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Android SDK Platform Tools Changelog

What's new in Android SDK Platform Tools R35.0.0

Mar 7, 2024
  • adb:
  • Switch to libusb as the default on Linux issue #270205252.
  • Fix adb startup on hosts without USB.
  • Fix adb hangs caused by USB devices incorrectly reporting zero-length descriptors issue #302212871.
  • Fix return code of adb shell when device disconnects issue #321787891.
  • fastboot:
  • Limit the maximum size of the incoming packet queue.
  • Remove bottlenecks that previously limited download speeds to around 120MB/s. Now fastboot can saturate a SuperSpeed+ bus and achieve speeds up to 980MB/s, depending on the device.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R34.0.5 (Nov 8, 2023)

  • adb:
  • adb now defaults to libusb on macOS to address issue #270205252.
  • Previously, adb responded with a successful code when wireless pairing fails. Resolved this by returning a failure code (1) and user-facing error (error: protocol fault (couldn't read status message...)). echo $? now reports 1.
  • adb wait-for-disconnect is now operational for non-USB (wireless debugging).
  • Added new DbC interface for future support of ChromeOS over adb.
  • fastboot:
  • Fixed flashall on Pixel 3 devices.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R34.0.4 (Jul 14, 2023)

  • adb:
  • Propagate -a (gListenAll) when adb forks an adb host server (previously, the flag only worked for adb -a server nodaemon)
  • Faster root and unroot
  • Reland Flag(env) guarding clear endpoint (device) feature for OSX usb start. (issue #270205252).
  • fastboot:
  • Mac: remove retries on invalid IO iterator (flashing failure with LIBUSB_TRANSFER_CANCELLED)
  • Windows: fix "Sparse file is too large or invalid" when using "flashall"
  • All platforms: fix "ANDROID_PRODUCT_OUT not set" when using "update"

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R34.0.1 (Jul 14, 2023)

  • adb:
  • macOS: Reverted "unstable connectivity (MacBook high speed cable)" resolution due to adb install hang (issue #270205252).
  • fastboot:
  • Windows: Fixed "mke2fs: Illegal or malformed device name while trying to determine filesystem size" error introduced in Platform tools 34.0.0 (issue #271039230).

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R34.0.0 (Feb 12, 2023)

  • adb:
  • Fixed zero length packet sends for macOS (issuetracker: 208675141).
  • Addressed unstable connectivity (MacBook high speed cable): frequent adb disconnects.
  • Improved error message for adb push with insufficient number of arguments.
  • fastboot:
  • Improved flashing: flashall will now skip reboots to userspace if it can.
  • Fixed zero length packet sends for macOS (issuetracker: 208675141).
  • Fixed flashing recovery.img resulting in wrong AVB footer.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R33.0.3 (Aug 24, 2022)

  • adb:
  • Don't retry adb root if first attempt failed.
  • Fix track-devices duplicate entry.
  • Add receive windowing (increase throughput on high-latency connections).
  • More specific error messages in the "more than one device" failure cases.
  • Reject unexpected reverse forward requests.
  • Fix install-multi-package on Windows.
  • fastboot:
  • Remove e2fsdroid as part of SDK platform-tools.
  • Print OemCmdHandler return message on success.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R33.0.2 (Jun 17, 2022)

  • fastboot:
  • Support for the vendor_kernel_boot partition.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R33.0.1 (Mar 21, 2022)

  • adb:
  • Fixes Windows mdns crashes.
  • Fixes enable-verity/disable-verity on old devices.
  • Fixes "install multiple" on old devices
  • Improves the help output to include all supported compression methods.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R33.0.0 (Feb 24, 2022)

  • adb:
  • Fixes the issue introduced in 32.0.0 of crashes when run without any arguments.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R32.0.0 (Jan 27, 2022)

  • adb:
  • Fixed adb w/o args SEGV regression.
  • fastboot:
  • Reinstated recovery execution from b/158156979 (removal of preprocessor guards for root/secure).

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R31.0.3 (Aug 17, 2021)

  • fastboot:
  • Support flashing vbmeta_vendor.img for fastboot flashall / update.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R31.0.2 (Aug 17, 2021)

  • adb:
  • Support forwarding to vsock on linux.
  • Fix bug in adb track-devices where devices over wireless debugging wouldn't immediately receive updates.
  • Implement preliminary support for mDNS device discovery without a separately installed mDNS service. This is currently disabled by default, and can be enabled by setting the environment variable ADB_MDNS_OPENSCREEN to 1 when starting the adb server.
  • fastboot:
  • Don't fail when unable to get boot partition size.
  • Derive device locked state from property instead of parsing the kernel command line.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R31.0.1 (Apr 15, 2021)

  • adb:
  • Reduce TCP keepalive interval.
  • Improve incremental installation performance.
  • fastboot:
  • Add support for compressed snapshot merges.
  • Restore legacy A/B support.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R31.0.0 (Mar 3, 2021)

  • adb:
  • Disable compression on pull by default.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R30.0.5 (Nov 5, 2020)

  • adb:
  • Improve performance of adb push when pushing many files over a high-latency connection.
  • Improve adb push/pull performance on Windows.
  • Fix adb push --sync with multiple inputs.
  • Improve performance of incremental apk installation.
  • Improve error handling for incremental apk installation.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R30.0.4 (Aug 2, 2020)

  • adb:
  • Fix fallback to non-incremental apk installation on pre-Android 11 devices.
  • Fix adb install-multi-package.
  • Fix some more crashes related to adb wireless pairing.
  • Improve some error messages.
  • fastboot:
  • Improve console output on fastboot oem commands.
  • Fix fastboot flashall on Nexus 7.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R30.0.3 (Jun 30, 2020)

  • adb:
  • Fix installation of APKs signed with v4 signature scheme on pre-Android 11 devices.
  • Fix crash when authenticating without ADB_VENDOR_KEYS.
  • Fix crash when using adb -H.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R30.0.2 (Jun 30, 2020)

  • adb:
  • Improve adb wireless pairing.
  • Fix hang in adb logcat when run before a device is connected.
  • Add adb transport-id to allow scripts to safely wait for a device to go away after root/unroot/reboot.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R30.0.1 (Jun 30, 2020)

  • adb:
  • Disable adb mdns auto-connection by default. This can be reenabled with the ADB_MDNS_AUTO_CONNECT environment variable.
  • Improve performance of adb install-multi on Android 10 or newer devices.
  • Fix timeout when using adb root/unroot on a device connected over TCP.
  • Update support for wireless pairing.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R30.0.0 (Apr 29, 2020)

  • Add initial support for wireless pairing.
  • Add support for incremental APK installation.
  • Implement client-side support for compression of adb {push, pull, sync} when used with an Android 11 device.
  • Improve performance of adb push on high-latency connections.
  • Improve push/pull performance on Windows.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R29.0.5 (Oct 29, 2019)

  • adb:
  • Slight performance improvement on Linux when using many simultaneous connections.
  • Add --fastdeploy option to adb install, for incremental updates to APKs while developing.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R29.0.4 (Sep 15, 2019)

  • adb:
  • Hotfix for Native debugging timeout with LLDB issue(https://issuetracker.google.com/140369526)

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R29.0.3 (Sep 11, 2019)

  • adb:
  • adb forward --list works with multiple devices connected.
  • Fix devices going offline on Windows.
  • Improve adb install output and help text.
  • Restore previous behavior of adb connect without specifying port.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R29.0.2 (Aug 2, 2019)

