android-kmp-platform-channels

name	android-kmp-platform-channels
description	Bridging Native iOS and Desktop APIs back into KMP.
category	cross-platform
risk	high
source	community
date_added	2026-04-07
metadata	{"triggers":["@kmp-native","expect actual","cinterop"]}

Kotlin Multiplatform Native Bridging 🌉

When the common Kotlin standard library falls short, you must write native platform bridges to access raw iOS Foundation or Android Context APIs.

⚡ When to Use

• When integrating platform-specific hardware, Push Notifications, or third-party proprietary SDKs that lack a KMP wrapper.

🏗️ Core Rules / Pillars

1. The Expect/Actual Paradigm

• Pattern: Avoid trying to pass Context (Android) or UIViewController (iOS) around in common code via generic Any types.
• Implementation: Define an expect class or interface in commonMain, and provide actual implementations within androidMain and iosMain. Use constructor injection for dependencies if using Koin or Kotlin-Inject.

2. Bridging Coroutines to Swift (iOS)

• Pattern: By default, Kotlin StateFlow and suspend functions compile to Swift with generic clunky Skie or CompletionHandler signatures.
• Implementation: Rely on libraries like Touchlab's SKIE to seamlessly map Kotlin Coroutines into native Swift Async/Await to provide iOS developers a world-class API.

🚧 Critical Anti-Hallucination Guards

• Trap: Do not attempt to use java.util.UUID or java.time anywhere in commonMain! Native Java libraries simply DO NOT compile to iOS and will immediately break the KMP build. Instead use kotlinx.datetime and uuid libraries.