Android Studio Will Be 64-Bit Only Going Forward

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.”

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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.

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Conversation 12 comments

  • arknu

    Premium Member
    11 June, 2019 - 3:10 pm

    <p>“<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Time to move to 64-bit, folks."</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Except if you're the Visual Studio team, in which case you will spend a lot of time writing long blog posts explaining why your IDE is still not 64-bit.</span></p>

    • kshsystems

      Premium Member
      11 June, 2019 - 5:07 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#434723">In reply to arknu:</a></em></blockquote><p>I have heard the visual studio team say before that they cannot move to 64 bit because of all the 3rd party plug in support, etc.</p><p><br></p><p>High time to realize that this kind of "compatibility" is holding them back.</p>

      • lvthunder

        Premium Member
        11 June, 2019 - 5:50 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#434738">In reply to kshsystems:</a></em></blockquote><p>Is it really holding them back? Has it been proven that 64 bit software is faster?</p>

        • wunderbar

          Premium Member
          11 June, 2019 - 8:12 pm

          <blockquote><em><a href="#434743">In reply to lvthunder:</a></em></blockquote><p>32 bit applications can only address 4GB of RAM, that's actually a huge issue when compiling code, especially on bigger projects.</p>

  • skane2600

    11 June, 2019 - 3:50 pm

    <p>Sounds like Google is still avoiding the more important issues with Android Studio in favor of implementing the easy and the flashy. I would love to see it rewritten in a non-Java language.</p>

    • Lateef Alabi-Oki

      11 June, 2019 - 8:49 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#434730">In reply to skane2600:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>That's insane.</p>

    • curtisspendlove

      13 June, 2019 - 12:10 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#434730">In reply to skane2600:</a></em></blockquote><p>Rewrite an entire IDE that has a counting half-life already? </p><p><br></p><p>Naw, just bring out Fuscia and whatever is next. Give people a reason to move away from Eclipse and its offspring. (I consider IntelliJ stuff a better Eclipse. I know it isn’t exactly, but the general principle stands.)</p>

      • skane2600

        13 June, 2019 - 1:00 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#435024">In reply to curtisspendlove:</a></em></blockquote><p>So what's Google's current IDE for developing Flutter apps? It's quite possible that java-based Android Studio will continue to be the IDE even as Fuscia becomes a real commercial thing. </p>

  • glenn8878

    11 June, 2019 - 4:01 pm

    <p>Windows 32 should be discontinued. I understand legacy support, but we a long past that.</p>

    • dontbe evil

      12 June, 2019 - 5:55 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#434734">In reply to glenn8878:</a></em></blockquote><p>People complained about uwp, imagine what happens if you ditch 32bit </p>

    • skane2600

      12 June, 2019 - 4:41 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#434734">In reply to glenn8878:</a></em></blockquote><p>I doubt that maintaining 32 bit Windows is all that much of a burden. </p>

  • DaveHelps

    Premium Member
    11 June, 2019 - 4:22 pm

    <p>Does that neatly rule out Windows on ARM?</p>

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