Kotlin Multiplatform Mobile Beta Roadmap Update

Ekaterina Petrova

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We would like to bring you an update on the development of Kotlin Multiplatform Mobile, a technology that allows developers to share code between mobile platforms and combines the benefits of both cross-platform and native development approaches.

Kotlin Multiplatform Mobile is continuing to move steadily along the road to Beta status. One of the biggest achievements on this path is the new Kotlin/Native memory manager. Stabilization of the memory manager is still in progress. Because Kotlin Multiplatform Mobile Beta relies on the new memory manager in Kotlin/Native, we have postponed Kotlin Multiplatform Mobile Beta until the memory model becomes the default, which we expect to be the case no later than autumn 2022. 

The new Kotlin/Native memory manager reached the Alpha stability level in Kotlin 1.6.20. It lifts restrictions on object sharing between threads and provides leak-free concurrent programming primitives that are safe and don’t require any special management or annotations.

Kotlin 1.7.0 brings further performance improvements, including a more efficient garbage collector scheduler and optimized debug binaries. To see the full list of the latest Kotlin/Native memory manager improvements, check out the relevant roadmap ticket.

User feedback is essential for stabilization. We encourage you to try the new memory model (migration instructions) and share your use cases and any issues you encounter with the team.

Improving the new memory manager is not the only way in which we’re advancing Kotlin Multiplatform Mobile. Here are some of the other new features that are already improving the mobile cross-platform developer experience with Kotlin and moving us closer to reaching Beta status:

• KDoctor is a command-line tool that helps set up the environment for Kotlin Multiplatform Mobile app development and drastically improves the onboarding experience.
• The new experimental DSL simplifies the management of Kotlin/Native binary output.
• The UX for using native libraries in Kotlin Multiplatform Projects has been improved.

Check out the Promote Kotlin Multiplatform Mobile to Beta roadmap ticket to learn about these and other features that Kotlin Multiplatform Mobile Beta will bring.

We are also happy to share some exciting news from the community, which continues to help the Kotlin Multiplatform Mobile ecosystem evolve:

• The new Beta version of the Xcode-Kotlin plugin brings a smoother development and integration experience for iOS developers using shared Kotlin code. The plugin can now be installed and configured with just 2 commands!
• The new version of MOKO MVVM, which provides architecture components of Model-View-ViewModel for UI applications, offers full support for Jetpack Compose and SwiftUI.
• Baidu, a leading artificial intelligence company and the world’s largest Chinese-language search engine, shared their story of using Kotlin Multiplatform Mobile technology to unify the business logic of multiple modules in their Wonder app, which allowed them to cover multiple core business scenarios while retaining the excellent user experience of the native UI.

Both the Kotlin team and the Kotlin community are actively investing in the development of the Multiplatform Mobile technology and ecosystem. All these efforts have already resulted in a growing number of teams using Kotlin Multiplatform Mobile to improve the way they develop mobile applications. JetBrains will continue to invest in this technology and support the community around it.

Read More

• Get Started with Kotlin Multiplatform Mobile
• Try the New Kotlin/Native Memory Manager Development Preview
• Kotlin Multiplatform Mobile Beta Roadmap Video Highlights

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