10 Best Android Development Courses for 2024
Want to build an Android app?
With how quickly the platform evolves, finding the right Android development course can be tough, especially if you’re a beginner. Look at the transition from using XML to Jetpack Compose, for example. What you learn today might be deprecated tomorrow.
That’s why I made this Best Courses Guide. To help you navigate through the options, I’ve put together a list of the best free and paid Android development courses for 2024. To the best of my ability, I’ve picked courses that target Android 8.0+ and follow Google’s recommendation of using Jetpack Compose, but I’ve also included a few courses that teach dated but still prevalent topics.
Click on the shortcuts for more details:
Here are my top picks. Click on one to skip to the course details:
| Course Highlight | Workload |
| Best Free Official Courses (Android) | 107 hours |
| Best Freemium Course for Complete Beginners (JetBrains Academy) | 73 hours |
| Best Free Zero to Hero Course for Beginners (The Android Factory) | 50+ hours |
| Best Paid Nanodegree (Udacity) | 4 months |
| Best Free Android Fundamentals Course (Philipp Lackner) | 3–4 hours |
| Best Paid Book (Kodeco) | 271 pages |
| Best Paid Course for Unit Testing (Vasiliy Zukanov) | 5.5 hours |
| Best Paid Course for Kotlin Coroutines (Vasiliy Zukanov) | 12 hours |
| Best Paid Hands-On MVVM Project (Stefan Jovanovic) | 10.5 hours |
| Best Free Course for Java Developers (Caleb Curry) | 4 hours |
Courses Overview
- Five of the courses are free or free-to-audit while the rest are paid.
Best Free Official Courses (Android)
The best place to learn Android development is the official Android documentation and resources, all of which are completely free.
Why?
- Comprehensive: From beginner to advanced, virtually everything you need to know about Android development is here
- Up-to-date: Android is notorious for its rapid development and deprecation of features. Learning from the official resources means that you’ll use the latest features and tools Android has to offer
- Codelabs: These are self-paced coding tutorials where you’ll be provided instructions and example code to follow. Some codelabs are interactive, some are not, but all are hands-on.
And so, I recommend that you start with Google’s beginner-level course, Android Basics with Compose. It has over 100 hours worth of learning material, and best of all, you don’t need any experience with programming or Android development whatsoever.
You’ll build a series of apps following Google’s recommendation of tools for modern Android development: Jetpack Compose, Kotlin, and Material Design. These won’t be boring either — you’ll learn from watching their energetic videos and working on their engaging codelabs, all while earning Google Developer badges to gamify your learning experience.
Composed (get it?) of 8 units in total, in this course, you’ll cover:
- Kotlin programming fundamentals:
- Learn the basics of Kotlin programming language, including variables, data types, conditionals, functions, classes, and object-oriented programming concepts
- Building Android app UI:
- With Android Studio, create simple to complex user interfaces using Jetpack Compose, learn how to display text, images, buttons, and lists, and implement Material Design principles for beautiful and intuitive apps
- App architecture and navigation:
- Understand modern Android app architecture, use ViewModels and StateFlow to manage app state, and implement navigation between different screens using the Navigation component
- Fetching and displaying data:
- Learn how to retrieve data from the internet using Retrofit, display images using the Coil library, write SQL queries and store data locally using Room database and DataStore, and perform background tasks with WorkManager
- Interoperability between Views and Compose:
- Discover how to use the older View-based UI toolkit alongside Jetpack Compose in the same app, allowing for gradual adoption of Compose and integration with existing libraries and components.
Once you’ve got the basics down, explore the more advanced courses such as:
- Modern Android App Architecture: Learn about best practices and recommended Architecture (involving the UI, Data, and Domain layers) for building robust, production-quality apps.
- Make your Android app more accessible: Learn the accessibility principles that make a big difference to your users, including color contrast, touch target size, and content labeling.
Quick disclaimer: If you have not written a single line of code before, you should probably supplement this course with the next one, as it’s more interactive.
| Institution | |
| Provider | Independent |
| Instructors | Daniel Galpin, Kat Kuan, and Meghan Mehta, Murat Yener, and Angie Sasmita |
| Prerequisites | None |
| Workload | 107 hours |
| Cost | Free |
| Certificate | None, but there are badges |
Best Freemium Course for Complete Beginners (JetBrains Academy)
First time programming? Start with JetBrain’s Android Developer with Kotlin course for free!
Hyperskill is an online project-based learning platform made by JetBrains (the company behind IntelliJ IDE, the most popular code editor among Java and Kotlin developers).
