Simple Android App with Kivy

This guide demonstrates how to create a simple Android application using Kivy. Kivy is an open-source Python library for rapid development of applications that make use of innovative user interfaces, such as multi-touch apps. To package the app for Android, we use Buildozer.

Modules Used:

kivy: The framework for building the app UI and logic.

Prerequisites

Python: Installed on your development machine.
Linux Environment: Buildozer (the packaging tool) works best on Linux. If you are on Windows, use WSL2 (Windows Subsystem for Linux) or a Virtual Machine.

Installation

Install Kivy on your development machine to test the app:

pip install kivy

The Code

Save this as main.py. Kivy applications usually require the main file to be named main.py for packaging.

from kivy.app import App
from kivy.uix.boxlayout import BoxLayout
from kivy.uix.label import Label
from kivy.uix.button import Button

class MyAndroidApp(App):
    def build(self):
        # 1. Main Layout
        # BoxLayout arranges widgets in a vertical or horizontal box
        layout = BoxLayout(orientation='vertical', padding=20, spacing=10)

        # 2. Label Widget
        self.label = Label(
            text="Hello, Android!",
            font_size='30sp',
            color=(1, 1, 1, 1) # White
        )
        layout.add_widget(self.label)

        # 3. Button Widget
        btn = Button(
            text="Click Me",
            size_hint=(1, 0.2), # Width: 100%, Height: 20% of parent
            background_color=(0, 0.5, 1, 1) # Blueish
        )
        # Bind the button press to a function
        btn.bind(on_press=self.on_button_click)
        layout.add_widget(btn)

        return layout

    def on_button_click(self, instance):
        self.label.text = "You clicked the button!"
        self.label.color = (0, 1, 0, 1) # Change text to Green

if __name__ == '__main__':
    MyAndroidApp().run()

Testing Locally

You can run this script on your computer to test the UI logic before packaging.

python main.py

Packaging for Android (Buildozer)

To turn this main.py into an .apk file that runs on Android, follow these steps in your Linux/WSL environment.

Install Buildozer Dependencies:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y git zip unzip openjdk-17-jdk python3-pip autoconf libtool pkg-config zlib1g-dev libncurses5-dev libncursesw5-dev libtinfo5 cmake libffi-dev libssl-dev
pip3 install --user --upgrade buildozer

Initialize Buildozer: Navigate to the directory containing your main.py and run:
```
buildozer init
```
This creates a buildozer.spec file. You can edit this file to change the app name, package domain, permissions, etc.
Build the APK: Connect your Android phone via USB (ensure USB Debugging is enabled) and run:
```
# Build, deploy, and run the app on the connected device
buildozer android debug deploy run
```
Note: The first build will take a long time as it downloads the Android SDK/NDK.

If you just want the APK file without deploying:
```
buildozer android debug
```
The .apk file will be in the bin/ directory.

Usage

Once installed on your phone, tap the app icon to launch it. It will display the label and button defined in your Python script.

programming/python/python

Created: March 17, 2026 • Last Modified: January 28, 2026

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