The growing uses of smartphones have brought the most significant changes in the modern world, enforcing organizations to boost sales and grow their business through mobile applications. Mobile applications have proved to be an efficient way to make businesses scalable and more productive very quickly.

Be it online shopping, taxi booking, finding the location, ordering food, hotel booking, making reservations, or searching for local services, people are more likely to use their smartphones. Many companies have already started building mobile applications for their products & services to take competitive advantages and to make their services easy to reach for their customers.

Talking about the usage of mobile devices, Android is one of the largest and most popular operating systems with over 3.48 million apps available in the Google Play Store compared to any other mobile platform. When it comes to mobile app development, it becomes a question of which programming language is best for Android app development.

To help you choose the correct programming language, we have come up with a list of top programming languages for Android app development for 2022. If you are searching for the best programming languages for Android app development, then this blog is for you.


Let’s take a look at the best programming languages for Android App Development in 2022:

1. Java

Java is one of the most popular, general-purpose, and object-oriented programming languages used for creating interactive Android app development. It has a few implementation dependencies and can be used across multiple platforms, which makes it easy for developers to use the operating systems at their convenience.

Java is widely known for its simplicity and availability of high resources, making it the most prominent programming language for Android app development. It offers various open-source libraries and can also be used for building create cross-platform and PWA applications. Java is assumed to be a go-to language for Android app development.

Some lucrative features of Java are:

  • An object-oriented programming language with Platform independence.
  • Improved performance, security, and productivity.
  • Assumed as the most secure language.
  • Amazon, Flipkart, Instagram, and Adobe are some of the leading brands using Java.

Therefore, Java is considered one of the best programming languages used for Android app development in 2022.

2. Kotlin

Developed by JetBrains, Kotlin is another yet the most popular programming language used for building high-quality Android applications across the world. It is an open-source language and can be called a new version of Java that uses Java libraries, Virtual Machines, and bytecode.

As an open-source language, Kotlin widely supports both functional and object-oriented programming. It has its own concise code syntax, which makes it the most preferred language among Android app developers.

Some prominent features of Kotlin are:

  • Clean code with structured concurrency.
  • Improved security.
  • 20% coding is reduced compared to Java.
  • Kotlin is 100% interoperable.
  • Uber, Pinterest, Amazon, and Trello are some examples of companies working on Kotlin.

If you are planning to build an Android app that meets your above needs then Kotlin could be the best Android app programming language to get started in 2022.

3. C++

C++ is one of the most popular general-purpose programming languages among game developers and software engineers. It offers powerful features that allow developers to quickly identify bugs and make them resolved in no time further optimizing code quality.

C++ is well-known for its high-speed performance and is widely used for video games and operating systems. It ensures the fastest Android app development with low memory consumption. Just like Java, it also offers excellent support for inline assembly which makes it more user-friendly.

Some prominent features of C++ are:

  • Unlike C, C++ is the most popular and object-oriented programming language.
  • It is portable and platform-independent.
  • Assumed as a high-level programming language.
  • It offers Dynamic Memory Allocation.
  • It is compiler-based.
  • Easy to learn.

4. C#

C# takes over the best from Java, which comes with some of its own fantastic features making it an ideal language for Android app development. It can also be used for building one application logic in C# for both Android and iOS platforms.

C# provides highly functional development environments such as Visual and Xamarin Studio for Android app development. It is also beneficial in case you want to use Unity as a cross-platform game engine for building 2D or 3D mobile games.

Some core features of C#, are:

  • An ideal choice for game development.
  • Use of standard library.
  • Well-structured programming language.
  • Interoperability.
  • Easy to scalable and update.
  • Component oriented.
  • Easy-to-use Generics.

5. Python

Python is the most popular Android app development framework even though it doesn’t support native Python development. Python apps can be converted into Android packages which can be run on Android devices using a variety of tools.

Kivy is the best example of this, which is an open-source Python library used to create a wide range of mobile applications. It widely supports Android and makes app development faster. However, as Kivy isn't natively supported, it won't provide any native benefits for users.

Python offers various amazing features, including:

  • Quick & easy to learn and code.
  • Various applications support frameworks and extensive libraries.
  • Facebook, Netflix, Spotify, and Intel are a few examples of Python.
  • Integrated variants of Java and C like CPython, Jython, etc.
  • Excellent GUI support.

6. PhoneGap

PhoneGap is the best programming language that you can consider for your Android app development. Powered by Apache Cordova, PhoneGap uses code used in building a mobile app similar to the code of a developer used for website development.

It utilizes HTML, CSS, and JavaScript and they seem in a "WebView," but they are the app actually. PhoneGap allows app developers to access some primary native features of smartphones, such as a camera or an accelerometer.

A lot of people consider JavaScript as an ideal choice for Android app development, but that’s not the case. Each programming language has some pros and cons and which programming language is best mainly depends on your business type and application requirements.

Some leading features of PhoneGap, are:

  • Compatibility with all platforms.
  • Faster app development process.
  • High-security and reliability.
  • Easy development with the usage of HTML, CSS, JS, etc.
  • Win-win for stakeholders.
  • Robust backend system.
  • Great flexibility.

Final Thoughts
Thus, there are a variety of programming languages used for Android app development in 2022. Kotlin is the most preferred programming language among many app developers because of its excellent official support and easy learning curve.

If you like challenges, Java is the best way to go and to make some thrill in a programming language. Programming languages like C# and C++ are the best fit for game app development. However, we recommend you choose the best programming language based on the needs of your application.

Still not sure how to choose the best programming language and want some expert advice based on your application needs and complexity, approaching a leading custom Android app development company can help with it.