Android users are familiar with the usual game. A cool app launches on the iPhone first, and the Android version either takes months to hit the Play Store or never arrives at all. But Google may have a new way to make that wait shorter. At Google I/O 2026, the company previewed a new Migration Assistant inside Android Studio, designed to help developers port existing apps from platforms like iOS, React Native, and web frameworks into native Android apps.
How this could speed up Android ports
The Migration Assistant works by letting developers select an existing project and hand it over to an AI agent inside Android Studio. Google’s new tool can intelligently map features, convert assets like storyboards and SVGs, and rebuild the app using Android best practices.
This isn’t just a crude code converter spitting out messy Android files. The company claims that the tool uses Jetpack Compose and recommended Jetpack libraries, meaning the goal is a proper native Android app rather than a half-baked port.
The aim is to make the workflow of turning what used to take weeks of manual porting into a process that takes hours. That can be huge for smaller teams that often prioritize iOS first because of time, cost, or limited engineering bandwidth.
Why this is great for developers
While the appeal for regular Android users is obvious, developers benefit even more. They can convert iOS apps faster, with the Android version arriving sooner and possibly being more polished from day one. Picture a niche app or some kind of nifty indie tool that’s out of reach on Android. Migration Assistant is helping bridge that gap. Google also highlighted Notability’s Android debut elsewhere in its I/O developer roundup as an example of a premium productivity app built for Android using Jetpack Compose, Navigation 3, and Kotlin Multiplatform.
The Migration Assistant is a part of Google’s broader Android developer push around AI agents, making tedious parts of app development easier. Developers still need to test and polish the final product, but this does add some convenience.