What I love the most about Hyperskill are its engaging, interactive coding exercises; if you haven’t coded before, these are a godsend for testing your understanding. And while you can work on them directly in the browser, I encourage you to install their integrated plugin for IntelliJ IDEA and solve it through their code editor instead. It’ll help you get used to the workflow of a professional developer.
And if you already have some programming experience, don’t worry — their skill placement tests ensure that you’ll skip any topics you already know.
So what will you learn in the 73-hour Android Developer with Kotlin pathway?
- Create and run an Android app, either on an emulator or a real device
- Design UIs with Android Views
- Store data locally or access it from remote sources
- Build dynamic UIs and navigation graphs with Fragments
- Use tools like Java and Kotlin libraries
- Work with professional development tools like Android Studio
- Testing.
One downside of this pathway is that you won’t learn Jetpack Compose (they are currently looking for content creators). Instead, you’ll be designing UIs the traditional way using the Android View system and XML. But since XML is still extensively used, it’s not a waste of time to learn it.
All the features I’ve mentioned above, except for the real-world projects, are part of the free plan, which is pretty generous. But if you want access to the 300+ portfolio projects, unlimited trials to solve problems, as well as a certificate of completion, I recommend you invest in their premium subscription plan.
Additionally if you need help, you can join Hyperskill’s official Discord.
| Institution | JetBrains Academy |
| Provider | Hyperskill |
| Prerequisites | None |
| Workload | 73 hours |
| Enrollments | 8K |
| Rating | 4.5/5.0 |
| Cost | Free/Paid Subscription |
| Certificate | Paid |
Best Free Zero to Hero Course for Beginners (The Android Factory)
If you’re looking for a YouTube series for beginners, The Android Factories’s playlists are some of the best for learning Kotlin mobile development.
You’ll not only learn the basics of Kotlin and Jetpack Compose, you’ll also explore popular Kotlin libraries and modules like Hilt, Retrofit, Room, LiveData, Ktor, and more — all of which are up-to-date.
Composed of 15 seasons with over 50+ hours of content in total, you’ll:
- Get comfy with Android Studio
- Get used to version control with Git and GitHub
- Explore Jetpack Navigation Components by creating a simple travel-based app
- Learn Room with a ToDo List, Retrofit with a Rick and Morty API, LiveData with a Digital Clock, Hilt with a NFT app
- Pick up the MVVM and MVI patterns
- Build three complete apps where you’ll combine everything you’ve learned: A slack clone, a quotes app, and an improved Rick and Morty multi-module app.
| Channel | The Android Factory |
| Provider | YouTube |
| Instructor | Domenic Polidoro |
| Prerequisites | Basic programming experience |
| Workload | 50+ hours |
| Cost | Free |
| Certificate | None |
Best Paid Nanodegree (Udacity)
If you’re serious about getting a job as an Android developer, and have the funds to support your education, then Udacity’s Android Kotlin Developer Nanodegree Program is the best paid course for you.
It’s 4 months long, and covers everything you need to know about Android development (XML, Retrofit, Firebase, Coroutines, etc) to get employed — no programming knowledge required.
What makes it worth its price?
- Comprehensive:
- You’ll learn the ins and outs of Android development. Without any knowledge of programming whatsoever, by the end of the course you’ll have understood Android theory and practice
- While it doesn’t seem to include Jetpack Compose, XML is still widespread and Compose is easy to pickup, so it’s not a concern
- Up-to-date:
- Project-Based Learning:
- You’ll work on multiple projects that’ll be graded by expert reviewers
- Mentor Support:
- The real value from this course is not only the hands-on experience of doing projects, but also what comes after – code reviews
- You’ll get expert advice from experienced Android developers, so you’ll be able to quickly learn from mistakes and follow best practices
- Community:
- You’ll get to join a Slack community filled with fellow course-takers.
For further social proof, you can also check out the numerous satisfactory reviews from graduates on r/AndroidDev.
| Institution | Udacity |
| Provider | Udacity |
| Instructors | Chet Hasse, Dan Galpin, Murat Yener, Sean McQuillan, Aleks Haecky, Caren Chang, Asser Samak, Lyla Fujiwara, Meghan Mehta, Joshua Donlan, Mohamed Habib, Aida Issayeva, Jesus Valdez, Kevin Moore |
| Prerequisites | None |
| Workload | 4 months |
| Rating | 4.5/5.0 (311) |
| Cost | Paid |
| Certificate | Paid |
Best Free Android Fundamentals Course (Philipp Lackner)
Understanding the core Android concepts used in native development will come a long way to making you a better Android developer, and that’s exactly what you’ll learn in Philipp Lackner’s free YouTube playlist, Android Basics 2024.
