---
title: Android Support
sidebar_position: 15
id: android_support
license: |
  Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
  contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
  this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
  The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
  (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
  the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at

     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
  distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
  WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
  See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
  limitations under the License.
---

## Android Runtime

Fory Java supports Android 8.0+ (API level 26+) through the regular `fory-core` artifact. No separate
Android artifact is required for core object serialization.

Use core object serialization on Android:

- `Fory#serialize(Object)` and `Fory#deserialize(byte[])`.
- `BaseFory#deserialize(ByteBuffer)` for heap, direct, and read-only `ByteBuffer` inputs.
- Stream, channel, and out-of-band buffer APIs through byte-array, heap-buffer, or `ByteBuffer` copy
  paths.
- Java collections/maps and xlang collections/maps.

`java/fory-format` row-format APIs are JVM-only and are not supported on Android.

## Runtime Codegen

Runtime serializer code generation is disabled on Android. If `withCodegen(true)` is set, Fory keeps
Android serialization on the non-codegen path and logs a warning.

Android apps that need generated serializers should use build-time static generated serializers
instead.

## Static Generated Serializers

Use `@ForyStruct` static generated serializers for Android application classes. They are generated by
javac during the app build and work without runtime bytecode generation.

### Install The Annotation Processor

Add `fory-annotation-processor` to the annotation processor path of the module that compiles your
Android model classes:

```xml
<build>
  <plugins>
    <plugin>
      <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
      <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
      <configuration>
        <annotationProcessorPaths>
          <path>
            <groupId>org.apache.fory</groupId>
            <artifactId>fory-annotation-processor</artifactId>
            <version>${fory.version}</version>
          </path>
        </annotationProcessorPaths>
      </configuration>
    </plugin>
  </plugins>
</build>
```

Then annotate Android model classes with `@ForyStruct`.

Static generated serializers are required on Android when a serialized class uses Fory type-use
annotations, for example:

```java
import java.util.List;
import org.apache.fory.annotation.ForyStruct;
import org.apache.fory.annotation.UInt8Type;

@ForyStruct
public class ImageBlock {
  public List<@UInt8Type Integer> pixels;
}
```

Without the generated static descriptors, Android reflection may not expose the nested type-use
metadata needed for annotations such as `@Ref`, `@Int8Type`, `@UInt8Type`, `@Float16Type`, or
`@BFloat16Type`. Serialization for those classes will not have the schema information Fory needs.

See [Static Generated Serializers](static-generated-serializers.md) for setup instructions.

## Object Model Requirements

Android serializers use public Android runtime capabilities. For application classes, prefer:

- accessible no-argument constructors, or records with supported constructors.
- public, protected, or package-private serialized fields.
- non-private getters and setters for private serialized fields.
- `@ForyStruct` static generated serializers for Android model classes.

Final fields in ordinary classes are not suitable for generated read/copy methods. Use records for
constructor-based immutable values.

## Unsupported Features

The following JVM features are not supported on Android:

- Runtime serializer code generation and async compilation.
- Lambda and `SerializedLambda` serialization.
- Native-address serialization APIs and native-address `MemoryBuffer` wrapping.
- Raw unsafe memory copy APIs.
- `java/fory-format` row-format APIs.

## ByteBuffer

`BaseFory#deserialize(ByteBuffer)` supports heap, direct, and read-only buffers on Android by copying
the remaining bytes into a Fory-owned heap buffer. The caller buffer position and limit are not
changed.

Raw direct-buffer address wrapping is a JVM-only fast path and is not used on Android.

## Collections, Maps, And Proxies

Common JDK collection and map implementations are supported on Android. In xlang mode, collection and
map serialization uses the xlang protocol and does not encode Java wrapper/view internals.

`java.lang.reflect.Proxy` serialization is supported for normal proxy usage. Do not invoke, log, or
use a proxy as a map/set key while it is still being deserialized; the invocation handler may not be
ready yet.