Improvements to Adobe Experience Platform Android SDKs
In 2021, we made a major update to Adobe Experience Platform iOS SDKs by open-sourcing and rewriting all the extensions entirely in Swift. As part of this effort, we made significant improvements to architecture and redesigned APIs to simplify integration for our customers and partners. By making the iOS SDK extensions open source, we have noted generally positive reception, while providing greater transparency into SDK code. Consequently, we’ve seen participation with discussion and contributions from the community, which have helped us increase the overall quality of our SDKs.
Bringing improvements to Adobe Experience Platform Mobile SDK for Android
We wanted to bring similar benefits to our Android SDK extensions and began with identifying a list of enhancements. Unlike our approach with the iOS SDK extensions, we decided against a complete rewrite and instead focused on only making necessary changes to improve our existing code. Given that Kotlin is now the preferred language for Android development, we made the decision to use it as the primary language for any new features. We also opted for Kotlin due to its concise syntax, improved null safety, and full interoperability with Java — all of which made it easier to integrate with our existing code.
Goals
Our primary objective was to ensure a seamless experience for our customers when upgrading to the latest Android SDK extensions, while minimizing significant changes to existing integrations. With this in mind, we established the following goals:
- Incorporate architecture improvements related to event processing, extension lifecycle, and rules engine.
- Use Kotlin as the primary language for any new features.
- Expose utilities and services from Android Core SDK extension to make it simpler to build other extensions.
- Migrate from using the Android Support Library to AndroidX.
- Open source and coordinate a single release for all our Android SDK extensions.
- Enhance the release workflows and implement stricter CI checks.
Upgrade to the latest Adobe Experience Platform Mobile SDK for Android
We accomplished the goals and successfully released new major versions of all our Android SDK extensions. The Android extensions are now fully open source!
We invite you to check out our new repos listed below to read up on the features, or maybe even drop us a pull request.
To upgrade your Android application to use the latest Adobe Experience Platform Mobile SDK for Android, follow the steps outlined below:
- Open the mobile property configured in the Data Collection UI for your application. Then navigate to the Extensions tab and upgrade all the extensions to the latest version.
2. The install instructions will now show the dependencies for the latest Android SDK extensions.
Should you face any challenges during the upgrade process, please consult our FAQ page. You may also ask questions or open issues, as needed, in our GitHub repos for further assistance.
References
- Adobe Experience Platform Mobile SDKs Move to Swift for iOS
- Documentation for Adobe Experience Platform Mobile SDKs
Android SDK Extension Repositories
- aepsdk-core-android: Android Core SDK extension to allow for configuration access to default lifecycle events and conditions.
- aepsdk-edge-android: Extension that allows for sending XDM formatted data to Adobe Experience Cloud solutions, by leveraging Edge Network capabilities.
- aepsdk-edgeconsent-android: Extension that enables consent preferences collection when sending data to the Experience Platform Edge Network.
- aepsdk-edgeidentity-android: Extension that enables identity management when sending data to the Experience Platform Edge Network.
- aepsdk-messaging-android: Extension that powers push notifications and in-app messages for your mobile apps.
- aepsdk-optimize-android: Extension that enables real-time personalization workflows using Adobe Target or Adobe Journey Optimizer Offer Decisioning.
- aepsdk-assurance-android: Extension that help you inspect, proof, simulate, and validate how you collect data or serve experiences in your mobile apps.
- aepsdk-analytics-android: Extension for Adobe Analytics built to understand your customers as people and steer your business with customer intelligence.
- aepsdk-audience-android: Extension for Adobe Audience Manager which enables data DMP use cases.
- aepsdk-media-android: Extension that enables powerful measurement tools for audio, video, and advertisements.
- aepsdk-target-android: Extension to tailor and personalize your customers’ experience on mobile application with Adobe Target.
- aepsdk-userprofile-android: Extension to provide client-side store referenceable in rules by Adobe Experience Platform Launch.
