Google's AI Studio Now Lets Anyone Build Android Apps In Minutes (techcrunch.com)
- Reference: 0183293189
- News link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/05/20/0224236/googles-ai-studio-now-lets-anyone-build-android-apps-in-minutes
- Source link: https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/19/googles-ai-studio-now-lets-anyone-build-android-apps-in-minutes/
> The AI coding boom is now coming directly for Android app development. On Tuesday at Google IO 2026, the company [1]announced new native Android app creation capabilities in its web-based Google AI Studio, [2]shrinking a process that takes weeks of setup and coding down to minutes . The company also said that consumers will be able to use Gemini AI to find the apps they need, both on the Play Store and the web, expanding opportunities for developers to have their apps discovered.
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> Google says the new capabilities could make sense for anyone from a seasoned developer looking to prototype a new app quickly to a first-time creator. [...] The apps are built with the Kotlin programming language using Google's Jetpack Compose toolkit and with support integration with hardware sensors like GPS, Bluetooth, and NFC, the company says. However, the resulting creations, for now, are only meant to be used personally, as publishing for family and friends is still on the roadmap. The company suggests the technology could be used for the creation of personal utilities and simple social apps, hardware-enabled experiences, or AI-powered experiences.
Google is also adding an "Ask Play" AI overlay to the Play Store that lets users discover apps through natural-language conversations. "Perhaps more importantly, apps will begin to be surfaced with users' conversations with Google's Gemini virtual assistant, exposing developers' apps to millions of users," adds TechCrunch.
[1] https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/technology/developers-tools/google-io-2026-developer-highlights
[2] https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/19/googles-ai-studio-now-lets-anyone-build-android-apps-in-minutes/
Oh goodie (Score:2)
Just what we need: the ability for anyone to publish a vibe-coded Android app.
Brings to mind a famous [1]joke from George Carlin [goodreads.com].
[1] https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/43852-think-of-how-stupid-the-average-person-is-and-realize
Re: (Score:1)
> Just what we need: the ability for anyone to publish a vibe-coded Android app.
Publish? Probably not -- at least, not YET. Develop for personal use? Absolutely. Why not?
Re: (Score:2)
Then, they share it on their Facebook and Instagram and whatever other places, and it goes from the app leaking one person's data to it leaking 50 people's worth of data! How wonderful!
And, this is what happens when you take chunks of other people's code without understanding what the code actually does and paste them together and change what Visual Studio flags as wrong, and compile it and jump around all excited, "I built my first program!"
Develop for personal use? I'll believe that until I see that the
Signed binaries (Score:2)
Does this produce signed binaries or do they require sideloading?
Re: (Score:3)
Google is [1]trying hard to kill sideloading [androidauthority.com] so probably not.
[1] https://www.androidauthority.com/google-android-sideloading-unverified-apps-new-rules-3650343/
Do AI coding tools fully work now? (Score:2)
A few months ago to use Copilot to create an iOS app in Swift (a language with which I have zero knowledge or experience). And it got a few things working, however as the app got more complicated it kept failing to compile a working app.I then went to claude and gemini and both faced similar challenges as things got complicated. Is this still true as of today? Do these tools actually let someone with no experience make a more advanced app?
Where is the shovelware? Where's the killer app? (Score:3)
Where is the [1]Shovelware? [substack.com]. Surely they could vibe code up a couple dozen killer apps to prove their point. Where are they? Show me how many of the top 10 Android apps were built this way. How many of the top 100? It's like "Loveable" web-sites. They are simple, they suck, they leak data like sieve. Nobody wants shitware, folks, they want real working useful applications or fun/creative/attractive games. So far I've seen exactly ZERO made by AI.
[1] https://mikelovesrobots.substack.com/p/wheres-the-shovelware-why-ai-coding
Re: (Score:2)
"Nobody wants shitware..."
If only that were true. No consumers want shitware but most tolerate it. The industry LOVES shitware, the lower the bar the easier the profit.