Roadmap/Android System Design

Intermediate to Advanced

Android System Design

Design scalable, reliable, and high-performance Android apps—from OS internals and concurrency to modular architecture, offline sync, performance, security, and real-world case studies.

30 weeks (Structured: ~1 module/week)

9.6k students

4.8 rating

Progress0/177 lessons

Key Topics You'll Master

Android Architecture Fundamentals

Core Android Components Deep Dive

Threading & Concurrency

Architecture Patterns

Modern Android Architecture Components

State Management

Network Architecture

Caching Strategies

Data Synchronization

Memory Management

Performance Optimization

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Learning Outcomes

Explain Android internals (Binder, Zygote, ART) and lifecycle with confidence
Architect scalable apps with Clean Architecture, MVVM/MVI, and modularization
Design robust networking, caching, and offline-first systems with conflict resolution
Profile and optimize memory, startup, rendering, network, and battery usage
Apply security best practices (Keystore, encryption, Play Integrity)
Build production pipelines with CI/CD, monitoring, crash/ANR analysis
Solve end-to-end system design scenarios and succeed in interviews

Prerequisites

Solid understanding of Kotlin
Hands-on Android development experience
Familiarity with Jetpack components (ViewModel, Room, Navigation)
Basic knowledge of networking (HTTP/REST) and databases
Comfort with Android Studio and Gradle

Android Architecture Fundamentals

Android OS layers, processes, memory, IPC, Zygote, and ART vs Dalvik.

1 week

Android OS Architecture (Kernel → HAL → Framework → Apps)

article • 30 min

Process & Application Lifecycle Deep Dive

video • 25 min

Memory Management & GC on Android

video • 25 min

Binder IPC: Concepts & Performance

article • 30 min

Zygote & App Spawn Mechanics

video • 20 min

ART vs Dalvik: A Practical Comparison

article • 20 min

Exercise: Trace a Process Start with adb/systrace

exercise • 45 min

Core Android Components Deep Dive

Activities, Fragments, Services, BroadcastReceivers, ContentProviders, and intents.

1 week

Activity & Fragment Lifecycles: Edge Cases

video • 30 min

Service Types & Foreground Rules

article • 25 min

BroadcastReceiver Patterns & Security

article • 20 min

ContentProviders: Contracts & IPC

video • 25 min

Intent System & Deep Links Architecture

video • 20 min

Exercise: Build a Share-Target Flow

exercise • 45 min

Threading & Concurrency

Main thread rules, Handler/Looper, coroutines, Rx/Flow, executors, WorkManager.

1 week

Main Thread & MessageQueue Internals

article • 25 min

Handler/Looper Basics to Internals

video • 25 min

Kotlin Coroutines: Scopes, Contexts, Jobs

video • 30 min

Flow/Rx Patterns & Backpressure

article • 25 min

Executors & ThreadPool Tuning

article • 20 min

WorkManager for Deferrable Work

video • 20 min

Exercise: Replace AsyncTask with Coroutines

exercise • 50 min

Architecture Patterns

MVC, MVP, MVVM, MVI, UDF, repositories, use cases, and DI trade-offs.

1 week

Patterns Tour: MVC → MVP → MVVM → MVI

video • 30 min

Unidirectional Data Flow & State Modeling

article • 25 min

Repositories & Use Cases: Boundaries

article • 20 min

DI Choices: Dagger/Hilt/Koin

video • 25 min

Exercise: Refactor to MVVM + Use Cases

exercise • 60 min

Modern Android Architecture Components

ViewModel, LiveData vs StateFlow, Room, Navigation, Paging, DataStore, App Startup.

1 week

ViewModel & SavedStateHandle Internals

video • 25 min

LiveData vs StateFlow/SharedFlow

article • 25 min

Room Architecture & Migrations

video • 25 min

Navigation & Paging 3 in Practice

video • 25 min

DataStore (Preferences & Proto)

article • 20 min

App Startup & Lazy Init

article • 15 min

Exercise: Paging + Room Integration

exercise • 50 min

State Management

SSOT, state hoisting, UDF, sealed state, process death, and Compose state.

1 week

Single Source of Truth & Hoisting

article • 25 min

Modeling UI State with Sealed Classes

video • 20 min

Handling Process Death with SavedState

article • 20 min

Compose State & Side-Effects Overview

video • 25 min

Exercise: UDF State Store in a Feature

exercise • 45 min

Network Architecture

REST design, Retrofit/OkHttp tuning, GraphQL, WebSockets, gRPC, TLS/pinning.

1 week

API Design: Resources, Pagination, Errors

article • 25 min

OkHttp/Retrofit: Interceptors & Caching

video • 25 min

GraphQL & Apollo Basics

video • 20 min

WebSockets & Real-time Channels

article • 20 min

gRPC on Android

article • 20 min

Network Security: TLS & Pinning

video • 20 min

Exercise: Retry/Backoff/Idempotency

exercise • 50 min

Caching Strategies

Memory/Disk caches, HTTP caching headers, Room as cache, invalidation, offline-first.

