Bringing Kotlin to the Web

Application developers want to reach as many users on as many platforms as they can. Until now, that goal has meant building an app on each of Android, iOS and the Web, as well as building the backend servers and infrastructure to power them.

To reduce effort, some developers use multiplatform languages and frameworks to develop their app's business logic and UI. Bringing these multiplatform apps to the Web has previously meant "compiling" shared application code to a slower JavaScript version that can run in the browser. Instead, developers often rewrite their apps in JavaScript, or simply direct Web users to download their native mobile apps.

The Web community is developing a better alternative: direct Web support for modern languages thanks to a new technology called WebAssembly GC. This new Web feature allows cross-platform code written in supported languages to run with near-native performance inside all major browsers.

We're excited to roll-out experimental support for this new capability on the Web for Kotlin, unlocking new code sharing opportunities with faster performance for Android and Web developers.

Kotlin Multiplatform Development on the Web

after switching to Kotlin.

The frameworks from JetBrains help developers share code between their Android and iOS apps. These frameworks now offer experimental support for Kotlin compilation to WebAssembly. Early experiments indicate Kotlin code runs up to 2x faster on the Web using WebAssembly instead of JavaScript.

JetBrains shares more details in the on how you can try Kotlin/Wasm with your app.

Pulling it off

Bringing modern mobile languages like Kotlin to the Web required solving challenging technical problems like multi-language garbage collection and JavaScript interoperability. You can learn more in the . In the coming weeks, we'll share technical details about this innovative work on the V8 Blog.

Looking ahead: Web and Native Development

For decades, developers have dreamed of the Web as a kind of "universal runtime," while at the same time acknowledging certain feature or performance gaps relative to native platforms. Developers have long had to switch between working on the Web or their native mobile apps.

However, we want to make it possible for you to work on the Web and your native experiences together, not only to help you reduce effort, but also to help you tap into the Web's unique superpowers.

On the open web, your app is just a click away from new users, who can discover it and share it just as easily as they share a web page, with no app stores getting in the way and no revenue split affecting your profitability.

The productivity of cross-platform development, the performance of native mobile apps and the openness of the web. That's why we love WebAssembly.

We can't wait to see what you build next!

"The productivity of cross-platform development, the performance of native mobile apps, and the openness of the Web."