Android versions names and numbers

List of Android version names

Android versions up to Android 10! 10 got, additionally to their nummeric version number, a code-name, which was assigned by Google. Like the naming of Ubuntu versions (names of animals with an adjective [1] ), Android version names were names of, mostly american, sweets, where the first letter was in alphabetical order.

The assignment of numeric and textual version names are not always consistent. Android 4.0 and Android 4.1, for example, have different version names, but Android 5.0, 5.1 and 5.1.1 share the same version name.

Starting with Android 10! 10, Android versions do not get a codename anymore. Since then, the Android versions will be released with their version number only. [2] [3] [4] [5]

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Cupcake

The Android version 1500! 1.5 Cupcake is the first version, which got a name assigned, which is Cupcake. Cupcakes are muffin-like cakes, which mostly has a creamy hood.

Donut

Version 1600! 1.6 Donut was given the name Donut.

Eclair

Android-Version 2000! 2 Eclair and 2100! 2.1 Eclair share the same name, Eclair. Eclairs are longly biscuits overdrawn with chocolate.

Froyo

Frozen Yogurt is a ice-like dessert made with milk and yogurt and is also the name of the Android version 2200! 2.2 Froyo.

Gingerbread

The name of Android version 2300! 2.3 «Gingerbread» is Gingerbread, which are cake-like biscuits mostly eaten around christmas time.

Honeycomb

The android version mostly made for tablets, Android 3000! 3.0 Honeycomb, is called Honeycomb. The bootanimation of this android version is also made like a honeycomb.

Ice Cream Sandwich

Android 4.0 is called after a sweet, which is made of delicious ice cream bewtween two biscuits: an Ice Cream Sandwhich.

Jelly Bean

Jelly beans are colorful, mostly made out of sugar, sweets, which have a hard shell and are filled with jelly. The following android versions share this name:

KitKat

KitKat is a brand from Nestle, and is a chocolate bar filled with waffles. Android 4.4 is named after this sweet: 4.4! 4.4 «KitKat».

Lollipop

Lollipops are sweets in different flavors on a stalk and is also the name of the following android versions:

Marshmallow

The android version 6.0, announced at 17th of august in 2015 is called after the sweet Marshmallow.

Nougat

Android 7, also called Android N, officialy got the name Nougat.

Android 8, also called Android O, carries the name Oreo, which are two crispy chocolate cookies with a vanilla cream center.

Android 9, also called Android Pie, carries the name Pie, which is the name of different sweet dishes.

The version 9! 9 was the last Android version which got a codename assigned.

Android 10

Google announced that a new Android Version will be officially known as Android 10.

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Android versions: A living history from 1.0 to 12

Explore Android’s ongoing evolution with this visual timeline of versions, starting B.C. (Before Cupcake) and going all the way to 2021’s Android 12 release.

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Contributing Editor, Computerworld |

Android Versions

What a long, strange trip it’s been.

From its inaugural release to today, Android has transformed visually, conceptually and functionally — time and time again. Google’s mobile operating system may have started out scrappy, but holy moly, has it ever evolved.

Here’s a fast-paced tour of Android version highlights from the platform’s birth to present. (Feel free to skip ahead if you just want to see what’s new in Android 11 or Android 12.)

Android versions 1.0 to 1.1: The early days

Android made its official public debut in 2008 with Android 1.0 — a release so ancient it didn’t even have a cute codename.

Things were pretty basic back then, but the software did include a suite of early Google apps like Gmail, Maps, Calendar, and YouTube, all of which were integrated into the operating system — a stark contrast to the more easily updatable standalone-app model employed today.

The Android 1.0 home screen and its rudimentary web browser (not yet called Chrome).

Android version 1.5: Cupcake

With early 2009’s Android 1.5 Cupcake release, the tradition of Android version names was born. Cupcake introduced numerous refinements to the Android interface, including the first on-screen keyboard — something that’d be necessary as phones moved away from the once-ubiquitous physical keyboard model.

Cupcake also brought about the framework for third-party app widgets, which would quickly turn into one of Android’s most distinguishing elements, and it provided the platform’s first-ever option for video recording.

Cupcake was all about the widgets.

Android version 1.6: Donut

Android 1.6, Donut, rolled into the world in the fall of 2009. Donut filled in some important holes in Android’s center, including the ability for the OS to operate on a variety of different screen sizes and resolutions — a factor that’d be critical in the years to come. It also added support for CDMA networks like Verizon, which would play a key role in Android’s imminent explosion.

Android’s universal search box made its first appearance in Android 1.6.