1 week

Memory (LruCache) & Disk (DiskLruCache)

article • 25 min

HTTP Caching: ETag, Max-Age, Revalidate

video • 20 min

Room as Cache: Keys & TTL

article • 20 min

Cache Invalidation Strategies

video • 20 min

Designing Offline-First Flows

video • 25 min

Exercise: Read-Through/Write-Through Cache

exercise • 50 min

Data Synchronization

Delta vs full sync, conflict resolution, real-time sync, WorkManager scheduling, consistency models.

1 week

Delta Sync vs Full Sync Trade-offs

article • 25 min

Conflict Resolution Strategies

video • 25 min

Realtime Sync (Firebase/WebSockets)

video • 20 min

WorkManager: Constraints & Chaining

article • 20 min

Eventual Consistency & UX

article • 20 min

Exercise: Sync Queue with Retries

exercise • 55 min

Memory Management

Leak patterns, bitmaps, pooling, churn reduction, profiling with LeakCanary/Profiler.

1 week

Common Leak Patterns & Fixes

video • 25 min

Bitmap Strategies & Large Objects

article • 25 min

Object Pooling & Allocations

article • 20 min

Weak/Soft References: When/Why

video • 20 min

Memory Profiler & LeakCanary

video • 25 min

Exercise: Kill a Leak in a Feature

exercise • 50 min

Performance Optimization

Startup (cold/warm/hot), lazy init, layout & RecyclerView tuning, 60fps rendering, systrace.

1 week

Startup Optimization: App Startup API

video • 25 min

Layout Optimizations & Overdraw

article • 25 min

RecyclerView: DiffUtil, Prefetch, Pools

video • 25 min

Rendering Pipeline & Jank Hunting

article • 20 min

Systrace & Perf Profiling

video • 20 min

Exercise: Reduce TTI by 30%

exercise • 60 min

Battery & Network Optimization

Doze/App Standby, batching, compression, image formats, background work strategy.

1 week

Doze, App Standby & Background Limits

article • 25 min

Network Batching, Caching & Compression

video • 25 min

Image Optimization (WebP/Vectors)

video • 20 min

Choosing JobScheduler/WorkManager

article • 20 min

Battery Historian & Energy Profiler

video • 20 min

Exercise: Cut Background Energy by 25%

exercise • 55 min

App Modularization

Feature vs library modules, dynamic delivery, dependency graph, build times, multi-module nav.

1 week

Why Modularize? Boundaries & Ownership

article • 25 min

Feature Modules & Dynamic Delivery

video • 25 min

Dependency Graph & API Contracts

article • 20 min

Multi-module Navigation Patterns

video • 20 min

Exercise: Split a Monolith into 4 Modules

exercise • 60 min

Scalable Architecture

Microservices integration, multi-tenant concerns, feature flags, config & dynamic content.

1 week

Integrating with Microservices & Graph Layers

video • 25 min

Multi-tenancy & Theming/Branding

article • 20 min

Feature Flags & Remote Config

video • 20 min

Dynamic Content Delivery & Caches

article • 20 min

Exercise: Feature Flag Rollout Plan

exercise • 45 min

Code Organization

Package structures, SOLID, GOF patterns, codegen (APT/KSP), separation of concerns.

1 week

Package by Feature vs Layer

article • 20 min

Applying SOLID in Android

video • 25 min

Patterns: Factory, Builder, Strategy

article • 25 min

Annotation Processing & KSP

video • 20 min

Exercise: Extract Cross-Cutting Concerns

exercise • 45 min

Database Design

Advanced Room (converters, migrations, FTS, views), SQLite tuning, multi-DB strategies.

1 week

Room: Entities, DAOs, Converters

video • 25 min

Migrations, FTS & Database Views

article • 25 min

SQLite Optimization Techniques

article • 20 min

When to Consider Realm/Alt DBs

video • 20 min

Exercise: Zero-Downtime Migration

exercise • 55 min

Security Architecture

Encryption, Keystore, biometrics, Play Integrity, obfuscation, secure coding, OAuth/OIDC.

1 week

Android Keystore & Key Management

video • 25 min

Data at Rest/In Transit Encryption

article • 25 min

Biometric Auth & UX

video • 20 min

Play Integrity/SafetyNet Basics

article • 20 min

ProGuard/R8 & Secure Coding

video • 20 min

OAuth2/OIDC on Mobile

article • 20 min

Exercise: Secure Secrets & Tokens

exercise • 55 min

Media & Graphics

ExoPlayer, CameraX, image pipelines, custom views/canvas, rendering performance, AR basics.

1 week

ExoPlayer Architecture & DRM

video • 25 min

CameraX: Use Cases & Pipelines

article • 25 min

Image Loading (Glide/Coil) Internals

video • 20 min

Custom Views & Canvas Perf

article • 20 min

ARCore Primer

video • 20 min

Exercise: Adaptive Bitrate Playback

exercise • 60 min

Jetpack Compose System Design

Compose architecture, recomposition, side-effects, custom layouts/modifiers, performance.

