jetc.dev Newsletter Issue #259

Published: 2025-04-01

We got another small RC of Compose 1.8.0 and some other updates, so let’s take a look!

We also explore Media3’s nascent Compose support, animateBounds(), and implementing custom modifiers using Modifier.Node. Plus, we see another attempt at implementing rich text editing, along with some UI that its developer says is useless.

Ooooo… What Did We Get?

Reviewing the release notes for the latest Jetpack Compose update!

The Compose BOMs are up to 2025.03.01. The BOM mapping page does not know about it. 🤷🏻

The main Compose artifacts are up to 1.8.0-rc02, as we inch closer to a stable release. A bug related to focused composables being removed from lazy lists was fixed. And that appears to be about it.

Compose Material3 is up to 1.4.0-alpha11, with some changes and removals tied to FloatingToolbar(), among other minor changes.

Wear Compose is up to 1.5.0-alpha02, mostly focused on SwipeToReveal() fixes.

And, we got a series of updates to Compose-adjacent libraries, including:

• androidx.activity:activity-compose:1.11.0-alpha02
• androidx.lifecycle:lifecycle-runtime-compose:2.9.0-alpha13
• androidx.lifecycle:lifecycle-runtime-compose-android:2.9.0-alpha13
• androidx.lifecycle:lifecycle-runtime-compose-jvmstubs:2.9.0-alpha13
• androidx.lifecycle:lifecycle-runtime-compose-linuxx64stubs:2.9.0-alpha13
• androidx.lifecycle:lifecycle-viewmodel-compose:2.9.0-alpha13
• androidx.lifecycle:lifecycle-viewmodel-compose-android:2.9.0-alpha13
• androidx.lifecycle:lifecycle-viewmodel-compose-desktop:2.9.0-alpha13
• androidx.media3:media3-ui-compose:1.6.0
• androidx.navigation:navigation-compose:2.9.0-alpha09
• androidx.navigation:navigation-compose-android:2.9.0-alpha09
• androidx.navigation:navigation-compose-jvmstubs:2.9.0-alpha09
• androidx.navigation:navigation-compose-linuxx64stubs:2.9.0-alpha09
• androidx.navigation:navigation-fragment-compose:2.9.0-alpha09
• androidx.savedstate:savedstate-compose:1.3.0-alpha11
• androidx.savedstate:savedstate-compose-android:1.3.0-alpha11
• androidx.savedstate:savedstate-compose-jvmstubs:1.3.0-alpha11
• androidx.savedstate:savedstate-compose-linuxx64stubs:1.3.0-alpha11

More on that media3-ui-compose artifact later in the issue!

One Off the Stack, One Off the Slack

You’ve got questions. That’s understandable!

How Can I Love Previews Just a Bit Less?

Android Studio sometimes really wants you to view Compose previews… even when the file you are editing does not contain any composables. See where in Settings to adjust this behavior in this week’s highlighted Stack Overflow question.

Does My Switch() Have to be Purple?

Working with Compose Material3 themes can be tricky, especially for composables with a variety of states. Between colors and tints, getting what you want may not be as straightforward as you might think. See why Switch() might appear purple instead of gray, and how to address that, in this week’s highlighted Kotlinlang #compose Slack thread.

Composable Commentary

Posts, videos, and other new information related to Jetpack Compose!

Media3 1.6.0 — what’s new?

Google’s Andrew Lewis gives us a quick rundown of what is in Media3’s 1.6.0 release. Of note to Compose for Android developers is media3-ui-compose, which is beginning the process of offering composable UI elements for media playback.

3 neat animations you can create with Modifier.animateBounds

TJ Dahunsi provides us with a deep dive on animateBounds(), with examples of transitioning between layouts within a screen, such as a notification-style panel expanding into a list and a SplitLayout()-based column pair with swappable content.

Medium: Improving the Modal Bottom Sheet API in Jetpack Compose

Joost Klitsie, like others, really dislikes the ModalBottomSheet() API, such as its imbalanced animations for in and out transitions. In this post, Joost creates a couple of AnimatedBottomSheet() wrappers for ModalBottomSheet(), including one that uses a nullable sealed interface parameter to transition the sheet between different contents or eventually close the sheet.

Medium: Level Up Your Compose Modifiers: Mastering the Node API

The Modifier.Node API is the recommended approach for most custom modifiers, yet its API is rather confusing. Siddharth Gupta walks us through the development of a trackVisibility() modifier, showing the use of Modifier.Node, GlobalPositionAwareModifierNode, ModifierNodeElement, and more.

Compose for Desktop: App size comparison

Colton Idle held a “bake-off” of different ways to compile and package a Compose for Desktop app and shows the results for the resulting app and its ZIP packaged form. The goal: minimize the app size!

Open the default browser across platforms

Thomas Künneth (Bluesky) shows how to create a Kotlin Multiplatform openInBrowser() function, with iOS, Android, and desktop implementations. Thomas then shows how to use that function from a Compose Multiplatform UI to open a Web browser on an arbitrary URL.

Video: Redefine Possible: Unleashing the Power of Jetpack Compose

Selen Demir provides an overview of Compose UI, from first principles through practical implementations.

Other Interesting Links

• Advanced Jetpack Compose Previews
• Medium: Building a Material You ADB File Manager with Compose Desktop
• Medium: How to Automatically Test Jetpack Compose Navigation
• Medium: Jetpack Compose Modifier Extensions: The Secret to Clean & Reusable UI Code
• Medium: Managing States in Jetpack Compose: A Beginner’s Guide
• Medium: Recomposition vs Invalidation: How Jetpack Compose Changes the Game
• Medium: Stale Closure — The State Capture Issue
• Migration of an iOS/Android Application to Kotlin Multiplatform: Methodology and Key Steps
• State Management Patterns in Jetpack Compose

Resource Roundup

100% pure code!

GitHub: Wavesonics / ComposeTextEditorLibrary

Adam Brown is trying again to create a rich text editor for Compose Multiplatform. Previous attempts were made using BasicTextField() as a foundation — this time, Adam is trying to build one from scratch.

GitHub: zahid4kh / compose-alert-kit

GitHub user zahid4kh brings us a library to display toasts, snackbars, and simple types of modal dialogs, with the library managing the state for those components and giving you stock implementations of their UI.

GitHub: seanKenkeremath / useless-ui

Sean Kenkeremath is building a set of libraries for implementing “fun, but probably useless UI components”. The initial offerings are ShatterableLayout() and ShatterPager(), which blow up your composable, scattering shards everywhere.

Other Interesting Links

• GitHub: DongChyeon / TimePicker (English/Korean time picker)
• GitHub: CookieDinner / SimplePager (data paging implementation)
• GitHub: t895 / MaterialSwitch (Compose Multiplatform implementation of Material3 Switch())
• GitHub: tmfrl1590 / JetpackComposeLoadingBar (loading animations)