  • fastboot:
  • Adds support for partition layout of upcoming devices

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R29.0.0 (Jun 26, 2019)

  • adb:
  • adb reconnect performs a USB reset on Linux.
  • On Linux, when connecting to a newer adb server, instead of killing the server and starting an older one, adb attempts to launch the newer version transparently.
  • adb root waits for the device to reconnect after disconnecting. Previously, adb root; adb wait-for-device could mistakenly return immediately if adb wait-for-device started before adb noticed that the device had disconnected.
  • fastboot:
  • Disables an error message that occurred when fastboot attempted to open the touch bar or keyboard on macOS.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R28.0.2 (Apr 18, 2019)

  • adb:
  • Fixes flakiness of adb shell port forwarding that leads to "Connection reset by peer" error message.
  • Fixes authentication via ADB_VENDOR_KEYS when reconnecting devices.
  • Fixes authentication—when the private key used for authentication does not match the public key—by calculating the public key from the private key, instead of assuming that they match.
  • fastboot:
  • Adds support for dynamic partitions.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R28.0.1 (Sep 3, 2018)

  • adb:
  • Add support for reconnection of TCP connections. Upon disconnection, adb will attempt to reconnect for up to 60 seconds before abandoning a connection.
  • Fix Unicode console output on Windows. (Thanks to external contributor Spencer Low!)
  • Fix a file descriptor double-close that can occur, resulting in connections being closed when an adb connect happens simultaneously.
  • Fix adb forward --list when used with more than one device connected.
  • fastboot:
  • Increase command timeout to 30 seconds, to better support some slow bootloader commands.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R25.2.3 (Feb 22, 2017)

  • Dependencies:
  • Android SDK Platform-tools revision 24 or later.
  • Added new sdkmanager command line tool to view, install, update, and uninstall individual Android SDK packages.
  • New Android Emulator features and bug fixes:
  • Fixed -gpu guest (issue 227447).
  • Added support for WebP image decoding.
  • Added support for ETC2 texture decompression.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R24.4.0 (Oct 15, 2015)

  • Updated the emulator so it can display an upgrade notification when a new version is available.
  • Added the ability for the emulator to send basic crash reports. You must opt-in through Android Studio preferences to enable crash report transmission.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R24.3.4 (Aug 17, 2015)

  • General Notes:
  • Added support for Android 6.0 (API level 23) platform.
  • Emulator:
  • Improved emulator performance on multi-core Windows desktops. (Issue 101040)
  • Added support for GPU emulation on Windows and Linux platforms using the -gpu mesa command line option.
  • Enabled support for running emulators with GPU emulation through remote desktop services, including Chrome Remote Desktop, Windows Terminal Services, and NoMachine.
  • Added support for emulators with 280 dpi and 360 dpi screen resolutions.
  • Improved support for GLES 2.0 extensions.
  • Fixed several issues with GPU emulation support.
  • Added support for setting the storage size on emulators using Android 4.4 (API level 19) and higher. (Issue 75141)
  • Fixed problem with sending long SMS messages between emulators. (Issue 3539)
  • Fixed issue with emulator getting incorrect time from location objects. (Issue 27272)
  • Added handling for unusual characters in paths and file names when starting emulators. (Issue 35889)

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R24.3.3 (Jun 20, 2015)

  • General Notes:
  • Fixed issues with using Ant build tasks with the Eclipse ADT build structure.
  • Fixed the emulator boot problem on Mac OS X 10.8.5.
  • Dependencies:
  • Android SDK Platform-tools revision 19 or later.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R24.3.2 (Jun 12, 2015)

  • Fixed issues with the ARM 64-bit emulator.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R24.2.0 (May 5, 2015)

  • Fixed several minor emulator issues.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R24.1.2 (Mar 5, 2015)

  • Fixed boot failures of MIPS system images on Mac OS X.
  • Fixed AVD screen capture issues when using GPU emulation.
  • Fixed memory leaks in emulator system.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R24.0.2 (Dec 19, 2014)

  • Fixed issue with creating projects and activities from templates using Eclipse ADT.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R24.0.1 (Dec 11, 2014)

  • Dependencies:
  • Android SDK Platform-tools revision 19 or later.
  • General Notes:
  • Fixed Java detection issue on 32-bit Windows systems.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R24.0.0 (Dec 9, 2014)

  • Dependencies:
  • Android SDK Platform-tools revision 19 or later.
  • General Notes:
  • Added support for Android Studio 1.0 and emulator enhancements.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R23.0.5 (Oct 11, 2014)

  • Fixed Windows 32-bit compilation issue.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R23.0.4 (Oct 9, 2014)

  • Fixed duplicate devices in AVD for Wear and TV.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R23.0.2 (Jul 8, 2014)

  • Added ProGuard .bat files that were missing.
  • Added the proguard-android.txt file that was missing.
  • Renamed the lombok-ast-0.2.2.jar file to lombok-ast.jar, which should allow running lint from the command line.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R23.0.0 (Jun 27, 2014)

  • Dependencies:
  • Android SDK Platform-tools revision 19 or later.
  • If you are developing in Eclipse with ADT, note that this version of SDK Tools is designed for use with ADT 23.0.0 and later. If you haven't already, update your ADT Plugin to 23.0.0.
  • If you are developing outside Eclipse, you must have Apache Ant 1.8 or later.
  • General Notes:
  • Added the Android Wear tools and system images.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R22.6.4 (Jun 5, 2014)

  • Fixed an issue with the x86 emulator that caused Google Maps to crash. (Issue 69385)
  • Fixed minor OpenGL issues.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R22.6.3 (Apr 29, 2014)

  • General Notes:
  • Fixed a problem where the AVD manager allowed creating Android Wear virtual devices with a target API Level lower than 19.
  • Fixed the description of Android Wear system images in the SDK Manager.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R22.6.2 (Mar 26, 2014)

  • Fixed a problem where the SDK Manager threw a NullPointerException after removing a virtual device that was created using the Android Wear system image. (Issue 67588)
  • Fixed a problem with Nexus 5 Android virtual devices created from the command line where the SD card file system was read-only.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R22.6.1 (Mar 19, 2014)

  • Dependencies:
  • Android SDK Platform-tools revision 18 or later.
  • If you are developing in Eclipse with ADT, note that this version of SDK Tools is designed for use with ADT 22.6.1 and later. If you haven't already, update your ADT Plugin to 22.6.1.
  • If you are developing outside Eclipse, you must have Apache Ant 1.8 or later.
  • General Notes:
  • Fixed a problem where the Android Virtual Device Manager could not create new virtual devices. (Issue 66661)
  • Fixed a problem with virtual devices created using ADT 22.3 or earlier.
  • If you created an Android Virtual Device using ADT 22.3 or earlier, the AVD may be listed as broken in the AVD Manager in 22.6.1. To fix this problem, select the virtual device on the AVD Manager and click Repair.
  • Fixed a problem with the command line tools when creating virtual devices. (Issue 66740)
  • Fixed a problem with the command line lint script.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R22.6 (Mar 5, 2014)

