Angular Versions History – Evolution Of Angular Releases

Sakthi S

April 26, 2022

Last updated: April 2, 2024

NOTE: THIS BLOG HAS RECENTLY UNDERGONE UPDATES TO REFLECT THE LATEST ANGULAR VERSIONS. WE WILL CONSISTENTLY UPGRADE THIS ARTICLE IN LINE WITH THE RELEASE OF NEW ANGULAR VERSIONS.

Are you one among those who get blown away by newer angular versions and features since their inception? Well, I’ve been equally enthralled to know the Angular Versions history since AngularJS was first released in 2010. Examining the evolution of Angular releases will help us understand how this framework has progressed over time, how we got here, and what the future holds.

In this ever-changing technological world, knowing Angular’s past can also help us predict future patterns. If you’re an Angular follower, developer, product owner or a Technology Consulting Company, Angular 16 has arrived with a slew of new capabilities that will come in handy while developing web applications of all kinds.

What Exactly Is Angular? 

Angular is an open-source JavaScript front-end web application development framework primarily supported by Google to develop single-page, cross-platform, and performant applications. With increasing popularity and demand for Single Page Applications, Angular versions have quickly picked up the pace and have got adopted all over the world. 

What Is A Single-Page Application?

A single-page application is a website or web application that dynamically interacts with the user by rewriting the current page rather than loading the complete page from the server. A single-page application (SPA) is used by the majority of popular applications, including Facebook, Gmail, Twitter, Google Drive, Netflix, and a plethora of others.

What Is A Cross-Platform Application?

A cross-platform application is a piece of software that can run on a variety of computer architectures and operating systems. Updates are simple and convenient in cross-platform applications as they are internet-based. Here, the app gets automatically updated for all users to ensure that they always have the most up-to-date version, which eventually boosts the overall performance.

The below image shows the angular versions history at one go. The release dates for various Angular versions are as follows:

Here is a bucket list of various Angular version enhancements over time. So let’s explore the Angular Versions History.

AngularJS 1.X

AngularJS 1.X is an open-source front-end web application development framework based on JavaScript with the code for AngularJS written in JavaScript. It is primarily supported by Google and a community of individuals/organizations to overcome a lot of issues that are associated with creating single-page apps.

The main purpose of AngularJS 1.X is to make application development and testing easier by providing a framework for client-side model–view–controller (MVC) and model–view–view model (MVVM) architectures, as well as components commonly found in rich online applications. AngularJS is now in Long Term Support (LTS) mode, with version 1.7.x being the most recent major version release.

Angular 2 

Angular 2 is a revamped version of AngularJS, that is rewritten from scratch by the Angular versions team using TypeScript. The main reason for its reconstruction was to accommodate mobile devices effortlessly. Apart from this, Angular versions 2 enhances the number of languages available by adding extra features and functionalities.

Languages like ES5, ES6, TypeScript, and Dart may be required to write Angular 2 code. Despite being a complete redesign, Angular versions 2 retains many of AngularJS 1.X’s features and practices, such as a streamlined and “native JS” version of dependency injection. In short, developers who already have proficiency with AngularJS 1.X will have a much easier time migrating to Angular versions 2 when compared to other frameworks, like React or Ember. 

Angular 3 

You might have had trouble finding information about the Angular 3 release date. This is because Angular versions 3 was left out mostly due to a version discrepancy between the @angular/core, @angular/compiler, and @angular/router libraries. 

For the Angular 2 version, the core and router look like this.

1. v2.3.0 of @angular/core
2. v2.3.0 of the @angular/compiler
3. v2.3.0 of @angular/compiler-cli
4. @angular/http v2.3.0 @angular/http v2.3.0 @angular/http v
5. @angular/router v3.3.0 is now available.

However, the issue faced was with the @angular/router, which was already in a 3.X version. This is due to certain ongoing and significant advances in the router sector, such as route-preload. The release of Angular versions 3 with a roadmap to version 4 is likely to cause a lot of uncertainty. To avoid this uncertainty, developers have decided to skip version 3 and instead release version 4.0.0, which ensures that all major dependencies are up to date.