1 week

Recomposition & Snapshot State

video • 25 min

State Hoisting & UDF in Compose

article • 20 min

Side-Effects (Launched/Disposable/Derived)

video • 25 min

Custom Layouts & Modifiers

article • 20 min

Compose Navigation & ViewModel

video • 20 min

Perf Tuning & Skipping

article • 20 min

Exercise: Complex Animated Screen

exercise • 60 min

Testing Architecture

Test pyramid, doubles, JUnit/Mockito, Espresso, Robolectric, screenshot tests, DI for tests.

1 week

Test Strategy & Pyramid

article • 20 min

Mocks/Stubs/Fakes & Hermetic Tests

video • 25 min

JUnit/Mockito/KotlinX Coroutines Test

video • 25 min

Espresso & Robolectric

article • 25 min

Screenshot Testing Basics

video • 15 min

Exercise: Testable DI Graph

exercise • 55 min

Designing a News Feed/Social App

Infinite scroll, interactions, realtime updates, image/video feed optimization.

1 week

Timeline/Pagination Architecture

video • 25 min

Like/Comment Systems & Consistency

article • 25 min

Realtime Updates & Diffing

article • 20 min

Media Feed Perf & Caching

video • 20 min

Exercise: Feed with Paging 3 + Cache

exercise • 60 min

Designing a Messaging App

Queues, E2E encryption, multi-device sync, offline storage, notifications.

1 week

Messaging Models & Ordering

article • 25 min

E2E Encryption & Key Rotation

video • 25 min

Device Sync & Conflict Handling

article • 20 min

Local Persistence & Attachments

video • 20 min

Notifications & FCM Delivery

article • 20 min

Exercise: Reliable Send/Retry/ACK

exercise • 60 min

Designing a Ride-Sharing App

Realtime location, maps rendering, routing, matching, geofencing, battery-aware updates.

1 week

Location Strategies & Battery Trade-offs

video • 25 min

Maps Rendering & Clustering

article • 20 min

Routing & ETAs

video • 20 min

Driver-Rider Matching

article • 20 min

Geofencing & Background Limits

video • 20 min

Exercise: Live Location Demo

exercise • 55 min

Designing an E-commerce App

Catalog/search, cart, payments, order tracking, inventory sync, analytics.

1 week

Catalog, Search & Facets

article • 25 min

Cart & Pricing Consistency

video • 20 min

Payments & PSP Integration

video • 20 min

Order Tracking & Notifications

article • 20 min

Inventory Sync & Anti-Fraud

article • 20 min

Exercise: Cart with Offline Support

exercise • 60 min

Android Platform Services

Notifications, widgets, accessibility, sharesheet, shortcuts, PiP.

1 week

Notification Channels & Custom Styles

video • 25 min

Widgets & Glance Basics

article • 20 min

Accessibility APIs & Semantics

video • 20 min

Sharesheet & Content Sharing

article • 20 min

Shortcuts & Picture-in-Picture

video • 15 min

Exercise: Rich Notification + Widget

exercise • 55 min

Cross-Platform Considerations

KMM, Flutter, React Native—shared logic, native bridges, trade-offs.

1 week

KMM: Shared Domain/Data Layers

video • 25 min

Flutter vs RN vs Native Trade-offs

article • 25 min

Bridging Native Capabilities

article • 20 min

Testing & CI for Multiplatform

video • 20 min

Exercise: KMM Module POC

exercise • 60 min

CI/CD Pipeline

GitHub Actions/Jenkins, automated tests, beta distribution, versioning, rollout.

1 week

CI Basics & Caching Gradle

article • 25 min

Unit/UI Tests in CI

video • 20 min

Signing, Versioning & Build Variants

video • 20 min

Beta Distribution (Firebase App Dist.)

article • 20 min

Staged Rollouts & Hotfix Flows

article • 20 min

Exercise: CI Pipeline YAML

exercise • 55 min

Monitoring & Analytics

Crashlytics/ANR, performance traces, custom analytics, funnels, remote config.

1 week

Crash/ANR Analysis & Signals

video • 25 min

Performance Monitoring & Traces

article • 20 min

Analytics Events & Funnels

article • 20 min

User Behavior, A/B & Remote Config

video • 20 min

Exercise: Define KPI Dashboards

exercise • 50 min

Case Study: Design Instagram

Upload pipeline, feed generation, stories, realtime interactions, DM & search.

1 week

Media Upload/Transcode Pipelines

video • 25 min

Feed Ranking & Pagination

article • 25 min

Stories Architecture & Preloading

video • 20 min

Realtime Likes/Comments

article • 20 min

DM & Search/Discovery

article • 20 min

Exercise: Feed + Stories POC

exercise • 60 min

Case Study: Design Twitter/X + Interview Framework

Tweets, timelines, hashtags/trends, notifications; interview approach & trade-offs.

1 week

Tweet Composition & Media

article • 20 min

Timeline Generation & Caching

video • 25 min

Trends/Hashtags & Search

article • 20 min

Notifications & Delivery Guarantees

video • 20 min

Interview Framework: Req → Design → Deep Dive → Trade-offs

video • 25 min

Exercise: 45-min Whiteboard Design

exercise • 45 min