Google announced today that the future versions of Android Studio and its Android emulators will only support 64-bit OSes. This change mostly impacts Windows.

“We will only support 64-bit operating systems going forward,” Google’s Sam Lin announced. “Using Android Studio with a 64-bit operating system enables efficient access to memory for both the IDE and the Android Emulator, and overall leads to a better development experience. While this change will not affect most Android Studio users, this change does have an impact if you use 32-bit versions of Microsoft Windows.”

The transition to a 64-bit only future is part of Google’s Project Marble initiative, by which it is focusing on fundamental performance and reliability improvements in a product that, frankly, has never been marked by good performance or reliability. But the move to a 64-bit only code base is, if anything, overdue. Most developers are using 64-bit OSes already.

For those hardy few still using 32-bit OSes, mostly Windows, Google will move to 64-bit fully over time. Android Studio 3.6 will be available in deprecated form on 32-bit OSes starting December 31, 2019, and will be supported for one year after that. The late 32-bit version of the Android Emulator, version 28.0.25, will likewise be deprecated starting on June 30, 2019, and will be supported until December 31, 2020.

“During the depreciation phase, both Android Studio and the Android Emulator will continue to work but the products will not receive new feature updates,” Lin continues. “During this transition period, you can still download the product from the Android Studio web site. After one year, we will officially end product support and will remove the 32-bit product version download links.”’

Time to move to 64-bit, folks.

Tagged with Android Studio