Android versions 2.0 to 2.1: Eclair

Keeping up the breakneck release pace of Android’s early years, Android 2.0, Eclair, emerged just six weeks after Donut; its «point-one» update, also called Eclair, came out a couple months later. Eclair was the first Android release to enter mainstream consciousness thanks to the original Motorola Droid phone and the massive Verizon-led marketing campaign surrounding it.

Verizon’s «iDon’t» ad for the Droid.

The release’s most transformative element was the addition of voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation and real-time traffic info — something previously unheard of (and still essentially unmatched) in the smartphone world. Navigation aside, Eclair brought live wallpapers to Android as well as the platform’s first speech-to-text function. And it made waves for injecting the once-iOS-exclusive pinch-to-zoom capability into Android — a move often seen as the spark that ignited Apple’s long-lasting «thermonuclear war» against Google.

The first versions of turn-by-turn navigation and speech-to-text, in Eclair.

Android version 2.2: Froyo

Just four months after Android 2.1 arrived, Google served up Android 2.2, Froyo, which revolved largely around under-the-hood performance improvements.

Froyo did deliver some important front-facing features, though, including the addition of the now-standard dock at the bottom of the home screen as well as the first incarnation of Voice Actions, which allowed you to perform basic functions like getting directions and making notes by tapping an icon and then speaking a command.

Google’s first real attempt at voice control, in Froyo.

Notably, Froyo also brought support for Flash to Android’s web browser — an option that was significant both because of the widespread use of Flash at the time and because of Apple’s adamant stance against supporting it on its own mobile devices. Apple would eventually win, of course, and Flash would become far less common. But back when it was still everywhere, being able to access the full web without any black holes was a genuine advantage only Android could offer.

Android version 2.3: Gingerbread

Android’s first true visual identity started coming into focus with 2010’s Gingerbread release. Bright green had long been the color of Android’s robot mascot, and with Gingerbread, it became an integral part of the operating system’s appearance. Black and green seeped all over the UI as Android started its slow march toward distinctive design.

JR Raphael / IDG

It was easy being green back in the Gingerbread days.

Android 3.0 to 3.2: Honeycomb

2011’s Honeycomb period was a weird time for Android. Android 3.0 came into the world as a tablet-only release to accompany the launch of the Motorola Xoom, and through the subsequent 3.1 and 3.2 updates, it remained a tablet-exclusive (and closed-source) entity.

Under the guidance of newly arrived design chief Matias Duarte, Honeycomb introduced a dramatically reimagined UI for Android. It had a space-like «holographic» design that traded the platform’s trademark green for blue and placed an emphasis on making the most of a tablet’s screen space.

Honeycomb: When Android got a case of the holographic blues.

While the concept of a tablet-specific interface didn’t last long, many of Honeycomb’s ideas laid the groundwork for the Android we know today. The software was the first to use on-screen buttons for Android’s main navigational commands; it marked the beginning of the end for the permanent overflow-menu button; and it introduced the concept of a card-like UI with its take on the Recent Apps list.

Android version 4.0: Ice Cream Sandwich

With Honeycomb acting as the bridge from old to new, Ice Cream Sandwich — also released in 2011 — served as the platform’s official entry into the era of modern design. The release refined the visual concepts introduced with Honeycomb and reunited tablets and phones with a single, unified UI vision.

ICS dropped much of Honeycomb’s «holographic» appearance but kept its use of blue as a system-wide highlight. And it carried over core system elements like on-screen buttons and a card-like appearance for app-switching.

JR Raphael / IDG

The ICS home screen and app-switching interface.

Android 4.0 also made swiping a more integral method of getting around the operating system, with the then-revolutionary-feeling ability to swipe away things like notifications and recent apps. And it started the slow process of bringing a standardized design framework — known as «Holo» — all throughout the OS and into Android’s app ecosystem.

Android versions 4.1 to 4.3: Jelly Bean

Spread across three impactful Android versions, 2012 and 2013’s Jelly Bean releases took ICS’s fresh foundation and made meaningful strides in fine-tuning and building upon it. The releases added plenty of poise and polish into the operating system and went a long way in making Android more inviting for the average user.

Visuals aside, Jelly Bean brought about our first taste of Google Now — the spectacular predictive-intelligence utility that’s sadly since devolved into a glorified news feed. It gave us expandable and interactive notifications, an expanded voice search system, and a more advanced system for displaying search results in general, with a focus on card-based results that attempted to answer questions directly.

Multiuser support also came into play, albeit on tablets only at this point, and an early version of Android’s Quick Settings panel made its first appearance. Jelly Bean ushered in a heavily hyped system for placing widgets on your lock screen, too — one that, like so many Android features over the years, quietly disappeared a couple years later.

