Developing and Packaging a Python Kivy App for Android and iOS with Buildozer

The article begins by introducing Kivy, an open‑source, cross‑platform Python framework for building graphical applications, and explains why Python is generally not the first choice for mobile app development.

Preparation : Install the Kivy module and its dependencies. On macOS, install required packages with Homebrew and then install Cython and Kivy via pip. If pip installation fails, clone the Kivy repository and run python setup.py install .

On CentOS 7, install a long list of 32‑bit libraries using yum install \ ... , then install Cython and Kivy with pip.

Creating the first Kivy app : Create main.py containing a minimal HelloApp class that inherits from kivy.app.App and runs the app when __name__ == '__main__' . Create a corresponding hello.kv file that defines a Label with the text "Hello, World! I am nMask". The .kv file name follows the convention of the class name in lowercase without the "App" suffix.

Run the app with python main.py to verify that Kivy imports correctly.

Installing Buildozer : Install Buildozer via pip install buildozer . Initialize a Buildozer project with buildozer init , which creates a buildozer.spec configuration file. Modify the spec as needed, then build and deploy the app using buildozer android debug deploy run . The first run downloads the Android SDK, NDK, and other dependencies.

The generated APK appears in the bin directory and can be transferred to an Android device for installation and testing.

Common Buildozer pitfalls : If errors occur, increase log_level in buildozer.spec to see details. For missing 32‑bit libraries on CentOS, install them with a long yum command. Resolve Cython compilation errors by installing a compatible version (e.g., pip install cython==0.25 ). Fix a known Buildozer bug that fails to copy the APK by editing /usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/buildozer/targets/android.py and updating the build‑tools version selection logic as shown in the article.

Buildozer virtual machine : Kivy provides a pre‑configured VM image with Buildozer and its dependencies, useful for users who cannot resolve library issues on their own machines.

Overall, the guide provides a concise, step‑by‑step workflow for developing a simple Kivy‑based Python app and packaging it for mobile platforms, while also offering troubleshooting tips and resources.