  • DEPENDENCIES:
  • Android SDK Platform-tools revision 18 or later.
  • If you are developing in Eclipse with ADT, note that this version of SDK Tools is designed for use with ADT 22.6.0 and later. If you haven't already, update your ADT Plugin to 22.6.0.
  • If you are developing outside Eclipse, you must have Apache Ant 1.8 or later.
  • GENERAL NOTES:
  • The command line lint script (tools\lint.bat on Windows platforms, tools/lint on other platforms) and the lint target on ant builds fail with the following error: "Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: lombok/ast/AstVisitor"
  • Added support for Java 7 language features like multi-catch, try-with-resources, and the diamond operator. These features require version 19 or higher of the Build Tools. Try-with-resources requires minSdkVersion 19; the rest of the new language features require minSdkVersion 8 or higher.
  • Fixed a number of minor issues in the SDK and build system.
  • Fixed an issue with RenderScript support. Using RenderScript support mode now requires version 19.0.3 of the Build Tools.
  • Added new lint checks:
  • Security:
  • Look for code potentially affected by a SecureRandom vulnerability.
  • Check that calls to checkPermission use the return value.
  • Check that production builds do not use mock location providers.
  • Look for manifest values that are overwritten by values from Gradle build scripts.
  • Emulator:
  • Fixed a problem with the emulator shutting down immediately for Android 1.5 on the Nexus One and Nexus S devices. (Issue 64945)
  • Fixed a problem with port numbers longer than four digits. (Issue 60024)
  • Fixed battery errors for the Nexus One and Nexus S devices. (Issue 39959)
  • Fixed a problem with paths or arguments that contain spaces on Windows platforms. (Issue 18317)
  • Fixed a problem with long path values on Windows platforms. (Issue 33336)
  • Fixed a problem with the -snapshot-list command line option on 64-bit systems. (Issue 34233)

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R22.3 (Nov 1, 2013)

  • Added support for Android 4.4 (API level 19).
  • Fixed a number of minor bugs in the SDK and build system.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R22.2.1 (Sep 20, 2013)

  • Fixed problem with templates that causes the new project wizard to hang. (Issue 60149)
  • Fixed crash when using the lint command line tool because of mis-matched library dependency. (Issue 60190)

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R22.2 (Sep 17, 2013)

  • General Notes:
  • Updated build tools to allow use of RenderScript on older versions of Android using new features in the Support Library.
  • Moved the Systrace tool to the > sdk < /platform-tools/ directory.
  • Modified Tracer for OpenGL ES to support OpenGL ES 3.0.
  • Improved support for path names with spaces in the Windows command-line tools.
  • Lint:
  • Fixed problem with lint not detecting custom namespaces. (Issue 55673)
  • Fixed problem with the XML report including invalid characters. (Issue 56205)
  • Fixed command-line execution of lint to work in headless mode to support execution by build servers. (Issue 55820)

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R22.0.5 (Jul 31, 2013)

  • Dependencies:
  • Android SDK Platform-tools revision 16 or later.
  • If you are developing in Eclipse with the ADT Plugin, note that this version of SDK Tools is designed for use with ADT 22.0.5 and later. If you haven't already, update ADT to 22.0.5.
  • If you are using Android Studio, note that this version of the SDK Tools is designed to work with Android Studio 0.2.x and later.
  • If you are developing without an integrated development environment (IDE), you must have Apache Ant 1.8 or later.
  • General Notes:
  • Fixed Renderscript compilation issue for Windows platforms with ant.
  • Updated Systrace to work with the Android 4.3 platform image.
  • Fixed packaging of Renderscript compiler.
  • Build tools 18.0.0 is obsolete and 18.0.1 should be used instead.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R22.0.4 (Jul 20, 2013)

  • Fixed problem with compiling Renderscript code.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R22.0.1 (May 29, 2013)

  • Dependencies:
  • Android SDK Platform-tools revision 16 or later.
  • If you are developing in Eclipse with ADT, note that the SDK Tools r22.0.1 is designed for use with ADT 22.0.1 and later. If you haven't already, update your ADT Plugin to 22.0.1.
  • If you are developing outside Eclipse, you must have Apache Ant 1.8 or later.
  • General Notes:
  • Fixed issue with Lint ServiceCast check and fully qualified class names. (Issue 55403)
  • Fixed crash issue with Lint ArraySizeDetector check. (Issue 54887)
  • Fixed a problem with the monkeyrunner tool failing to import standard python classes. (Issue 55632)
  • Fixed a problem with DDMS monitor not opening heap and network statistics views due to a class not found exception. (Issue 55394)

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R22.0.0 (May 16, 2013)

  • Dependencies:
  • Android SDK Platform-tools revision 16 or later.
  • If you are developing in Eclipse with ADT, note that the SDK Tools r22 is designed for use with ADT 22.0.0 and later. If you haven't already, update your ADT Plugin to 22.0.0.
  • If you are developing outside Eclipse, you must have Apache Ant 1.8 or later.
  • General Notes:
  • Changed the structure of the SDK by adding a new build tool SDK Component, which is based on the existing platform-tools component. This change decouples the build tools versions from the IDE versions, allowing updates to the tools without requiring an IDE update.
  • Updated tools to allow libraries to share the same package name as the applications that use them.
  • Updated draw9patch tool to allow easier changing of markers.
  • Added new Lint checks, including checks for layout consistency, RelativeLayout siblings, Parcel creator, JavaScript interfaces, Service casting, quantity strings, manifest typos, orientation tags in layouts, overlapping names for 9-patches and images, and class existence checks.
  • Updated build tools to sign applications using the BouncyCastle library instead of relying on Sun JVM specific APIs.
  • Released some of the Android tools into Maven Central to assist third-party tool developers. The following tools are available in the repository: manifest-merger, common/sdk_common, ddmlib, dvlib, layoutlib_api, sdklib, and lint.
  • Bug fixes:
  • Fixed a number of minor bugs in the SDK and build system.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R21.1.0 (Feb 14, 2013)

  • Dependencies:
  • Android SDK Platform-tools revision 16 or later.
  • If you are developing in Eclipse with ADT, note that the SDK Tools r21.1.0 is designed for use with ADT 21.1.0 and later. If you haven't already, update your ADT Plugin to 21.1.0.
  • If you are developing outside Eclipse, you must have Apache Ant 1.8 or later.
  • General Notes:
  • Improved error reporting in dx when dex merging fails in the build system.
  • Added more than 15 new Lint checks, including checks for overriding older APIs, XML resource problems, graphic asset issues and manifest tags.
  • Added new aapt feature to compile resources.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R21.0.1 (Dec 21, 2012)

