MVVM vs MVI: Choosing the Right Architecture Pattern for Modern Android Apps

Architecting scalable Android applications requires a clean separation of concerns. While Model-View-ViewModel (MVVM) has long been the standard choice, Model-View-Intent (MVI) has gained significant momentum with the rise of declarative UIs like Jetpack Compose.

Why MVVM?

MVVM separates business logic from UI using ViewModels and LiveData/StateFlow. It provides excellent testability and state management for most standard CRUD applications.

Why MVI?

MVI enforces unidirectional data flow (UDF) and immutable state objects. Every user interaction is represented as an Intent, producing a single State object. This eliminates state mutation bugs in complex UIs.

Conclusion

For large-scale reactive applications, MVI with Jetpack Compose provides predictable state handling. For standard domain apps, MVVM remains lightweight and highly maintainable.