The Android world is full of great people that built great stuff and published it for saving other a lot of time. In this talk, we’ll go over a list of must-have libraries, tools, and resources every Android developer should know to make their Android development much easier and help them build better apps in less time.

1. ANDROID
DEVELOPER
TOOLBOX

2. Shem Magnezi
@shemag8 • shem8.github.com

3. New
Developers

4. Libraries
Resources
Tools

5. Libraries

6. Why?

7. Outsource your
problems

8. Help the
community

9. Why not?

10. Legal issues

11. Old / Buggy
code

12. App size

13. Don’t
outsource your
core logic

14. Basics

15. Support
Library
Provide backward
compatible versions
of Android
framework APIs
- ActivityCompat
- FragmentActivity
- ContextCompat
- IntentCompat
- Loader
- RecyclerView
- ViewPager
- GridLayout
- PercentFrameLayout
- DrawerLayout
- SwipeRefreshLayout
- CardView
- AppCompatDialogFragment
- CoordinatorLayout
- AppBarLayout
- FloatingActionButton
- TabLayout
- Snackbar
- VectorDrawableCompat
...developer.android.com/topic/libraries/s
upport-library

16. Google
Play
Services
take advantage of the
latest, Google-
powered features
with automatic
platform updates
distributed as an APK
through the Google
Play store.
- Google+
- Google Account
- Google Action
- Google Sign
- Google Analytics
- Google Awareness
- Google Cast
- Google Cloud
- Google Drive
- Google Fit
- Google Location
- Google Maps
- Google Places
- Mobile Vision
- Google Nearby
- Google Panorama
- Google Play
- Android Pay
- Android Wear
...developer.android.com/topic/libraries/s
upport-library

17. Network

18. Moshi
A modern JSON
library for Android
and Java.
MyObj item = new MyObj(...);
Moshi moshi =
new Moshi.Builder().build();
JsonAdapter<MyObj> adapter =
moshi.adapter(MyObj.class);
adapter.toJson(item);
adapter.fromJson(jsonStr);
github.com/square/moshi

19. OkHttp3
An HTTP & SPDY
client for Android and
Java applications
OkHttpClient client =
new OkHttpClient();
Request request =
new Request.Builder()
.url(url)
.build();
Response response =
client.newCall(request)
.execute();
return response.body().string();
square.github.io/okhttp

20. Retrofit
A type-safe HTTP
client for Android and
Java
public interface GitHub {
@GET("users/{user}/repos")
Call<List<Repo>> repos(
@Path("user") String user);
}
Retrofit retrofit =
new Retrofit.Builder()
.baseUrl("https://api.github.com")
.build();
GitHub service =
retrofit.create(GitHub.class);
Call<List<Repo>> repos =
service.repos("octocat");
square.github.io/retrofit

21. Persistency

22. Room
Abstraction layer over
SQLite to allow fluent
database access
while harnessing the
full power of SQLite.
@Entity
public class User {
@PrimaryKey
private int uid;
@ColumnInfo(name = "first_name")
private String firstName;
}
@Dao
public interface UserDao {
@Insert
Void insertAll(User… users);
@Query("SELECT * FROM user
WHERE uid IN (:userIds)")
List<User> loadAllByIds(
int[] userIds);
}
developer.android.com/training/data-
storage/room/index.html

23. Object
Box
The easy object-
oriented database for
small devices
BoxStore boxStore =
MyObjectBox.builder()
.androidContext(...)
.build();
Box<Person> box =
boxStore.boxFor(Person.class);
Person person =
new Person("Joe", "Green");
// Create
long id = box.put(person);
// Read
Person person = box.get(id);
// Update
person.setLastName("Black");
box.put(person);
// Delete
box.remove(person);
github.com/objectbox/objectbox-java

24. Room
Object
Box
Support Speed

25. Realm
A mobile database
that runs directly
inside phones, tablets
or wearables
github.com/realm/realm-java
class Dog extends RealmObject {
private String name;
}
Realm realm =
Realm.getDefaultInstance();
Dog dog = new Dog();
dog.setName("Rex");
realm.beginTransaction();
realm.copyToRealm(dog);
realm.commitTransaction();
Dog dog =
realm.where(Dog.class)
.equalTo("name", "Rex")
.findFirst();

