Kotlin Expands Horizons: New Platform Support for Multiplatform Development

Kotlin Expands Horizons: New Platform Support for Multiplatform Development

The JetBrains team announced a significant update to the Kotlin ecosystem: the programming language now officially supports a new platform. This expansion is a logical step in the development of Kotlin Multiplatform (KMP), which has already proven itself as a powerful tool for creating cross-platform solutions.

The new platform, the name of which is still kept secret (according to some reports, it involves integration with WebAssembly and embedded systems), opens up fundamentally new opportunities for developers. Previously, Kotlin was known primarily as a language for Android development and server applications on the JVM. Now it is becoming a universal tool capable of working in almost any environment.

What does this mean for developers?

Support for the new platform means that Kotlin code can be compiled and run on devices and systems that were previously unavailable. This is especially important in the context of:

• Internet of Things (IoT): the ability to write backend and logic for smart devices in a single language.
• Web frontend: improved compilation to JavaScript and WebAssembly for more performant web applications.
• Desktop applications: even tighter integration with native libraries via Kotlin/Native.
• Server-side development: lowering the entry barrier for backend developers who want to switch to Kotlin without being tied to the JVM.

Technical Details

According to information from the official JetBrains blog, the new platform is supported at the compiler level in Kotlin 2.1. Developers will not need to learn new syntactic constructs — the familiar Kotlin syntax is sufficient. All changes concern the compiler backend and machine code generation.

Key improvements include:

• Optimized final binary file size (up to 30% smaller compared to previous versions).
• Improved compatibility with existing C and Objective-C libraries.
• Support for coroutines on the new platform without additional configuration.

Community Reaction

The news has already sparked lively discussions on specialized forums and Telegram chats. Many developers note that this makes Kotlin even more attractive for startups, where quickly prototyping a product for multiple platforms is important. "Previously, we had to maintain separate teams for iOS and Android, and write the backend in a different language. Now we can do everything in Kotlin," shares a lead developer from one Russian fintech project. "Support for the new platform will only strengthen this trend."

How to get started?

To try the new platform, simply install the latest version of Kotlin via IntelliJ IDEA or Android Studio. In the project settings, you need to select the appropriate target (for example, wasmJs or linuxX64, depending on the announcement). JetBrains promises to release detailed documentation and example projects in the coming weeks.

Stay tuned for updates on our website — we will definitely tell you about practical examples of using Kotlin on the new platform in future articles.