1. Background

After permission is granted, the next step is to show a live rear camera preview.

CameraX officially recommends using PreviewView as the preview widget, but Jetpack Compose does not yet provide a native camera container.

So we need to embed a traditional Android View inside Compose using AndroidView.

This note focuses on integrating CameraX preview with Compose UI.

2. PreviewView and AndroidView

1. PreviewView

• CameraX’s official preview widget
• renders camera frame data
• must be bound to a CameraX Preview use case

2. AndroidView

AndroidView(
    factory = { context -> 
        // return a traditional Android View
    },
    modifier = Modifier.fillMaxSize()
)

AndroidView allows Compose to host any traditional Android view, including PreviewView.

3. CameraX initialization and callback

val cameraProviderFuture = ProcessCameraProvider.getInstance(ctx)

cameraProviderFuture.addListener({
    val cameraProvider = cameraProviderFuture.get()

    val preview = Preview.Builder().build().also {
        it.setSurfaceProvider(previewView.surfaceProvider)
    }

    val cameraSelector = CameraSelector.DEFAULT_BACK_CAMERA

    try {
        cameraProvider.unbindAll()
        cameraProvider.bindToLifecycle(
            activity,
            cameraSelector,
            preview
        )
    } catch (e: Exception) {
        e.printStackTrace()
    }

}, ContextCompat.getMainExecutor(ctx))

Key points

1. ProcessCameraProvider.getInstance(ctx) gets a CameraX provider asynchronously
2. addListener({ ... }, executor) runs a callback when it is ready
3. setSurfaceProvider binds preview output to PreviewView
4. bindToLifecycle ties the use case to the activity lifecycle
5. unbindAll() clears old bindings

4. Full CameraPreview example

@Composable
fun CameraPreview(activity: ComponentActivity) {
    val context = LocalContext.current

    AndroidView(
        factory = { ctx ->
            val previewView = PreviewView(ctx)

            val cameraProviderFuture = ProcessCameraProvider.getInstance(ctx)
            cameraProviderFuture.addListener({
                val cameraProvider = cameraProviderFuture.get()

                val preview = Preview.Builder().build().also {
                    it.setSurfaceProvider(previewView.surfaceProvider)
                }

                val cameraSelector = CameraSelector.DEFAULT_BACK_CAMERA

                try {
                    cameraProvider.unbindAll()
                    cameraProvider.bindToLifecycle(
                        activity,
                        cameraSelector,
                        preview
                    )
                } catch (e: Exception) {
                    e.printStackTrace()
                }

            }, ContextCompat.getMainExecutor(ctx))

            previewView
        },
        modifier = Modifier.fillMaxSize()
    )
}

Summary

• AndroidView + PreviewView embeds CameraX preview into Compose
• callbacks handle asynchronous initialization
• lifecycle binding lets CameraX manage the camera automatically

5. What I learned

1. AndroidView is the bridge between Compose and traditional Views
2. Preview, CameraProvider, and CameraSelector are the core CameraX concepts
3. Callbacks are how async CameraX initialization fits into Compose

Contributors: Junyuan He

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