  • DEPENDENCIES:
  • Android SDK Platform-tools revision 16 or later.
  • If you are developing in Eclipse with ADT, note that the SDK Tools r21.0.1 is designed for use with ADT 21.0.1 and later. If you haven't already, update your ADT Plugin to 21.0.0.
  • If you are developing outside Eclipse, you must have Apache Ant 1.8 or later.
  • GENERAL NOTES:
  • Build:
  • Updated build to detect and handle package name conflicts between an application and the libraries it depends on. Libraries cannot share package names unless all of them share the same package name. (Issue 40152, Issue 40273)
  • Added a flag to disable dex merging to deal with cases where merging could generate a broken dex file. If this happens to your project, add the following setting to your project.properties file: dex.disable.merger=true This setting causes the build system to revert to the older, slower dex processing that does not pre-dex libraries.
  • Renderscript:
  • Added support for Filterscript compilation.
  • Added new project setting to control the Renderscript compilation target separately from an Android project. Adding the following line to a project.properties file causes Renderscript code to be compiled for Android API Level 17, while the containing application can target a different (lower) API level: renderscript.target = 17
Previously, the Renderscript compilation target was tied to the android:minSdkVersion setting in the manifest. (Issue 40487)
  • BUG FIXES:
  • Lint:
  • Corrected check for 0px values in style XML elements. (Issue 39601)
  • Fixed incorrect flagging of formatting strings. (Issue 39758)
  • Fixed problem where tools:ignore directive in the manifest file was ignored by the Lint tool. (Issue 40136)
  • Fixed problem with flagging a wakelock release inside a conditional. (Issue 40424)
  • Fixed incorrect reporting of missing layout_width and layout_height XML fields. (Issue 38958)
  • Fixed handling of custom namespace attributes.
  • Added fixes for filtering out library project warnings.
  • Removed warnings about missing classes before a build.
  • Fixed problem with UI Automator Viewer execution script where Android tools directory is not set.
  • Fixed problem with the SDK Manager so that it auto-selects the most recently released platform on startup.
  • Fixed Java finding script to look for the currently supported version of Java (1.6 or higher).
  • Fixed the SDK Manager launcher in the ADT bundle so that it can properly launch the SDK Manager program when it is placed at the root of the bundle.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R21.0.0 (Nov 14, 2012)

  • DEPENDENCIES:
  • Android SDK Platform-tools revision 15 or later.
  • If you are developing in Eclipse with ADT, note that the SDK Tools r21 is designed for use with ADT 21.0.0 and later. If you haven't already, update your ADT Plugin to 21.0.0.
  • If you are developing outside Eclipse, you must have Apache Ant 1.8 or later.
  • GENERAL NOTES:
  • Build System:
  • Added a flag that sets jumbo mode for DEX files, which allows a larger number of strings in the DEX files.
  • Improved the build time by pre-dexing libraries (both JAR files and library projects).
  • Updated the build to generate R resource classes for library projects with only the IDs needed by the libraries, reducing the risk of hitting DEX file limits for fields and methods.
  • Improved the build so that several editing features (code completion, resource chooser, go to declaration) properly handle library project resources.
  • Lint:
  • Added over 25 new lint rules for resources, locale settings, layout files, incorrect use of SparseArray and PowerManager.WakeLock and manifest issues.
  • Updated reporting to include errors in library projects if the library project is in the list of projects to be checked.
  • Added a new lint target to the Ant build system for easier integration with continuous build systems.
  • Added new --sources and --classpath arguments to point to sources with different directory structures.
  • Improved the XML export function to support the Jenkins Lint plugin.
  • Added support for class file flow analysis.
  • Android Virtual Devices (AVD):
  • Added new Device Definitions tab in the AVD Manager for configuring standard size and Nexus virtual devices.
  • Improved emulators so that they launch with a skin that is dynamically generated and reflects the actual hardware configured in the AVD Manager.
  • Added job tool for creating and encrypting APK Expansion Files.
  • Improved the Android JUnit test runner to allow a test to be run on all connected devices simultaneously.
  • BUG FIXES:
  • Fixed manifest merger to properly adapt library classes in the merged manifest.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R20.0.3 (Aug 14, 2012)

  • Dependencies:
  • Android SDK Platform-tools revision 12 or later.
  • If you are developing in Eclipse with ADT, note that the SDK Tools r20.0.3 is designed for use with ADT 20.0.3 and later. If you haven't already, update your ADT Plugin to 20.0.3.
  • If you are developing outside Eclipse, you must have Apache Ant 1.8 or later.
  • Bug fixes:
  • Fixed problem with cached download lists in SDK Manager.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R20.0.1 (Jul 19, 2012)

  • Dependencies:
  • Android SDK Platform-tools revision 12 or later.
  • If you are developing in Eclipse with ADT, note that the SDK Tools r20.0.1 is designed for use with ADT 20.0.1 and later. If you haven't already, update your ADT Plugin to 20.0.1.
  • If you are developing outside Eclipse, you must have Apache Ant 1.8 or later.
  • Bug fixes:
  • Fixed wrong check on build state that forced repetitive Java code recompilation.
  • Fixed problems with running more than one emulator and running multiple emulators with GPU acceleration.
  • Improved resize algorithm for better rendering on scaled emulator windows.
  • Fixed a bug in the lint check for unprotected broadcast receivers to ignore unprotected receivers for default Android actions.
  • Fixed build issue for projects using Renderscript.
  • Fixed memory leak in the emulator.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R20 (Jun 28, 2012)

  • DEPENDENCIES:
  • Android SDK Platform-tools revision 12 or later.
  • If you are developing in Eclipse with ADT, note that the SDK Tools r20 is designed for use with ADT 20.0.0 and later. If you haven't already, we highly recommend updating your ADT Plugin to 20.0.0.
  • If you are developing outside Eclipse, you must have Apache Ant 1.8 or later.
  • GENERAL NOTES:
  • Added new Device Monitor application, grouping Android debugging tools into a single application, including ddms, traceview, hierarchyviewer and Tracer for GLES. (more info)
  • Added new System Trace new tool for tracing Android system activity. This tool allow you to capture a slice of system activity, plus additional information tagged from the Settings > Developer Options > Monitoring: Enable traces or with specific calls added to your application code. (more info)
  • Build System:
  • Added automatic merging of library project manifest files into the including project's manifest. Enable this feature with the manifestmerger.enabled property.
  • Added automatic ProGuard support for the aapt -G flag. This change causes the build system to generate a temporary ProGuard keep-rules file containing classes that are referenced from XML files (such as custom views) and pass this to ProGuard at shrink-time. This can make the resulting APK much smaller when using just a small portion of a large library project (such as the Android Support library), since the catch-all rules to keep all custom views from the default ProGuard configuration file have also been removed.
  • Added two ProGuard configuration files for use in projects: proguard-android-optimize.txt which enables optimizations and proguard-android.txt which disables them.
  • SDK Manager:
  • Improved caching to reduce downloading of repository definitions.
  • Added Tools > Manage Add-on Sites option to allow deactivation of third-party sites for improved performance (e.g., if one or more sites are temporarily slow to load.)
  • Added settings for the SDK Manager download cache (SDK Manager > Tools > Options).
  • BUG FIXES:
  • Build:
  • Fixed problem where test projects did not have access to the full classpath of tested projects, including Library Projects and third-party jars.
  • Fixed deployment logic so that applications with embedded tests can now be deployed and tested like test applications, including code coverage information.
  • Fixed Ant support for testing projects with libraries.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R18 (Apr 10, 2012)

  • Dependencies:
  • Android SDK Platform-tools revision 9 or later.
  • If you are developing in Eclipse with ADT, note that the SDK Tools r18 is designed for use with ADT 18.0.0 and later. If you haven't already, we highly recommend updating your ADT Plugin to 18.0.0.
  • If you are developing outside Eclipse, you must have Apache Ant 1.8 or later.
  • General notes:
  • Updated the SdkController app to encapsulate both sensor and multitouch emulation functionality.
  • Bug fixes:
  • Fixed Ant issues where some jar libraries in the libs/ folder are not picked up in some cases.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R17 (Mar 22, 2012)