26. Images

28. Glide
An image loading
and caching library
for Android focused
on smooth scrolling
github.com/bumptech/glide
GlideApp.with(cx)
.load(url)
.into(imageView);
GlideApp.with(cx)
.load(url)
.centerCrop()
.placeholder(R.drawable.ph)
.into(imageView);

29. Picasso
A powerful image
downloading and
caching library for
Android
square.github.io/picasso
Picasso.with(context)
.load(url)
.resize(50, 50)
.centerCrop()
.into(imageView);
Picasso.with(context)
.load(url)
.placeholder(R.drawable.ph)
.error(R.drawable.error)
.into(imageView);

30. Glide Picasso
More
features
Small

31. UI

32. Material
Intro
A simple material
design app intro
with cool
animations and a
fluent API.
github.com/heinrichreimer/material-
intro

33. Toasty
The usual Toast, but
with steroids.
github.com/GrenderG/Toasty

34. Coordinator
Tab Layout
Custom composite
control that quickly
implements the
combination of
TabLayout and
CoordinatorLayout.
github.com/hugeterry/CoordinatorTabL
ayout

35. Shimmer
Recycler
View
A custom recycler
view with shimmer
views to indicate
that views are
loading.
github.com/sharish/ShimmerRecyclerVi
ew

36. Ultimate
Recycler
View
A RecyclerView
with
refreshing,loading
more,animation
and many other
features.
github.com/cymcsg/UltimateRecyclerVi
ew

37. Photo
View
Implementation of
ImageView for
Android that
supports zooming,
by various touch
gestures.
github.com/chrisbanes/PhotoView

38. Dialog
Plus
Advanced dialog
solution for android
github.com/orhanobut/dialogplus

39. William
Chart
Android library to
create charts.
github.com/diogobernardino/WilliamC
hart

41. Utils

42. Parceler
Android Parcelables
made easy through
code generation.
@Parcel
public class Example {
String name;
int age;
/* Constructors, getters, etc. */
}
Bundle bundle = new Bundle();
bundle.putParcelable(
"key",
Parcels.wrap(example));
Example example = Parcels.unwrap(
this.getIntent()
.getParcelableExtra("key"));
github.com/johncarl81/parceler

43. Icepick
Android library that
eliminates the
boilerplate of saving
and restoring
instance state.
// This will be automatically saved and
restored
@State String username;
@Override public void onCreate(Bundle state) {
...
Icepick.restoreInstanceState(this, state);
}
@Override public void
onSaveInstanceState(Bundle outState) {
...
Icepick.saveInstanceState(this, outState);
}
github.com/frankiesardo/icepick

44. Timber
A logger with a small,
extensible API which
provides utility on top
of Android's normal
Log class.
github.com/JakeWharton/timber
@Override
public void onCreate() {
super.onCreate();
if (BuildConfig.DEBUG)
Timber.plant(
new DebugTree());
else
Timber.plant(
new NotLoggingTree());
}
Timber.v("some verbose logs here");

45. Joda time
Joda-Time is the
widely used
replacement for the
Java date and time
classes.
DateTime datetime = ... ;
datetime.getMonthOfYear();
datetime.getDayOfMonth();
LocalDate fromDate = ... ;
LocalDate newYear =
fromDate.plusYears(1)
.withDayOfYear(1);
Days.daysBetween(fromDate, newYear);
dateOfBirth.monthOfYear()
.getAsText(Locale.ENGLISH);
github.com/JodaOrg/joda-time

46. ThreeTen
ABP
An adaptation of the
JSR-310 backport for
Android.
LocalDateTime ldt =
LocalDateTime.now();
int ld = ldt.getDayOfMonth();
int lm = ldt.getMonthValue();
int ly = ldt.getYear();
ldt.withYear(2000);
ldt.plusHours(2);
ldt = LocalDateTime
.of(2005, 3, 26, 12, 0, 0, 0);
ldt.plusDays(1);
ldt.plus(24,ChronoUnit.HOURS);
github.com/JakeWharton/ThreeTenAB
P

47. Joda Time
ThreeTen
ABP
More
options
Size

48. Event Bus
Event bus for Android
that simplifies
communication
between Activities,
Fragments, Threads,
etc.
greenrobot.org/eventbus/
public class Event {
public final String message;
...
}
EventBus.getDefault()
.register(this);
@Subscribe
public void onEvent(Event event) {
// Handle event
}
EventBus.getDefault()
.post(new Event(...));

