Android Studio
FreeGoogle's official IDE for building Android apps, based on IntelliJ with emulator and Gradle tooling.
About Android Studio
Android Studio is the official integrated development environment for Android app development. It is based on JetBrains' IntelliJ IDEA platform and adds an Android emulator, layout editor, profilers, a Gradle based build system and tools for Kotlin and Java.
It runs on Windows, macOS and Linux and is free to download. It includes templates, device emulators, code completion, lint checks, APK analysis and tools for publishing to Google Play. Newer versions include AI assistance features from Google. The software is distributed under the Android Software Development Kit licence agreement.
It suits Android developers, from beginners following codelabs to professional teams. It needs a fairly powerful machine, with plenty of memory and disk for the SDK and emulator images. No Google account is required to install it, though one is needed for publishing apps. If you use cross-platform frameworks, you may still need Android Studio for SDK management and emulators. Official documentation and codelabs from Google are built around it, which makes it the easiest route for following Android tutorials.
Allow plenty of RAM and disk space for emulators. Keep the SDK components updated alongside the IDE.
Version history
1 release tracked- Windows: Bug fixes and performance improvements
Frequently asked
Is Android Studio free?
Yes. It is free to download and use.
Does it need an account?
No account is needed to install. A Google Play developer account is for publishing.
Which platforms does it run on?
Windows, macOS and Linux.
Where does the download link go?
Directly to developer.android.com/studio or the official app store for your platform. PlanetSofts never rehosts installers or adds wrappers, and these links were last verified Oct 6, 2026.