How to Build Android Apps Using Swift

A Step-by-Step Guide for Developers

For more than a decade, Swift has been the go-to language for building applications for Apple platforms such as iOS and macOS. In 2025, thanks to the new Swift SDK for Android, this powerful, safe, and high-performance language can now also be used to build Android applications.

This tutorial will take you from initial setup all the way to building and running your first Swift program on Android. We’ll cover installation, cross-compilation, execution on a device or emulator, and what comes next when building full Android apps.

📌 What Is the Swift SDK for Android?

The Swift SDK for Android is a set of tools that allows Swift code to be compiled into native Android binaries. Before this official SDK existed, running Swift on Android required third-party tools and unstable solutions. Now, Swift has first-class Android support backed by the Swift community.

The SDK includes:

• Android-specific Swift libraries
• Toolchains for multiple Android architectures (ARM, x86_64)
• Scripts to integrate Swift with the Android NDK

🧰 Prerequisites

To develop Android apps using Swift, you need:

🖥️ 1. A Development Host

The official SDK supports:

• macOS
• Linux

Windows is not yet fully supported.

📦 2. Required Tools

You will need:

• A Swift toolchain
• Android NDK (Native Development Kit)
• Android SDK and ADB (included in Android Studio)

📥 Step 1 — Install the Swift Toolchain

The easiest way to install Swift is by using swiftly, which manages Swift versions.

Example:

swiftly install main-snapshot-2025-12-17
swiftly use main-snapshot-2025-12-17
swiftly run swift --version

This ensures your Swift compiler matches the Android SDK version.

📦 Step 2 — Install the Swift SDK for Android

Download and install the Android SDK artifact:

swift sdk install https://download.swift.org/development/android-sdk/swift-DEVELOPMENT-SNAPSHOT-2025-12-17-a/swift-DEVELOPMENT-SNAPSHOT-2025-12-17-a_android.artifactbundle.tar.gz

Verify installation:

swiftly run swift sdk list

ou should see the Android SDK listed.

🛠️ Step 3 — Install the Android NDK

The Android NDK provides compilers and linkers for native code.

Example:

mkdir ~/android-ndk
cd ~/android-ndk
curl -fSLO https://dl.google.com/android/repository/android-ndk-r27d-$(uname -s).zip
unzip android-ndk-r27d-*.zip
export ANDROID_NDK_HOME=$PWD/android-ndk-r27d

Then link it to Swift:

cd ~/.swiftpm
./swift-sdks/swift-android/scripts/setup-android-sdk.sh

Now Swift knows where the Android toolchain is.

🧪 Step 4 — Your First Swift Program

Create a simple Swift package:

mkdir hello
cd hello
swiftly run swift package init --type executable

Test locally:

swiftly run swift build
.build/debug/hello

Output:

Hello, world!

🤖 Compile for Android

x86_64 (emulators)

swiftly run swift build --swift-sdk x86_64-unknown-linux-android28 --static-swift-stdlib

ARM64 (real devices)

 swiftly run swift build --swift-sdk aarch64-unknown-linux-android28 --static-swift-stdlib

📱 Run on Android

Push the binary to a device:

adb push .build/aarch64-unknown-linux-android28/debug/hello /data/local/tmp
adb push $ANDROID_NDK_HOME/toolchains/llvm/prebuilt/*/sysroot/usr/lib/aarch64-linux-android/libc++_shared.so /data/local/tmp
adb shell /data/local/tmp/hello

You’ll see:

Hello, world!

Congratulations — you ran Swift on Android!

👉 Building Real Android Apps

To build real apps with UI:

1. Compile Swift as a shared library (.so)

Instead of an executable, build Swift code as a dynamic library.

2. Call Swift from Kotlin or Java

Use:

• JNI (Java Native Interface)
• Or swift-java, which creates type-safe bridges

Your Android UI stays in Kotlin or Java, while business logic runs in Swift.

🧭 Best Practices

✔ Share Swift code between iOS and Android
✔ Use Android API 28+
✔ Join the Swift Android community

❗ Current Limitations

• UI must still be written in Kotlin/Java
• SwiftUI is not available on Android
• The SDK is still in preview

🏁 Conclusion

The Swift SDK for Android makes it possible to:

• Compile Swift for Android
• Run Swift on real devices
• Share business logic between platforms
• Build modern cross-platform apps

Swift is no longer limited to Apple — it’s now a powerful option for Android development too.

If you have any questions about this article, please contact me and I will be happy to help you 🙂. You can contact me on my X profile or on my Instagram profile.