Company
Android
Android is Chrome, cheap hardware, and a wide range of screens. We design the web for that range, and we ship a Play build only when the brief needs one.
What it is
Android is Google's mobile operating system, running on Pixel, Samsung, and most of the world's phones. Apps are written in Kotlin or Java, distributed through Play, and have to survive a scatter of screen sizes, OEMs, and OS versions that iOS does not have.
It is also a platform: notifications, widgets, shares, biometric prompts, and Play Billing. A company that only ships iOS has decided half the audience can use the website. Sometimes that is honest. Sometimes it is a hole.
What it does
Teams ship Android apps when the job needs the camera, offline, push, or a store listing next to the iPhone one. Internal tools sometimes skip it and stay on the web. Consumer products usually cannot.
We go native when the brief names a reason the browser cannot cover. We share the API and the accounts with the site. We do not build a second identity system for the phone.
Why we use it
The phones most of the world actually uses.
Responsive layouts, tap targets, and performance budgets first. An installable web app if the team just needs an icon. Kotlin or a trusted wrapper only after the web product is something you can use. Same API, same accounts. The Play listing is a later door.
If the checkout fails on a £150 phone, it is not a launch.
Built on it
Samsung
The largest Android OEM, shipping Galaxy phones on Google's OS.
Google Pixel
Google's own hardware, the reference Android device.
A flagship Android app for messaging at planetary scale.
Uber
Driver and rider Android apps are core to the marketplace.
Netflix
The Android app is how a large share of subscribers actually watch.
Tell us what needs to ship.
You use a working prototype before the production build goes ahead.