Is ViewModel Dead? AppState Is Coming

Google shipped two alpha libraries under the name AppState, and the guide shows Compose State running in repositories, services and widgets. I read every page of it to find out whether your ViewModels are next, and how the two compare.

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On October 28, 2026, a new row showed up in the AndroidX release table: appstate.transform and appstate.statestore, both at 1.0.0-alpha01.

Drop that link in any Android team chat and I can guess the first reply: “So ViewModel is dead?” The second one: “Finally, app-level state that isn’t a god singleton.”

You can blame the name for that. “AppState” sounds like something that sits above your screens and replaces whatever holds screen state today.

I treated that question like a case to crack. Is ViewModel dead, or did the name oversell it? I read the main page, the two library pages, the “Use Compose State outside the UI” page and both release notes, and I collected clues as I went. The…