Assuming that you’ll develop apps with Jetpack Compose, you’ll cover:
- Activities & Lifecycle: Understanding activities, their lifecycle, and handling state changes
- ViewModels & Configuration Changes: Using ViewModels to preserve data during configuration changes
- Intents & Intent Filters: Communication between components using intents and defining intent filters
- Foreground Services & WorkManager: Creating and managing foreground services and scheduling background work
- Content Providers & URIs: Implementing content providers for data sharing and working with URIs
Philipp is a popular educational YouTuber, and you can find other great courses from him on Kotlin and Jetpack Compose, such as:
- Jetpack Compose Beginner Crash Course: Learn the basics of Jetpack Compose in under an hour
- UX with Material3: Explore the various UI components available to you in Material3.
| Channel | Philipp Lackner |
| Provider | YouTube |
| Instructor | Philipp Lackner |
| Prerequisites | Basic Kotlin experience |
| Workload | 3–4 hours |
| Views | 160K |
| Cost | Free |
| Certificate | None |
Best Paid Book (Kodeco)
Prefer to read instead? The best book that isn’t horribly out-of-date is Android Fundamentals by Tutorials by Kodeco.
Kodeco (formerly RayWenderlich.com) is the largest and highest-quality catalog of video courses and books for Mobile Development on the Internet.
You’ll learn:
- Section I: Introduction to Android Development
-
-
- Learn the fundamentals of Android and Kotlin
- Set up Android Studio
- Build your first app: Kodeco Chat
- Understand Gradle and its dependency management features
-
- Section II: Building a Robust Android App
-
-
- Explore Jetpack Compose, the new UI toolkit
- Enhance Kodeco Chat with custom UI message components
- Learn and apply advanced architecture patterns: MVVM and MVI
- Start the Recipe Finder app and fetch data from an API
-
- Section III: Data Management
-
- Improve the Recipe Finder app with offline mode
- Understand and implement data storage methods: DataStore and RoomDB
- Learn advanced storage techniques: file access and data encryption.
The book can be purchased and read online from their website, or can be read as a paperback on Amazon.
| Institution | Kodeco |
| Provider | Independent |
| Authors | Fuad Kamal, Ricardo Costeira & Kevin D Moore |
| Prerequisites | Basic programming knowledge |
| Workload | 271 pages |
| Cost | Paid |
| Certificate | None |
Best Paid Course for Unit Testing (Vasiliy Zukanov)
Vasiliy Zukanov is a well-known professional Android developer in the Android community, and in this paid Udemy course he’ll teach you how to do unit testing and test driven development (TDD).
You’ll start by writing simple test cases and gradually proceed to more and more complex exercises, including a StackOverflow Browser application. By the end, you’ll be fully comfortable with unit testing at a professional level.
Here’s what you’ll learn:
- Unit Testing fundamentals, including test doubles, choosing test cases, and handling external dependencies
- Mockito for creating and managing mock objects in your tests
- Test-Driven Development (TDD) techniques, such as Uncle Bob’s TDD approach and its benefits and limitations
- Strategies for unit testing in Android, addressing challenges like asynchronous execution and testability.
| Provider | Udemy |
| Instructor | Vasiliy Zukanov |
| Prerequisites | Basic experience with Android and Java |
| Workload | 5.5 hours |
| Enrollments | 13K |
| Rating | 4.6/5.0 (2.5K) |
| Cost | Paid |
| Certificate | Paid |
Best Paid Course for Kotlin Coroutines (Vasiliy Zukanov)
Another amazing course from Vasiliy Zukanov is his Kotlin Coroutines for Android Masterclass. He covers a crucial topic that every professional Android developer must understand — asynchronous programming and concurrency.
Luckily, Kotlin makes that relatively simple with Coroutines. In this paid Udemy course, Vasiliy covers Kotlin Coroutines with Android, including:
- Coroutines Fundamentals: Learn the basics of coroutines in Kotlin, including cancellation, concurrency, and structured concurrency
- Designing with Coroutines: Understand best practices for designing Android apps with coroutines, such as encapsulating concurrency in use cases and following the main rule of concurrency in Android
- Coroutine Dispatchers: Explore and effectively use different coroutine dispatchers (Main, Background, Unconfined) in Android development
- Coroutine Cancellation: Master coroutine cancellation, including cooperative cancellation, handling cancellation exceptions, and using NonCancellable
- Advanced Coroutine Mechanics: Dive into advanced coroutine mechanics, such as CoroutineScope, CoroutineContext, Jobs hierarchy, parallel decomposition, and proper exception handling in coroutines.
