architectural advantages (composition over inheritance) 40:30 - Best practices and future improvements
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Back it up, bring it back: No data left behind
It can be a draw when setting up a new device. Some info transfers, while some don’t. Learn how developers can ensure the best user experience when people backup and restore an Android device. Hosts Tor and Chet are joined by Graham and Piyush on the Android Consumer Experience team and Alon on the Android Studio team to discuss Android backup and restore. Chapters: 0:00 - Introduction & the user pain point 1:38 - Why backup fails: Developer challenges 4:00 - Evolution of backup testing: From scripts to Android Studio 7:15 - Beyond testing: Backup for developer workflow 8:50 - Cross-device backup & GMS core integration 10:55 - Understanding backup types: Devices vs. Cloud 14:55 - Data categories & developer control 16:05 - System-level backup: Permissions & credentials 18:35 - Default backup pitfalls & key-value agents 28:15 - Database migrations & backup stress testing 32:04 - Automated testing framework 41:02 - Recap & feedback channels
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Bot to the Future: Two Years Later
Join Tor and Siva Velusamy and Sandhya Mohan from the Android Studio team to learn about the latest updates to Studio Bot (Gemini in Android Studio) that dropped at Google I/O 2025 including Agent Mode. Building on their conversation from two years ago about the Studio Bot, they explore Gemini’s role in every stage of development, from design to building, testing, and maintenance, the future of coding companions, and more. Studio Bot podcast episode → https://goo.gle/3ZM0Wwx
Android Backstage, a podcast by and for Android developers. Hosted by developers from the Android engineering team, this show covers topics of interest to Android programmers, with in-depth discussions and interviews with engineers on the Android team at Google.
Subscribe to Android Developers YouTube → https://goo.gle/AndroidDevs
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