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Why Kotlin

Why Google Chose Kotlin for Android

Kotlin comes from JetBrains, the maker of IntelliJ IDEA 856 : work began in 2010, 1.0 shipped in February 2016, and the compiler is open source (Apache 2.0) at github.com/JetBrains/kotlin (https://github.com/JetBrains/kotlin 53,455 ). Google announced first-class Kotlin support for Android at Google I/O on 17 May 2017, and at I/O 2019 made Android "Kotlin-first"; Jetpack Compose 234 exists only for Kotlin. Google cited full Java interoperability, so a team can add one Kotlin file to a large Java app, and Android Studio 234 's IntelliJ base; it now reports that apps containing Kotlin code are 20% less likely to crash.

Kotlin and Java compile to the same class files, which D8 or R8 turn into DEX for the Android Runtime
Kotlin and Java compile to the same class files, which D8 or R8 234 turn into DEX for the Android Runtime

The same compiler also emits JavaScript, WebAssembly and native code for Kotlin Multiplatform 25,990 (Kotlin Multiplatform). K2 has been its only frontend since Kotlin 2.0; the current release is 2.4.20 (7 September 2026), and 2.5.0 is due in December 2026.