  • Emulator:
  • Added support for hardware accelerated graphics rendering. This feature requires an API Level 15, Revision 3 or later system image Note: As of the SDK Tools Revision 17 release, the API Level 15, Revision 3 system image is not yet available.
  • Added support for running Android x86 system images in virtualization mode on Windows and Mac OS X
  • Added experimental support for multi-touch input by enabing the emulator to receive touch input from a USB-tethered physical Android device
  • Added viewing of live detailed network usage of an app in DDMS
  • ProGuard:
  • Updated the bundled ProGuard tool to version 4.7. In addition to many new features, this update fixes the Conversion to Dalvik format failed with error 1 error some users have experienced.
  • Updated the default proguard.cfg file with better default flags for Android.
  • Split the ProGuard configuration file has been in half, with project specific flags kept in project and the generic Android flags distributed (and updated) with the tools themselves.
  • Build:
  • Added a feature that allows you to run some code only in debug mode. Builds now generate a class called BuildConfig containing a DEBUG constant that is automatically set according to your build type. You can check the (BuildConfig.DEBUG) constant in your code to run debug-only functions.
  • Fixed issue when a project and its libraries include the same jar file in their libs folder
  • Added support for custom views with custom attributes in libraries. Layouts using custom attributes must use the namespace URI http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto instead of the URI that includes the app package name. This URI is replaced with the app specific one at build time.
  • Lint:
  • Updated Lint to check Android application code. Lint rules which previously performed pattern based searches in the application code (such as the unused resource check) have been rewritten to use the more accurate Java-style parse trees.
  • Added support for checking library projects. This change means that rules such as the unused resource check properly handle resources declared in a library project and referenced in a downstream project.
  • Added ability to suppress Lint warnings in Java code with the new @SuppressLint annotation, and in XML files with the new tools: namespace and ignore attribute
  • New Lint checks:
  • Added check for Android API calls that require a version of Android higher than the minimum supported version. You can use the new @TargetApi annotation to suppress warnings when the code is wrapped in a system version condition
  • Added over 20 new Lint rules, including checks for performance, XML layouts, manifest and file handling.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R16 (Dec 13, 2011)

  • Dependencies:
  • Android SDK Platform-tools revision 9 or later.
  • If you are developing in Eclipse with ADT, note that the SDK Tools r16 is designed for use with ADT 16.0.0 and later. If you haven't already, we highly recommend updating your ADT Plugin to 16.0.0.
  • If you are developing outside Eclipse, you must have Apache Ant 1.8 or later.
  • General notes:
  • Added Lint tools to detect common errors in Android projects. (more info)
  • Added sensor emulation support, which allows the emulator to read sensor data from a physical Android device.
  • Added support for using a webcam to emulate a camera on Mac OS X.
  • Bug fixes:
  • Snapshots now work for Android 4.0 system images.
  • Fixed several small issues for the build file. (Issue 21023, Issue 21267, Issue 21465, Issue 21525).

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R15 (Oct 28, 2011)

  • Important: To download the new Android 4.0 system components from the Android SDK Manager, you must first update the SDK tools to revision 14 or later and restart the Android SDK Manager. If you do not, the Android 4.0 system components will not be available for download.
  • Dependencies:
  • Android SDK Platform-tools revision 9 or later.
  • If you are developing in Eclipse with ADT, note that the SDK Tools r15 is designed for use with ADT 15.0.0 and later. If you haven't already, we highly recommend updating your ADT Plugin to 15.0.0.
  • If you are developing outside Eclipse, you must have Apache Ant 1.8 or later.
  • Bug fixes:
  • Fixed emulator crash on Linux due to improper webcam detection (Issue 20952).
  • Fixed emulator issue when using the -wipe-data argument.
  • Fixed build issue when using Renderscript in projects that target API levels 11-13 (Issue 21006).
  • Fixed issue when creating an AVD using the GoogleTV addon (Issue 20963).
  • Fixed ant test (Issue 20979).
  • Fixed android update project (Issue 20535).
  • Fixed scrolling issue in the new Logcat panel of DDMS.
  • Fixed issue with MonkeyRunner (Issue 20964).
  • Fixed issues in the SDK Manager (Issue 20939, Issue 20607).

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R14 (Oct 19, 2011)

  • Important: To download the new Android 4.0 system components from the Android SDK Manager, you must first update the SDK tools to revision 14 and restart the Android SDK Manager. If you do not, the Android 4.0 system components will not be available for download.
  • Dependencies:
  • Android SDK Platform-tools revision 8 or later.
  • If you are developing in Eclipse with ADT, note that the SDK Tools r14 is designed for use with ADT 14.0.0 and later. If you haven't already, we highly recommend updating your ADT Plugin to 14.0.0.
  • If you are developing outside Eclipse, you must have Apache Ant 1.8 or later.
  • General notes:
  • Added webcam support to Android 4.0 or later platforms to emulate rear-facing cameras when one webcam is present, and to emulate both rear-facing and front-facing cameras when two webcams are present. Webcam suport is for Windows and Linux only. Mac support will come in a later release.
  • Changed default.properties to project.properties and build.properties to ant.properties. Any existing projects that you build with Ant must be updated with the android update project command.
  • Changed Ant build.xml file to support improvements to the build system and added and modified Ant commands to support these changes. For a list of Ant commands, see the Ant Command Reference.
  • Changed how library projects are built.
  • Improved incremental builds, so that resource compilation runs less frequently. Builds no longer run when you edit strings or layouts (unless you add a new id) and no longer run once for each library project.
  • Introduced a "PNG crunch cache" that only runs on modified PNG files, instead of crunching all existing PNG files, all the time.
  • Revamped the SDK Manager UI

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R13 (Sep 23, 2011)

  • Dependencies:
  • If you are developing in Eclipse with ADT, note that the SDK Tools r13 is designed for use with ADT 12.0.0 and later. If you haven't already, we highly recommend updating your ADT Plugin to 12.0.0.
  • If you are developing outside Eclipse, you must have Apache Ant 1.8 or later.
  • General notes:
  • Fix compilation issue in Ant (dex step) when paths have spaces.
  • Fix issue in emulator installation when paths have spaces.
  • Fix issue when AVD paths have spaces.
  • Fix rendering issue when using emulator scaling (see more).

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R12 (Jul 16, 2011)

  • The AVD manager and emulator can now use system images compiled for ARM v7 and x86 CPUs.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R11 (Jul 16, 2011)

  • Miscellaneous emulator changes to support Android 3.1.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R10 (Feb 23, 2011)

  • Dependencies:
  • If you are developing in Eclipse with ADT, note that the SDK Tools r10 is designed for use with ADT 10.0.0 and later. After installing SDK Tools r10, we highly recommend updating your ADT Plugin to 10.0.0.
  • If you are developing outside Eclipse, you must have Apache Ant 1.8 or later.
  • General notes:
  • The tools now automatically generate Java Programming Language source files (in the gen directory) and bytecode (in the res/raw directory) from your native .rs files

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R9 (Jan 27, 2011)

  • The default ProGuard configuration, proguard.cfg, now ignores the following classes:
  • classes that extend Preference
  • classes that extend BackupAgentHelper
  • Ant lib rules now allow you to override java.encoding, java.source, and java.target properties.
  • The default encoding for the javac Ant task is now UTF-8.
  • The LogCat view in DDMS now properly displays UTF-8 characters.
  • The SDK Manager is more reliable on Windows. For details on the improvements, see the Android Tools Project Site.
  • If you enabled snapshots for an AVD, they are automatically captured. The emulator also now restores to the state when it last closed almost instantly.
  • Fixed the missing JAR file error that prevented draw9patch from running.
  • Fixed the Windows launch scripts hierarchyviewer and ddms to support the new location of adb.
  • Known issues with emulator performance: Because the Android emulator must simulate the ARM instruction set architecture on your computer, emulator performance is slow. We're working hard to resolve the performance issues and it will improve in future releases.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R8 (Dec 6, 2010)

