Apple’s Swift programming language is expanding to support Android app development, as announced on the Swift forums. A dedicated Android Working Group within the Swift open-source project is working on implementing this support.
Since its introduction in 2014, Swift has been used for developing apps for various Apple platforms. Recently, official support for Windows and Linux app development was added. However, Kotlin has been the dominant language for Android app development, as preferred by Google since 2017.
The Swift project has officially started efforts to include Android as a target platform. This will allow developers to use Swift to create applications for Android using Google’s official tools and infrastructure.
The Android Working Group’s responsibilities include ensuring Swift can run on Android without modifications, updating libraries for better compatibility with Android APIs, and creating tools for Android developers using Swift.
Prior to this support, Android developers used third-party frameworks or custom toolchains to develop Swift apps for Android. This led to compatibility issues with each new Swift release. The project aims to eliminate the need for third-party solutions and ensure consistency across platforms.
Swift was initially developed by Apple but is now maintained by the open-source community. It is a high-level, general-purpose programming language known for its safety and speed. Inspired by Objective-C, Swift has a user-friendly syntax and is easy for new programmers to learn.
In addition to Xcode, Apple offers Swift Playground for learning and experimenting with Swift. This tool is suitable for beginners and experienced developers alike.
