TL;DR: Modern app development offers multiple approaches for building across platforms. This guide explains Kotlin, Kotlin Multiplatform, and Compose Multiplatform. Understanding these distinctions helps you make informed decisions about which approach best fits your project’s needs.
Navigating modern app development with Kotlin
Businesses today want efficient ways to build great apps for all their users—whether they’re using iPhones, Android phones, desktop computers, or web browsers. The tech world offers many solutions, often accompanied by confusing buzzwords and competing claims.
You’ve likely heard of and
Compose Multiplatform for UI
What if you want a highly consistent visual design and user experience for your app, not just on phones but also on desktop computers or the web? That’s where Compose Multiplatform comes in. It’s a modern toolkit from JetBrains, developed in partnership with Google’s Compose team. It lets developers use Kotlin to design and build the app’s user interface once and then deploy that same interface across many different platforms.
Logic sharing included
Naturally, the “brain“ behind this shared UI, the business logic, can also be written in Kotlin and shared using the KMP principles discussed earlier. This means Compose Multiplatform projects often share both the interface and the underlying logic. iOS support reached stable status in 2024, making Compose Multiplatform a viable option for production applications across all major platforms. Notably, Compose’s Skia-based rendering on iOS delivers performance on par with SwiftUI, ensuring smooth and responsive experiences for iPhone and iPad users.
Flexibility within shared UI
Compose Multiplatform offers flexibility even within its shared approach. For example, an application built primarily with shared UI components can still incorporate platform-specific elements when they provide superior functionality. A mobile app might use a native iOS map component within its otherwise shared interface to ensure the best possible mapping experience for iPhone users.
The opposite is equally true: existing native applications can incorporate Compose Multiplatform screens or components wherever it makes sense. This means you’re not locked into an all-or-nothing approach.
Teams can start with just one shared feature or screen, test how it works for their needs, and gradually expand usage over time. This flexibility makes it practical for real-world projects where incremental adoption often works better than complete rewrites.
When to consider Compose Multiplatform
This approach typically works well when:
- You’re building a brand-new application and want a highly consistent look and feel across all target platforms.
- Your team has strong Kotlin skills or wants to build full-stack expertise in one language.
- Speed to market with a consistent interface across many different types of devices is a high priority.
- Brand consistency and unified user experience across platforms outweigh platform-specific interface optimizations.
- Your Android team is already experienced with Kotlin and Jetpack Compose, making the transition to Compose Multiplatform more straightforward than learning entirely new frameworks.
Real-world examples
Who’s using KMP for shared logic
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