  • Dependencies:
  • If you are developing in Eclipse with ADT, note that SDK Tools r8 is designed for use with ADT 8.0.0 and later. After installing SDK Tools r8, we highly recommend updating your ADT Plugin to 8.0.0.
  • Also note that SDK Tools r8 requires a new SDK component called Platform-tools. The new Platform-tools component lets all SDK platforms (Android 2.1, Android 2.2, and so on) use the same (latest) version of build tools such as adb, aapt, aidl, and dx. To download the Platform-tools component, use the Android SDK Manager, as described in Adding SDK Components
  • Upgrading from SDK Tools r7:
  • If you are upgrading to SDK Tools r8 from an earlier version, note that the the default installed location for the adb tool has changed from /tools/adb to /platform-tools/adb. This means that you should add the new location to your PATH and modify any custom build scripts to reference the new location. Copying the adb executable from the new location to the old is not recommended, since subsequent updates to the SDK Tools will delete the file.
  • General notes:
  • All SDK platforms now support Library Projects.
  • Support for a true debug build. Developers no longer need to add the android:debuggable attribute to the tag in the manifest — the build tools add the attribute automatically. In Eclipse/ADT, all incremental builds are assumed to be debug builds, so the tools insert android:debuggable="true". When exporting a signed release build, the tools do not add the attribute. In Ant, a ant debug command automatically inserts the android:debuggable="true" attribute, while ant release does not. If android:debuggable="true" is manually set, then ant release will actually do a debug build, rather than a release build.
  • Automatic ProGuard support in release builds. Developers generate a ProGuard configuration file using the android tool — the build tools then automatically run ProGuard against the project sources during the build. For more information, see the ProGuard documentation.
  • New overridable Ant javac properties: java.encoding, java.source, and java.target (default values are "ascii", "1.5", and "1.5", respectively).
  • New UI for the HierarchyViewer tool.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R7 (Dec 6, 2010)

  • Dependencies:
  • If you are developing in Eclipse with ADT, note that SDK Tools r7 is designed for use with ADT 0.9.8 and later. After installing SDK Tools r7, we highly recommend updating your ADT Plugin to 0.9.8.
  • General notes:
  • Added support for library projects that depend on other library projects.
  • Adds support for aidl files in library projects.
  • Adds support for extension targets in Ant build to perform tasks between the normal tasks: -pre-build, -pre-compile, and -post-compile.
  • Adds support for "headless" SDK update. See android -h update sdk for more information.
  • Fixes location control in DDMS to work in any locale not using '.' as a decimal point.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R6 (May 21, 2010)

  • The SDK Tools now support the use of library projects during development, a capability that lets you store shared Android application code and resources in a separate development project. You can then reference the library project from other Android projects and, at build time, the tools compile the shared code and resources as part of the dependent applications.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools R5 (May 13, 2010)

  • Dependencies:
  • If you are developing in Eclipse with ADT, note that SDK Tools r5 is designed for use with ADT 0.9.6 and later. After installing SDK Tools r5, we highly recommend updating your ADT Plugin to 0.9.6.
  • For Mac OS platforms, OS X 10.4.x (Tiger) is no longer officially supported.
  • SDK and AVD Manager:
  • Fixes SSL download for the standalone version of the SDK Updater.
  • Fixes issue with 64-bit JVM on Windows.
  • Adds support for platform samples components.
  • Improves support for dependency between components.
  • AVDs now sorted by API level.
  • The AVD creation dialog now enforces a minimum SD card size of 9MB.
  • Prevents deletion of running AVDs.
  • Settings are now automatically saved, no need to click "Apply".
  • Emulator:
  • Emulator now requires SD card to be 9MB or more.
  • Layoutopt:
  • Fixes layoutopt.bat to execute correctly on Windows.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools 2.0.1 Release 1 (Dec 4, 2009)

  • API changes summary:
  • New quickContactBadgeStyle attributes that let applications apply necessary styles to the QuickContactBadge widget.
  • Remove support for the ACTION_CONFIGURATION_CHANGED broadcast when declared as a filter in the manifest. To receive this broadcast, an application must do so from the application at run-time, with registerReceiver(BroadcastReceiver, IntentFilter).
  • Behavior changes:
  • The following is a summary of changes that affect the behavior of some framework APIs but do not add or remove API functionality.
  • Bluetooth:
  • Changes to the values returned by ACTION_REQUEST_ENABLE and ACTION_REQUEST_DISCOVERABLE:
  • ACTION_REQUEST_ENABLE now returns RESULT_OK if Bluetooth was successfully enabled and RESULT_CANCELED if the user rejected the request to enable Bluetooth, rather than 0 and -1 (or -2), respectively.
  • ACTION_REQUEST_DISCOVERABLE now returns RESULT_CANCELED if the user rejected the request to enable discoverability or if Bluetooth is not enabled, rather than -1 and -2, respectively.
  • Contacts:
  • The ACTION_INSERT Intent now returns RESULT_CANCELED in cases where the contact was not persisted (for example, if the save was trimmed to a no-op).
  • Bug fixes:
  • The following is a summary of bug fixes that affect some framework APIs.
  • Resources:
  • The framework now correctly selects application resources in project folders that use the API Level qualifier. For example, drawable-v4/ is a folder of drawable resources for API Level 4 (or higher) devices. This version matching did not work properly and has been fixed.
  • Contacts:
  • The ACTION_INSERT Intent now returns the appropriate kind of URI when the request is made using the (now deprecated) Contacts APIs.
  • Other Framework fixes
  • getCallingPackage() now properly reports the package name, rather than the process name.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools 2.0 Release 1 (Oct 28, 2009)

  • Android tool:
  • Adds new android create test-project and android update test-project commands to allow for greater flexibility in the location of the main and test projects.
  • DDMS:
  • Adds a button to dump HPROF file for running appplications (app must be able to write to the sdcard).
  • Button to start/stop profiling of a running application (app must be able to write to the sdcard). Upon stop, Traceview will automatically be launched to display the trace.
  • Fixed DDMS, Traceview, and the AVD Mananger/SDK Updater to run on Mac OS X 10.6.
  • Fixed screenshot support for devices running 32-bit framebuffer.
  • Android SDK and AVD Manager:
  • Provides a new UI that lets you set options for controlling the emulator skin, screen size/density, and scale factor used when launching an AVD.
  • Provides improved AVD creation UI, which lets you customize the hardware properties of your AVDs.
  • Now enforces dependencies between platforms and tools components, and between SDK add-ons and platforms.
  • Layoutopt, a new tool for optimizing layouts:
  • The SDK Tools 3 package includes layoutopt, a new command-line tool that helps you optimize your layout hierarchies. When run against your layout files, the tool analyzes their hierarchies and notifies you of inefficiencies and other potential issues. The tool also provides simple solutions for the issues it finds.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools 1.6 Release 1 (Sep 16, 2009)

