Hidden Gems in Jetpack Compose: My Journey

I still remember the first time I dived into Jetpack Compose. It was exciting, overwhelming, and honestly, a little intimidating. The idea of building UI entirely in Kotlin, declaratively, felt like stepping into a new world. But as I spent more time with it, I started uncovering little tricks, hidden features, and clever patterns that made my development smoother, my code cleaner, and my apps more dynamic.

Over the past few months, I’ve compiled what I now call my “Jetpack Compose Hidden Gems” — small features, lesser-known APIs, smart composable patterns, and productivity boosters that most developers either overlook or don’t know exist. And today, I want to share them with you in a format that feels less like a manual and more like a conversation over coffee with a fellow dev.

When I first stumbled upon [Hidden Gem #1], it was like finding an Easter egg in my codebase. A tiny function that saved me hours of work. From there, one discovery led to another. Soon, I had a mental map of all the features that weren’t on the usual “Compose cheat sheets” but were incredibly powerful once you knew them.

Some of these gems are deceptively simple — like [Hidden Gem #2] — but they change how you write your code. Others, like [Hidden Gem #3], open up new ways to structure your layouts or handle state. There’s something satisfying about replacing a long block of boilerplate with a single line that does so much.

As my apps grew, performance became more important. Discovering [Hidden Gem #4] and [Hidden Gem #5] helped me reduce recompositions and memory usage. Jetpack Compose gives you a lot of control under the hood if you know where to look, and these gems were my secret weapons for creating smooth, lag-free UI.

Compose isn’t just about writing UI; it’s about bringing it to life. Using [Hidden Gem #6] and [Hidden Gem #7], I was able to implement subtle animations that made interactions feel natural. Some of these are small tweaks, others are composables you didn’t know existed — all of them enhance the user experience in ways that users notice subconsciously.

I can’t tell you how many times [Hidden Gem #8] saved me from writing repetitive code. Or how [Hidden Gem #9] made debugging a lot less painful. Jetpack Compose has so many tools that improve developer experience, but they’re often hidden in plain sight. Once you know them, your workflow feels faster and smarter.

State handling in Compose can get tricky. I discovered [Hidden Gem #10] which made managing complex states straightforward. And [Hidden Gem #11] became my go-to for situations where multiple composables needed to react to changes in sync. These little tricks saved countless headaches.

Most tutorials stop at Button, Text, Column, and Row. But the real fun begins when you explore gems like [Hidden Gem #12] or [Hidden Gem #13], which offer advanced functionality without writing extra boilerplate. Using these, I started creating UI components that looked complex but were surprisingly simple under the hood.

Jetpack Compose makes UI testing easier if you know the right approach. [Hidden Gem #14] helped me write reliable, maintainable tests, while [Hidden Gem #15] provided insights into layout performance. Testing became less of a chore and more of a skill I enjoyed refining.

A lot of these gems I discovered through other developers’ experiences — open-source projects, blog posts, and even random GitHub commits. Sharing and learning in the community helped me notice patterns and features I wouldn’t have found alone. And as I share these gems today, I hope you’ll explore and maybe even discover your own.

Jetpack Compose is evolving every day. New features, APIs, and optimizations are added constantly. While I’ve listed some of my favorite hidden gems here, there’s always more to discover. My advice? Stay curious, experiment often, and don’t be afraid to explore the parts of Compose that aren’t in the standard tutorials.