49. TextView view = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.view);

50. Butter
Knife
Field and method
binding for Android
views
jakewharton.github.io/butterknife/
@BindView(R.id.view)
TextView view;
@BindString(R.string.title)
String title;
@OnClick(R.id.submit)
public void submit() {
// Handle click
}
@Override
public void onCreate(...) {
...
ButterKnife.bind(this);
}

51. Android
Annotations
Fast Android
Development. Easy
maintenance.
github.com/excilys/androidannotations
@EActivity(R.layout.activty)
public class MyActivity extends
Activity {
@ViewById
EditText textInput;
@AnimationRes
Animation fadeIn;
@Click
void doTranslate(...) { ... }
@Background
void runOnBackground(...) { ... }
@UiThread
void runOnUI(...) { ... }
}

52. Firebase
Job
Dispatcher
A library for
scheduling
background jobs in
your Android app. It
provides a
JobScheduler-
compatible API.
github.com/firebase/firebase-
jobdispatcher-android
Job myJob =
dispatcher.newJobBuilder()
.setService(MyJobService.class)
.setTag("my-unique-tag")
.setRecurring(false)
.setLifetime(UNTIL_NEXT_BOOT)
.setReplaceCurrent(false)
.setConstraints(
ON_UNMETERED_NETWORK,
DEVICE_CHARGING
)
.setExtras(extrasBundle)
.build();
dispatcher.mustSchedule(myJob);

53. Dagger2
A fast dependency
injector for Android
and Java
github.com/google/dagger/
class CoffeeMaker {
@Inject Heater heater;
}
@Module
class DripCoffeeModule {
@Provides Heater
provideHeater() {
return new ElectricHeater();
}
}
ObjectGraph.create(
new DripCoffeeModule());

54. RxJava
&
RxAndroid
A library for
composing
asynchronous and
event-based
programs using
observable
sequences
github.com/ReactiveX/RxJava
github.com/ReactiveX/RxAndroid
Observable.just(items)
.subscribeOn(
Schedulers.newThread())
.observeOn(
AndroidSchedulers
.mainThread())
.subscribe(/* an Observer */);

55. WAKE UP

56. Tools

57. Layout
Inspector
Inspect your app's
view hierarchy at
runtime from
within the Android
Studio IDE.
developer.android.com/studio/debug/la
yout-inspector.html

58. Memory
Profiler
Helps you identify
memory leaks and
memory churn that
can lead to stutter,
freezes, and even
app crashes.
https://developer.android.com/studio/pr
ofile/memory-profiler.html

59. CPU
Profiler
Inspect your app’s
CPU usage and
thread activity in
real-time, and
record method
traces.
developer.android.com/studio/profile/cp
u-profiler.html

60. Network
Profiler
displays real time
network activity on
a timeline, showing
data sent and
received, as well as
the current number
of connections.
developer.android.com/studio/profile/n
etwork-profiler.html

61. The
Monkey
Generates pseudo-
random streams of
user events
https://developer.android.com/studio/te
st/monkey.html
adb shell monkey
-p your.package.name
-v 500

62. Developer
options
Realtime on device
debugging.
https://developer.android.com/studio/d
ebug/dev-options.html

63. Stetho
A debug bridge for
Android
applications
http://facebook.github.io/stetho/

64. Shape
Shifter
Web-app that
simplifies the
creation of icon
animations for
Android, iOS, and
the web.
shapeshifter.design/

65. Lottie
Parses Adobe After
Effects animations
exported as json
with Bodymovin
and renders them
natively on mobile.
airbnb.io/lottie

66. ALMOST
THERE

67. Resources

68. Android
Arsenal
A categorized
directory of libraries
and tools for
Android
android-arsenal.com

69. Android
library
statistics
Insights on what Ad
Networks, Social
SDKs and
developer tools are
present in Android
apps and what their
market shares are.
www.appbrain.com/stats/librarie

70. Android
Developers
Blog
The latest Android
and Google Play
news for app and
game developers.
android-developers.blogspot.co.il

71. Android
Developers
Backstage
A podcast by and
for Android
developers, Hosted
by developers from
the Android
engineering team.
androidbackstage.blogspot.co.il

72. Android
Weekly
A free newsletter
that helps you to
stay cutting-edge
with your Android
Development.
androidweekly.net

73. QUESTIONS?
@shemag8 • shem8.github.com