  • Emulator support for multiple screen sizes/densities, including new skins.
  • Android SDK and AVD Manager, a graphical UI to let you manage your SDK and AVD environments more easily. The tool lets you create and manage your Android Virtual Devices and download new SDK packages (such as platform versions and add-ons) into your environment.
  • Improved support for test packages in New Project Wizard

New in Android SDK Platform Tools 1.5 R3 (Jul 17, 2009)

  • The changes to permissions are as follows:
  • When an application requests access to device camera (through android.hardware.camera), the CAMERA permission check is now properly enforced.
  • When an application requests access to device audio capture (through android.media.MediaRecorder), the RECORD_AUDIO permission check is now properly enforced.
  • Resolved Issues, Changes:
  • The SDK includes a new version of the Google APIs add-on. The add-on provides an updated com.google.android.maps external library that fixes compile errors related to certain classes such as GeoPoint. For information about the Google APIs add-on and the library it provides, see: http://code.google.com/android/add-ons/google-apis
  • The SDK add-on architecture now lets device manufacturers specify a USB Vendor ID in their add-ons.
  • The android tool provides a new command that scans SDK add-ons for their USB Vendor IDs and makes them available to adb (OS X and Linux versions of the SDK only). The command is android update adb. On Windows versions of the SDK, a custom USB driver is included that supports the "Google" and "HTC" Vendor IDs, which allow adb to recognize G1 and HTC Magic devices. For other devices, contact the device manufacturer to obtain a USB driver, especially if you have an SDK add-on that defines a new USB Vendor ID.
  • The telephony, sensor, and geo fix issues in the emulator are now fixed.
  • When you use adb to uninstall an upgraded application, the Android system now properly restores any permissions that had already been granted to the previous (downgrade) version of the application

New in Android SDK Platform Tools 1.5 R2 (Jun 26, 2009)

  • Provides an updated Android 1.5 system image that includes a security patch.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools 1.5 R1 (Apr 28, 2009)

  • Multiple versions of the Android platform are included (Android 1.1, Android 1.5). The tools are updated to let you deploy your application on any platform in the SDK, which helps you ensure forward-compitility and, if applicable, backward-compatibility.
  • Introduces Android Virtual Devices — (AVD) configurations of options that you run in the emulator to better model actual devices. Each AVD gets its own dedicated storage area, making it much easier to work with multiple emulators that are running concurrently.
  • Support for SDK add-ons, which extend the Android SDK to give you access to one or more external Android libraries and/or a customized (but compliant) system image that can run in the emulator.
  • The new Eclipse ADT plugin (version 0.9.0) offers new Wizards to let you create projects targetted for specific Android configurations, generate XML resources (such as layouts, animations, and menus), generate alternate layouts, and export and sign your application for publishing.
  • Improved JUnit support in ADT
  • Easier profiling of performance
  • Easier management of localized applications. You can now include or exclude locale resources when building your APK from a single Android project.
  • A new tool called "android" replaces the activitycreator script.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools 1.5 Pre (Apr 15, 2009)

  • System-wide:
  • Refinement of all core UI elements.
  • Animated window transitions (off by default).
  • Accelerometer-based application rotations.
  • UI polish for:
  • In-call experience.
  • Contacts, Call log, and Favorites.
  • SMS & MMS.
  • Browser.
  • Gmail.
  • Calendar.
  • Email.
  • Camera & Gallery.
  • Application management.
  • Performance improvements:
  • Faster Camera start-up and image capture.
  • Much faster acquisition of GPS location (powered by SUPL AGPS).
  • Smoother page scrolling in Browser.
  • Speedier GMail conversation list scrolling.
  • On-screen soft keyboard:
  • Works in both portrait and landscape orientation.
  • Support for user installation of 3rd party keyboards.
  • User dictionary for custom words.
  • Home screen:
  • Widgets - Bundled home screen widgets include: analog clock, calendar, music player, picture frame, and search.
  • Live folders.
  • Camera & Gallery:
  • Video recording.
  • Video playback (MPEG-4 & 3GP formats).
  • Bluetooth:
  • Stereo Bluetooth support (A2DP and AVCRP profiles).
  • Auto-pairing.
  • Improved handsfree experience.
  • Browser:
  • Updated with latest Webkit browser & Squirrelfish Javascript engines.
  • Copy 'n paste in browser.
  • Search within a page.
  • User-selectable text-encoding.
  • UI changes include:
  • Unified Go and Search box.
  • Tabbed bookmarks/history/most-visited screen.
  • Contacts:
  • Shows user picture for Favorites.
  • Specific date/time stamp for events in call log.
  • One-touch access to a contact card from call log event.
  • System:
  • New Linux kernel (version 2.6.27).
  • SD card filesystem auto-checking and repair.
  • SIM Application Toolkit 1.0.
  • Google applications:
  • View Google Talk friends' status in Contacts, SMS, MMS, GMail, and Email applications.
  • Batch actions such as archive, delete, and label on Gmail messages.
  • Upload videos to Youtube.
  • Upload photos on Picasa.
  • UI framework:
  • Framework for easier background/UI thread interaction.
  • New SlidingDrawer widget.
  • Horizontal ScrollView widget.
  • Home Screen framework:
  • APIs for creating secure home screen widgets.
  • APIs for populating live folders with custom content.
  • Media framework:
  • Raw audio recording and playback APIs.
  • Interactive MIDI playback engine.
  • Video recording APIs for developers (3GP format).
  • Video and photo sharing Intents.
  • Media search Intent.
  • Input Method framework:
  • Text prediction engine.
  • Ability to provide downloadable IMEs to users.
  • Speech recognition framework:
  • Support for using speech recognition libraries via Intent.
  • Misc API additions:
  • LocationManager - Applications can get location change updates via Intent.
  • WebView - Touch start/end/move/cancel DOM event support.
  • SensorManager - redesigned sensor APIs.
  • GLSurfaceView - convenience framework for creating OpenGL applications.
  • Broadcast Intent for app update install succeeded - for smoother app upgrade experience.
  • Developer tools:
  • Support for multiple versions of Android in a single SDK installation.
  • Improved JUnit support in ADT.
  • Easier application performance profiling.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools 1.1 R1 (Mar 7, 2009)

  • Emulator now saves the user image in /SDK1.1/

New in Android SDK Platform Tools 1.0 R2 (Dec 8, 2008)

  • The android.jar in this SDK release now includes several classes that were missing from the previous SDK.
  • The android.R.styleable class and its fields were removed from the public API, to better ensure forward-compatibility for applications. The constants declared in android.R.styleable were platform-specific and subject to arbitrary change across versions, so were not suitable for use by applications. You can still access the platform's styleable attributes from your resources or code. To do so, declare a custom resource element using a in your project's res/values/R.attrs file, then declare the attribute inside. For examples, see /samples/ApiDemos/res/values/attrs.xml. For more information about custom resources, see Custom Layout Resources. Note that the android.R.styleable documentation is still provided in the SDK, but only as a reference of the platform's styleable attributes for the various elements.
  • The VM now properly ensures that private classes are not available to applications through reflection. If you were using reflection to access private classes in a previous release, you will now get a run-time error.
  • The Settings and Email applications are now included in the SDK and available in the emulator.
  • We regret to inform developers that SDK 1.0_r2 does not support MFM, RLL, or Winchester hard disk drives.
  • In the emulator, the control key for enabling/disabling trackball mode is changed from Control-T to F6. You can also enter trackball mode temporarily using the Delete key. While the key is pressed, you can send trackball events.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools 1.0 R1 (Sep 25, 2008)

  • Emulator now saves the user image in /SDK1.0/
  • Fixed EsounD-related freezes on Linux.
  • Fixed the documentation in -help-audio. '-audio list' doesn't work, one needs to call -help-audio-out and -help-audio-in to get the list of valid audio backends.
  • Fixed scrollwheel Dpad emulation in rotated mode. before that, using the scroll-wheel would always generated Dpad Up/Down events, even when in landscape mode.
  • Several Obsolete command options were removed.
  • Setting the network speed through the console or the -netspeed option will properly modify the connectivity icon on the device.
  • Setting the GSM voice registration state to 'roaming' in the console will properly modify the voice icon on the device.
  • SQLite is now included in the SDK package on all platforms.