Angular 4 

Angular 4 is a web application development framework that is backward compatible with Angular 2.x.x that allows you to create JavaScript apps. As a result, there isn’t much of a difference between Angular 4 and Angular 2. We can, however, state categorically that Angular 4 is not a rebuild of Angular 2.

There are new modifications under the hood that tend to lower the size of generated code for your components by roughly 60% in most circumstances, as well as enhanced bug fix alerts. This resulted in increased compatibility for newer browsers as well as significant framework enhancements. Angular 4 also included a new testing environment that slashed testing time in half and supported JIT (Just-In-Time) compilation to further minimize bundle sizes.

Overall, it was a successful release with very few defects that caused problems for Angular Versions 4 developers. However, migrating from one version to another can be difficult when you’re using certain third-party tools or libraries—that is why it’s crucial to plan ahead for any changes that may arise before updating your project or application.

Some Changes From Angular 2 :

• Animations are being extracted from @angular/core to reduce the amount of code loaded into our production bundle.
• You can simply add animation to NgModule by importing BrowserAnimationsModule from @angular/platform-browser/animations.
• Renderer 2 is used instead of Renderer from the same ‘@angular/core’.
• *ngIf/then:You may now utilize the else clause as well.
• In Angular 4, there is no need to create a pattern for email validation.
• Compatibility with TypeScript 2.1 and 2.2:
• We can use typescript 2.1 or above; previously, only typescript 1.8 was supported.

Angular 5

Angular 5 is a significant milestone in its evolution because it marked a major shift in how they were positioning its framework. In its early stages, it was primarily touted as a mobile app platform that could be used to construct complex single-page applications. However, Angular 5 has shifted its focus to include desktop web apps as well. It is made up of various parts that form a tree structure with parent and child elements. This release includes a lot of new features and enhancements, including dependency injection, end-to-end tooling, and a decelerative template. 

By default, production builds that were made with the Angular CLI now use the build optimizer. New features were introduced such as DOM and Angular Universal State Transfer API support, enhancements to the Compiler, pipes for Internationalized Numbers, Dates, and Currency. Angular forms have been updated for Blur / Submit and also provide RxJS 5.5 support.

Angular 6 

Angular 6 comes with two new angular CLI commands: ng update and ng add. It’s a framework for creating HTML, JavaScript, and TypeScript web applications. To be more specific, Angular 1.X to Angular 6 provides built-in functionality for HTTP services, animation, and materials which in turn provide features of auto-complete, toolbar, menus, navigation, etc. The Angular CLI is the simplest and quickest way to get an Angular 6 app up and running (Command Line Interface).

The following are some additional recent updates:

• Component Development Kit for Angular Elements (CDK)
• Starter Components for Angular Materials
• Workspaces for CLI
• Tree Shakable Providers
• Enhancements to Performance
• RxJS v6

Angular 7 

Angular 7 is a JavaScript framework that makes you create single-page applications (SPA). By the way, this is a popular front-end development framework that is updated regularly by Google’s Angular team. Angular 7 is now available with speed enhancements and new features such as CLI Prompts, Virtual Scrolling, and Drag & Drop. Apart from this. some of the important characteristics of Angular 7, Angular CLI 7, and Material 7 are as follows: CLI Prompts – When using simple commands like ng new or ng add @angular/material, the CLI will now prompt users to explore built-in capabilities such as routing and SCSS support. CLI Prompts and Budgets should be included in Schematics, as well as support for Content Projection in Angular Elements. 

Angular has greater flexibility in providing flawless web app development services for businesses of varying magnitude. In essence, Calibraint as a web application development company caters to all the individual needs of every customer to help each organization reach its full potential.

Angular 8 

Angular 8 is a client-side TypeScript-based framework that is used for dynamic web application development. In fact, it is extremely similar to earlier versions, of the fact that it has a long list of features. Differential loading by default – A procedure in which the browser decides whether to load current or legacy JavaScript based on its own capabilities, Imports for Route Configurations that are Dynamic, Builder APIs in CLI, APIs for workspaces in the CLI, Web Worker Support, and so on. The initial project created with ng new in Angular CLI 8.3.0 includes a revised user interface and ng Deployment.

