Apple’s Swift programming language now supports Android with the official Swift 6.3 release, marking a major shift for developers who want to build apps across platforms without switching languages or workflows.
The update introduces the first official Swift SDK for Android, which allows developers to create native Android apps using Swift while also extending existing Swift projects to run on Android devices, making cross-platform development more practical for teams already invested in Apple’s ecosystem.
Swift expands beyond Apple platforms
According to the official Swift changelog:
“Swift 6.3 includes the first official release of the Swift SDK for Android. With this SDK, you can start developing native Android programs in Swift, update your Swift packages to support building for Android, and use Swift Java and Swift Java JNI Core to integrate Swift code into existing Android applications written in Kotlin/Java. This is a significant milestone that opens new opportunities for cross-platform development in Swift.”
This release brings direct support for integrating Swift into Android apps that already use Kotlin or Java, which means developers can reuse existing logic instead of rebuilding everything from scratch, and this approach saves time when maintaining apps across both iOS and Android platforms.
What this means for developers
Swift now stands as a more flexible option for teams that build apps for both ecosystems, especially when developers want to keep a single language across projects while still delivering native performance on Android devices.
Kotlin remains the primary language for Android development, but Swift’s entry introduces more choice and encourages cross-platform experimentation, especially for companies that already rely on Swift for iOS apps and want to expand their reach without changing their core stack.
The Swift community credits the Android Workgroup for pushing this effort forward, highlighting months of development work that helped move the SDK from early previews to a stable release, giving developers a clear starting point to explore Swift on Android.
