Jetpack Compose BOM 2024: What is a bill of materials (BOM)?

What is BOM?

Initially, Jetpack Compose had a single version for all its dependencies, making it easier for developers to manage. However, this also restricted Google’s ability to fix bugs and add new features to specific dependencies more quickly than others. To address this, Jetpack Compose libraries launched with independent versioning in July. This allowed for frequent releases of new UI elements and features without being dependent on new OS versions. BOM, which stands for Bill of Materials, is a tool that automatically updates related dependencies to the latest version. It maps library IDs to version numbers and is stored on Maven, making it easier to manage version updates when dealing with multiple libraries. It also ensures the compatibility of libraries and provides the flexibility to prioritize a specific version over the one in BOM.

What are the benefits of using BOM?

BOM provides several advantages, including automatically using the latest versions of Compose libraries, making it easier to use all the latest stable versions simultaneously since various Jetpack Compose libraries have been moved to independent versioning. Using BOM ensures that any Compose library versions in your app are compatible, and it works with version catalogs too.

What are the limitations of BOM?

BOM does not add the Compose libraries to your app. You must declare each library as a dependency in the Gradle file. Additionally, the Compose Compiler library is not included in the BOM. Although BOM makes library upgrades easy, you can still add each dependency version manually. BOM is not mandatory, but it provides a convenient way to upgrade libraries.

How can you use BOM?

To use BOM, you need to add the Compose BOM dependency in the app/build.gradle file. Make sure you have target SDK version 33. After successfully importing the dependency, declare all your compose libraries in the Gradle dependencies block without versions, as shown below.

dependencies { 
  implementation("androidx.compose:compose-bom:2023.01.00") 
  implementation("androidx.compose.foundation:foundation") 
  implementation("androidx.compose.material:material") 
  implementation("androidx.compose.material3:material3") 
}

What if you do not want the BOM version for an artifact?

If you want to use a different version of a library than the one declared in the BOM, you can specify the desired version in the dependencies section of the library dependency import. For instance, to use an alpha version of Material 3, you can add the following dependency:

implementation("androidx.compose.material3:material3:1.1.0-alpha08")

This will override the version designated in the BOM and use the declared alpha version of Material 3.

Conclusion

BOM, or Bill of Materials, is a tool that enables you to manage the versions of all your Compose libraries. By specifying only the BOM’s version, you can access links to the stable versions of various Compose libraries, ensuring that all the libraries used in your app are automatically updated to their new versions.