Apple's Swift programming language can now be used to develop for Android, and share code with iOS apps.
Swift was launched by Apple in 2014 — although it had secretly been in development since 2010. It's a programming language that was aimed at developing iPhone apps, but in 2015, Apple made it open source.
Since then, it has been becoming particularly popular because it is a lightweight and fast language. It also compiles data much quicker than Objective-C, the language developers used before.
Now the independent Android Workgroup has announced the launch of the Swift SDK for Android. There are now preview releases being built every night.
"This milestone reflects months of effort by the Android workgroup, building on many years of grassroots community effort," says the group. "With the SDK, developers can begin developing Android applications in Swift, opening new avenues for cross-platform development and accelerating innovation across the mobile ecosystem."
The group describes Swift as having matured over the last ten years, and already spread to being used in browsers, Windows apps, and cloud services. And the group highlights how Swift's interoperability means that the same code can be shared across platforms.
It was already possible to use Swift to develop Android apps, but until now it was not as straightforward as it is for iOS. The new Android Workgroup — formed in June 2025 — aims to develop and improve tools "to aid the Android experience."
With this new Swift SDK for Android, developers can port their apps over to the platform. The SDK is available now, and available for macOS, Linux, and Windows.