Once you’ve finished the course, you’ll be able to use Coroutines to write reliable, maintainable and responsive Android applications.
| Provider | Udemy |
| Instructor | Vasiliy Zukanov |
| Prerequisites | Basic experience with Android and Kotlin |
| Workload | 12 hours |
| Enrollments | 6.5K |
| Rating | 4.8/5.0 (1.3K) |
| Cost | Paid |
| Certificate | Paid |
Best Paid Hands-On MVVM Project (Stefan Jovanovic)
To-Do App with Jetpack Compose MVVM will teach you how to create your very first Android app – a fully-fleshed and sleek to-do app.
Taught by Stefan Jovanovic, in this paid Udemy course you’ll learn:
- Jetpack Compose:
- Say goodbye to XML and hello to building UI with Kotlin! Learn core concepts like recomposition, states, lifecycle, side effects, and layouts while building a functional app
- ROOM Database:
- Set up and incorporate a ROOM Database into your Android app to save and read data from a local database, and write custom SQL queries
- Dependency Injection:
- Use the Dagger-Hilt library to streamline dependency injection in your app, making it easier to inject ViewModels with different dependencies without needing a ViewModel Factory
- CRUD Operations:
- Add, update, delete tasks, search the database, and undo deleted items. Implement an animated swipe-to-delete functionality with an undo feature using a Snackbar
- UI Components:
- Make your app look snazzy with popular Material Components (or build your own) along with Scaffold to create beautiful, material design-compliant apps
- Also, easily implement light and dark mode for your app
- DataStore:
- Create a DataStoreRepository using Preference DataStore to persist simple key-value pairs.
Why did I pick this Udemy course over others? Because Stefan Jovanovic is a great educator! He runs the YouTube channel Stevdza-San, with over 400+ videos on Kotlin, Jetpack Compose, and mobile development. Check out his playlist on Jetpack Compose.
| Provider | Udemy |
| Instructor | Stefan Jovanovic |
| Prerequisites | Basic experience with Kotlin |
| Workload | 10.5 hours |
| Enrollments | 3K |
| Rating | 4.7/5.0 (585) |
| Cost | Paid |
| Certificate | Paid |
Best Free Course for Java Developers (Caleb Curry)
If you need to use Java for Android development, then Caleb Curry’s got you covered!
Using old but common-place Android software development practices like the Android View system and XML, you’ll learn enough about Java and Android to be able to create your own applications.
You’ll learn:
- How to work with activities in Android development, including the main activity
- The dynamic nature of Android development and how different components interact
- The concept of intents, which are used to transfer data between activities
- The basics of views and layouts, including how to configure their attributes
- The importance of the ID attribute for views and how to work with it
- How to handle click events on buttons and make them more reusable
- The use of logging for debugging and tracking the progress of your application.
Do note that the Android version used is quite old.
| Channel | Caleb Curry |
| Provider | YouTube |
| Instructor | Caleb Curry |
| Prerequisites | Basic programming experience |
| Workload | 4 hours |
| Views | 1.4M |
| Likes | 26K |
| Cost | Free |
| Certificate | None |
What Next?
- Create a practice Android application
- You don’t want your skills to quickly rust away and become outdated. Also, you get to understand the current state of Android dev that you wouldn’t have grasped just from any course
- Join an Android developers community
- Don’t underestimate the value of joining a community of developers. They can offer support and help you tackle the inevitable challenges you’ll face during your learning journey. I recommend the r/AndroidDevs Discord server.
Why You Should Trust Us
Class Central, a Tripadvisor for online education, has helped 60 million learners find their next course. We’ve been combing through online education for more than a decade to aggregate a catalog of 200,000 online courses and 200,000+ reviews written by our users. And we’re online learners ourselves: combined, the Class Central team has completed over 400 online courses, including online degrees.
Best Courses Guide (BCG) Methodology
I built this ranking following the now tried-and-tested methodology used in previous BCGs (you can find them all here). It involves a three-step process:
- Research: I started by leveraging Class Central’s database and the internet. Then, I made a preliminary selection of 1000+ Android Development courses by rating, reviews, and bookmarks.
- Evaluate: I read through reviews on Class Central, Reddit, and course providers to understand what other learners thought about each course and combined it with my own experience as a learner.
- Select: Well-made courses were picked if they presented valuable and engaging content. Selection criteria includes comprehensive curriculum, affordability, release date, ratings and enrollments.
Ultimately, I used a combination of data and my own judgment to make these picks. I’m confident these recommendations will be a reliable way to learn Android Development.
