Android IDEs & Tools

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This page lists the IDEs and tools most commonly used to build native Android apps, with a link to each product’s official page. Android Studio is the default choice because it bundles the SDK manager, emulator and profilers; the command-line tools suit CI and editor-based workflows.

IDEs

  • Android Studio — Google’s official IDE for Android, built on the IntelliJ platform, with the layout and Compose tooling, the SDK manager, the emulator and the profilers built in.

  • IntelliJ IDEA — JetBrains' IDE, which supports Kotlin and Android projects through its Android plugin and is the base of Android Studio.

Devices and emulators

  • Android Emulator — runs virtual Android devices of many form factors and API levels for testing without physical hardware.

Command-line tools

  • Android SDK command-line tools — sdkmanager, avdmanager and the other SDK tools for installing platforms, creating virtual devices and building without the IDE, for example in CI.

See also