Refresh, renew, refactor: modernising a large Android app with many users
summary
Luno modernises a legacy Android app (first commit Jul 25 2014, ~1,150,000 active users) by converting Java to kotlin, swapping AsyncTask and EventBus for coroutines and clearer patterns, and moving payloads to protobuff — result: reduced NPEs almost to zero, average file size down 21%, a big model becomes ~50% faster and protobuf messages ~56% smaller (360→158 bytes). Migration uses a champion, tech design docs, small focused PRs (2–5 small classes or separate for >300 lines), backend‑controlled feature flags, two‑hour debug builds and a release train every two weeks.
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chapters (9)
- 0:00Introduction to modernisation
- 3:30Why refactor and migrate
- 5:40Kotlin migration tips
- 15:39Migration results and benefits
- 18:52New architecture and testing
- 23:26Team structure for migrations
- 27:17CI/CD and release process
- 31:06Future plans and next steps
- 32:14Q&A session
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