Xamarin Blog

An open source mobile platform for building Android, iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS apps with .NET.

Android - Xamarin Blog

Android Build Performance and Reliability

November 21, 2018 Nov 21, 2018 11/21/18
Jon Douglas
As a Xamarin developer working on Android apps, you may be well-aware of two issues that slow down your everyday development build times and the correctness of the build. If you aren't sure what the latter is, think back to the last time you had to manually remove your bin/obj folders within your project in order to fix a failure.

Protect your Xamarin.Android Apps at Runtime with Dotfuscator

October 12, 2018 Oct 12, 2018 10/12/18
Jayme Singleton
n a previous blog we discussed obfuscating your Xamarin application with Dotfuscator Community to protect it from reverse-engineering. That kind of protection is an important and necessary layer in your application's security posture, but it shouldn't be the only layer. The application also needs to react to threats at runtime in order to protect its own integrity, and to protect the data that it accesses.

Using the Android Designer Split View

September 24, 2018 Sep 24, 2018 09/24/18
Bret Johnson
The ability to see the design view and layout XML at the same time, side by side, was one of our most requested features for the Android Designer. With Split View, new in the Visual Studio 2017 version 15.8 release, you can switch back & forth freely between both modes of working. Edit the layout XML to see the changes immediately previewed in the designer or make changes in the designer and see the XML update.

Securing network traffic with TLS 1.2

August 7, 2018 Aug 7, 2018 08/7/18
Tom Opgenorth
Secure and encrypted network communications are a crucial part of mobile application development. Without some kind of security around the communication layer, it is trivial for a third party to eavesdrop and tamper with the messages between the client and the server. If protecting the data being transmitted is important, then some kind of cryptography must be involved to protect both the sender and the receiver from malicious eyes.

Announcing Xamarin.Android 9.0 (P) Preview

July 27, 2018 Jul 27, 2018 07/27/18
Jon Douglas
Android 9.0 (P) introduces many features such as Wi-Fi RTT(Round-Trip-Time), Display cutout support, Notification enhancements, Multi-camera support, and much more. We're excited to announce Xamarin.Android support for Android 9.0 (P) in our latest preview release of Xamarin.Android for both Visual Studio 2017 and Visual Studio for Mac.

Getting Android Apps Ready for Google Play’s Target API Level Requirements

June 21, 2018 Jun 21, 2018 06/21/18
James Montemagno
Starting this year, Google Play will roll out a new policy that impacts all Android developers submitting new apps and app updates. This blog post will ensure that your application is fully ready for these changes, which will require the targetSdkVersion to be set to Android 8.0 API level 26 or higher, when it goes into effect for new apps on August 1, 2018 and for app updates on November 1, 2018.

First Look: Xamarin Android Device Manager Preview

January 25, 2018 Jan 25, 2018 01/25/18
Nina Vyedin
With the release of SDK Tools 26, Google replaced the standalone UI for the SDK and Device Manager with a command line interface. In an effort to make Android component management accessible and easy to use, we have built our own versions of these important tools for Xamarin developers, starting with the SDK Manager last fall. Today, we’re excited to introduce a preview of Xamarin’s Android Device Manager, a new tool for creating, editing, and controlling Android virtual devices.