Jetpack Compose in Production: What They Don’t Tell You

Published on Thursday, January 22, 2026

Jetpack Compose is often presented as the future of Android UI — modern, declarative, and dramatically simpler than XML. Tutorials make it look magical. State flows smoothly, UI updates itself, and everything feels clean.

But production apps are not tutorials. And Compose in production has realities that most blog posts, talks, and sample apps conveniently skip.

This article is not about basics. It’s about the things you only discover after shipping Compose to real users.

1. Recomposition Is Powerful — and Dangerous

Compose’s biggest strength is recomposition. UI automatically updates when state changes. But uncontrolled recomposition is one of the fastest ways to destroy performance.

Common production mistakes include:

  • Passing large objects directly into composables
  • Creating objects inside composables on every recomposition
  • Triggering state updates too frequently

If a composable recomposes more often than expected, your app may feel “janky” even on high-end devices.

Production rule: Treat recomposition like a budget. If you don’t control it, it will control your app.

2. remember {} Is Not a Magic Performance Fix

Many developers assume that wrapping something with remember {} automatically makes it efficient. It doesn’t.

remember only survives recomposition — not configuration changes, process death, or navigation.

Misusing remember can cause:

  • Memory leaks
  • Unexpected state resets
  • Hard-to-debug UI behavior

Production rule: UI state lives in composables. Business state lives in ViewModels. Never confuse the two.

3. State Hoisting Becomes Mandatory at Scale

In small apps, local state inside composables feels fine. In large apps, it becomes chaos.

Without proper state hoisting:

  • Composables become impossible to reuse
  • Testing UI logic becomes painful
  • Unexpected side effects multiply

In production, almost every screen ends up with:

  • A single source of truth
  • Clear state ownership
  • Explicit event handling

Compose doesn’t enforce this — discipline does.

4. Side Effects Are Where Bugs Are Born

LaunchedEffect, SideEffect, and DisposableEffect are powerful — and commonly misused.

Typical production bugs include:

  • Multiple API calls triggered unintentionally
  • Effects restarting on recomposition
  • Resources not being cleaned up

Compose makes side effects explicit, but it does not make them safe by default.

Production rule: Every side effect must have a clear lifecycle reason to exist.

5. Navigation in Compose Is Still Opinionated

Compose Navigation works — but it has sharp edges.

Real-world challenges include:

  • State loss between destinations
  • Deep linking complexity
  • Shared ViewModel scoping confusion

Many production apps end up building custom abstractions on top of Compose Navigation.

Compose simplifies UI, not app architecture.

6. Tooling Is Better — But Not Perfect

Preview composables are amazing. But previews do not reflect:

  • Real device constraints
  • Complex state transitions
  • Performance bottlenecks

Animations that look smooth in previews can stutter on real devices. Layouts that look fine in isolation can break inside scrolling lists.

Production rule: Always test Compose UI on low-end devices.

7. Performance Problems Are Less Obvious Than XML

With XML, slow layouts were obvious. With Compose, performance issues hide behind clean code.

Common silent performance killers:

  • Unstable parameters
  • Improper use of keys in lazy lists
  • Heavy calculations inside composables

Compose feels fast — until it isn’t. And by then, debugging requires real understanding, not guesswork.

8. Testing Compose Requires a Mindset Shift

Compose testing is powerful but different. UI tests are more expressive — and more fragile if misused.

Production teams often struggle with:

  • Over-reliance on UI tests
  • Under-testing business logic
  • Brittle selectors

Compose encourages testable UI — but architecture still matters.

9. Migration Is Harder Than It Looks

Mixing XML and Compose is possible — but not always clean.

Hybrid apps often suffer from:

  • Inconsistent UI patterns
  • Duplicated logic
  • Increased cognitive load

Production migrations require:

  • Clear boundaries
  • Incremental strategy
  • Strong design consistency

10. Compose Does Not Replace Good Engineering

This is the most important truth.

Jetpack Compose does not fix:

  • Bad architecture
  • Poor state management
  • Unclear responsibilities

It amplifies both good and bad decisions. Clean architecture feels cleaner. Messy architecture becomes chaos faster.

Final Thoughts

Jetpack Compose is absolutely production-ready. But it is not a shortcut.

It demands:

  • Stronger architectural thinking
  • Better state discipline
  • Deeper performance awareness

Compose removes boilerplate. It does not remove responsibility.

If you treat Compose like magic, it will punish you in production. If you treat it like a powerful tool, it will reward you.

The difference is experience.