New in Android SDK Platform Tools 0.9 Beta (Aug 19, 2008)

  • New Home screen and many user interface updates.
  • Minor changes to Activity lifecycle and task management.
  • New window option to request OpenGL acceleration for certain kinds of View structures.
  • onFreeze(Bundle) renamed to onSaveInstanceState(Bundle), to better reflect the fact that it does not represent an actual change in application lifecycle
  • IntentReceivers are now known as BroadcastReceivers (but still operate on Intents.)
  • Various parts of the API cleaned up to use Intents instead of Bundles; Intent itself improved to reduce the need for separate payload Bundles.
  • ContentProvider Cursors have had significant changes to make them easier to create and remove certain data consistency bugs.
  • Changes to menus to make them more flexible; also added context menus (similar to "right mouse button" menus).
  • Changes to the Sensor API to make reading sensors more convenient and reduce the need to poll.
  • Improvements to the Camera API.
  • Significant changes to the Location API to make it easier to use and better self-documenting.
  • API cleanup on MapViews.
  • Performance-related changes to the MediaPlayer, as well as support for new types of ringtones.
  • Apache HTTPClient installation upgraded to 4.x of that API; 3.x version is removed.
  • HTTPClient 4.x removes multipart methods, include HttpMime which is an extension of Mime4j (http://james.apache.org/mime4j/index.html) in your project instead.
  • Improvements to WiFi and related networking.
  • New Preferences API to easily store small amounts of data.
  • Improvements to the Telephony API, including ability to obtain source number of incoming phone calls.
  • Variety of improvements to the View API.
  • Variety of improvements to component management, such as the ability to keep components private, better control over when processes are started, and ability to "alias" an Activity to more than one entry in AndroidManifest.xml
  • Improvements to how the Browser and WebView, such as better control over content downloads.
  • A number of enhancements to XML layouts, such as the new tag
  • Numerous improvements to the standard widgets
  • Network access now requires that applications obtain a permission in their AndroidManifest.xml files.
  • The MapView will require an API key on final Android 1.0 devices. This key can be obtained at no cost from Google, and will allow access to the full MapView API. In this release, the API key must be provided but can be any dummy value. In The final 1.0-compatible SDKs, this will need to be a real key.
  • The emulator now includes more convenient support for updating the emulated location fix.
  • The ADT Plugin that accompanies this SDK includes a preview of the Graphical Layout Editor. Files located in /res/layout[-qualifiers]/ will be opened with the new layout editor. This is very much a work in progress, and provided here for preview purpose. The editor feature is subject to change.
  • Dual page editor with a WYSIWYG page (the graphical editor) and an XML page with content assist.
  • The interactivity in the editor itself is limited to selection at the moment. Actions on the layout elements can be done from the following standard Eclipse views: Outline (add/remove/up/down), and Properties (editing of all the element properties with a tooltip in the status bar).
  • Top part of the editor allows you to display the layout in different configurations (language, orientation, size, etc...), and different themes.
  • All referenced resources (strings, bitmaps, etc...) are resolved based on the selected configuration/theme.
  • A green check mark next to a resource qualifier indicates that the opened file matches the value of the qualifier. A warning sign indicates that the opened file does not specifies any value for this qualifier.
  • If a different version of the opened layout matches the new configuration selection (in a different res/layout-qualifier folder) then the editor automatically switches to that new file.
  • Custom Views are supported, however if they do too much in their constructor/onDraw method, it may not work (the layout library used by the editor only includes a sub-part of the Android framework). Check the android console for errors/exceptions.
  • Starting with this release, Android .apk files must be cryptographically signed, or the system will reject them upon installation. The purpose of this requirement is to securely and uniquely identify developers, so that the system can -- for example -- safely let multiple .apk files signed by the same developer share resources.
  • There are no requirements on the key used to sign .apk files; locally-generated and self-signed keys are allowed. There is no PKI, and developers will not be required to purchase certificates, or similar. For developers who use the Eclipse/ADT plugin, application signing will be largely automatic. Developers who do not use Eclipse/ADT can use the standard Java jarsigner tool to sign .apk files.
  • LunarLander has been converted to render into a SurfaceView via a background Thread, for better performance.
  • New sample: the source code for the now-obsolete Home screen from M5 is included as an example of how to construct a Home screen replacement.
  • Due to significant API changes in the upstream open-source project and due to the timeline of getting certain Bluetooth profile implementations certified, a comprehensive Bluetooth API will not be possible or present in Android 1.0.
  • Due to the security risks inherent in accepting arbitrary data from "outside" the device, the data messaging facility of the GTalkService will not be present in Android 1.0. The GTalkService will provide connectivity to Google's servers for Google Talk instant messaging, but the API has been removed from this release while we improve the service. Note that this will be a Google-specific service and is not part of the core of Android.
  • We know that these changes will affect many developers who have worked with the prior early looks at the SDK, and we are very sorry for the resulting inconvenience. We look forward to the possibilty of restoring some or all of this functionality in a later version of the Android platform.
  • Many internal and non-public APIs have been removed from the documentation. Classes and methods that are not present in the documentation are non-public and should not be used, even though they may appear in tools such as IDEs. A future version of the SDK will ship with an android.jar file that contains only public classes, to help developers avoid accidentally using non-public APIs.
  • A few extraneous APIs (such as unnecessary packages under java.awt) have been removed.
  • Several additional tools are included, such as a utility for easily drawing 9-patch images.
  • The DDMS utility has been refactored into library form. This is not of direct interest to application developers, but may be of interest to vendors interested in integrating the Android SDK into their products. Watch for more information about the ddmlib library soon.
  • For performance and maintainability reasons, some APIs were moved into separate modules that must be explicitly included in the application via a directive in AndroidManifest.xml. Notable APIs that fall into this category are the MapView, and the java.awt.* classes, which each now reside in separate modules that must be imported. Developers who overlook this requirement will see ClassNotFoundExceptions that seem spurious.
  • Developers who use 'adb push' to install applications must now use 'adb install', since the full package manager is now implemented. 'adb push' will no longer work to install .apk files.
  • The emulator supports a variety of new options, and some existing options have been changed. Please consult the updated emulator documentation for details.
  • The list below is not comprehensive, but instead highlights the most interesting fixes since the last SDK release.
  • More of the standard Android user applications are now included, such as the Music and Messaging applications.
  • Many bug fixes to the Media Player.
  • Emulator performance is improved, especially for startup.
  • More internal APIs are removed from class documentation. (However, this work is not quite yet complete.)
  • It's now much easier to add media content to the SD card and have the ContentProvider locate and expose it to other applications.