JR Raphael / IDG

Jelly Bean’s Quick Settings panel and short-lived lock screen widget feature.

Android version 4.4: KitKat

Late-2013’s KitKat release marked the end of Android’s dark era, as the blacks of Gingerbread and the blues of Honeycomb finally made their way out of the operating system. Lighter backgrounds and more neutral highlights took their places, with a transparent status bar and white icons giving the OS a more contemporary appearance.

Android 4.4 also saw the first version of «OK, Google» support — but in KitKat, the hands-free activation prompt worked only when your screen was already on and you were either at your home screen or inside the Google app.

The release was Google’s first foray into claiming a full panel of the home screen for its services, too — at least, for users of its own Nexus phones and those who chose to download its first-ever standalone launcher.

JR Raphael / IDG

The lightened KitKat home screen and its dedicated Google Now panel.

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Tek Eye

The table in this article lists all the different versions of Android, starting with the earliest Application Programming Interface (API) level to the latest API level. Thus the list is from the oldest Android versions to the latest.

Android Versions by Name, Number, Availability and API Level

Each version of Android is given a code name. The code name is traditionally the name of a dessert, cake or sweet, e.g, Gingerbread, Froyo, Jelly Bean, etc. — as the sugar laden picture below shows. The table that follows lists the code names, version numbers, first release date and Application Programming Interface (API) versions, along with the equivalent Software Development Kit (SDK) constants (Build.VERSION_CODES). The Android version number on a device is normally found in the settings. Select Settings, then About Phone or About Device and look at the Firmware Version or Android Version entry.

List of Android Versions and Their Names, API Level and Dates

Name	Version	Available	API	VERSION_CODES
N/A	1.0	October 2008	1	BASE
N/A	1.1	February 2009	2	BASE_1_1
Cupcake	1.5	May 2009	3	CUPCAKE
Donut	1.6	September 2009	4	DONUT
Eclair	2.0	November 2009	5	ECLAIR
Eclair	2.0.1	December 2009	6	ECLAIR_0_1
Eclair	2.1	January 2010	7	ECLAIR_MR1
Froyo	2.2 to 2.2.3	June 2010	8	FROYO
Gingerbread	2.3 to 2.3.2	November 2010	9	GINGERBREAD
Gingerbread	2.3.3 to 2.3.7	February 2011	10	GINGERBREAD_MR1
Honeycomb	3.0	February 2011	11	HONEYCOMB
Honeycomb	3.1	May 2011	12	HONEYCOMB_MR1
Honeycomb	3.2 to 3.2.6	June 2011	13	HONEYCOMB_MR2
Ice Cream Sandwich	4.0.1 to 4.0.2	October 2011	14	ICE_CREAM_SANDWICH
Ice Cream Sandwich	4.0.3 to 4.0.4	December 2011	15	ICE_CREAM_SANDWICH_MR1
Jelly Bean	4.1 to 4.1.1	July 2012	16	JELLY_BEAN
Jelly Bean	4.2 to 4.2.2	November 2012	17	JELLY_BEAN_MR1
Jelly Bean	4.3	July 2013	18	JELLY_BEAN_MR2
Kit Kat	4.4 to 4.4.4	October 2013	19	KITKAT
Kit Kat	4.4W to 4.4W.2	June 2014	20	KITKAT_WATCH
Lollipop	5.0 to 5.0.2	November 2014	21	LOLLIPOP
Lollipop	5.1 to 5.1.1	March 2015	22	LOLLIPOP_MR1
Marshmallow	6.0 to 6.0.1	October 2015	23	M
Nougat	7.0	August 2016	24	N
Nougat	7.1 to 7.1.2	October 2016	25	N_MR1
Oreo	8.0.0	August 2017	26	O
Oreo	8.1.0	December 2017	27	O_MR1

The above table was derived from the following sources (note that some release dates are derived from the Android developers documentation, the actual SDK availability may have been a little earlier, see the Wikipedia article):

When programming an App the API level is used to determine whether specific Android features are present or not. The API level can be read in versions prior to Donut (Cupcake, 1.1 and 1.0) using:

int APILevel = Integer.parseInt(Build.VERSION.SDK);

And from Donut onwards using:

int APILevel = Build.VERSION.SDK_INT;

(Build.VERSION.SDK is deprecated, i.e. it will be removed from the API at some future release).

When using functionality from a later API, but the App needs to support earlier Android versions, wrap the newer functionality in a separate class. Then check the API level before instantiating the class to prevent a VerifyError exception from occurring. See the article Support Multiple API Versions in Android.

Author: Daniel S. Fowler Published: 2012-05-25 Updated: 2017-01-08

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