The opt-in preview for Angular Ivy contains: 

• Faster rebuild time.
• Improved payload size. 
• Improved template type checking.
• Backward compatibility. 
• Code that gets generated is easier to read and debug at runtime. 

Angular 9 

By default, each and every application in version 9 uses the Ivy compiler and runtime, and  has the following benefits:

1. Bundle Size Reduction

2. Faster test completion

3. Improved Debugging

4. Enhanced class and style binding in CSS

5. Improved type checking

6. Reduced build errors

7. Default AOTs (Angular ahead-of-time).

8. Enhanced Internationalization

The new Angular Material Component included

• Component of the YouTube player

• Component for Google Maps

Angular can support TypeScript 3.6 and 3.7 with ease. The underlying foundation of the entire framework has changed in Angular 9. The IVY renderer will be used as the default compiler in all applications. Smaller apps benefit the most from IVY’s tree shaking capability because the angular components interactions methods require less code. One of Angular 9’s main goals is to make applications smaller for a better user experience. The team will most likely focus on developing components in the future, therefore there will be no need for a big API change.

Angular 10

It may seem surprising that Angular pushed another major release just 4 months after the Ivy release. Some of the features that are worth mentioning are warnings about CommonJS imports, optional stricter settings, TypeScript 3.9, TSLib updated to v2.0, TSLint updated to v6 and a new default browser configuration. Apart from these features, there have been a number of bug fixes too. Some of them include avoiding undefined expressions in a holey array, and core avoiding a migration error when a nonexistent symbol is imported. Another bug correction ensures proper identification of modules affected by overrides in TestBed.

If we check the angular versions history when you use a dependency that is packed with CommonJS, you would obviously get results in the form of larger and slower applications. With the introduction of Angular 10, when you use any of these bundles, it will automatically give you a warning message. As a result, the ECMAScript module (ESM) bundle will be a good choice for your next project.

Angular 11

The key features of Angular 11 are improved router efficiency, automated font inlining, and stricter types. Aside from that, Angular 11 includes the default Automatic font inlining feature, which will be enabled for applications that have already been upgraded.

Popular bug fixes include: 

1. RouterLink: if defined in a component with an empty path, the relative link is wrong.
2. StatusChanges for FormGroup and FormControl are not emitted when they are created.
3. i18n: The use of translation strings outside of templates.

Features released in Angular 11 are: 

• Automatic font inlining: Angular CLI will download and inline fonts that are utilized and linked in the application during compile time. As a result, the program will run quicker.
• Improved construction and service
• Logging and Reporting
• Updated Ivy-based language service preview Updated Hot Module Replacement (HMR) Support.
• Use ng serve —hmr for faster builds. 
• Webpack 5 support is experimental.

Deprecation

• TSLint has been deprecated by the project’s designers, who encourage switching to ESLint. As a result, TSLint and Codelyzer have been deprecated in version 11.
• Support for Internet Explorer 9/IE10 and Internet Explorer Mobile has been discontinued.

Angular 12

The goal of Angular 12 is to use “Ivy Everywhere.” This version compared to the angular versions history unlocks a lot of potential for the platform with the move to Ivy, its overall compilation, and rendering pipeline. Important features released in Angular 12 include pleasant workarounds for providing info to HTTP interceptors, inline support @Component decorator’s styles property contains Sass, tailwind CSS support to utilize Tailwind CSS, simply install the tailwinds package and add tailwind.config.js. By default, strict mode is turned on and the Ivy-based Language Service is transitioning from opt-into a default setting. Also, webpack 5 production-ready support is now available, and Internet Explorer 11 support has been phased out.

Along with the above-stated features, Angular 12 brings massive improvements in performance, compilers, language service, form validation, styling, nullish coalescing, legacy i18n message IDs, and many more. The deprecation of the view engine and the addition of the Ivy ecosystem is one of the major enhancements considered in the Angular version 12. In addition to the previously mentioned features, Angular 12 offers many bug fixes for the browser, kernel, language function, and router. The Angular 12.1 version now includes APIs for selecting proper test teardown behavior, as well as compiler improvements for unterminated interpolation and view restoration.

Angular 13

Angular 13 is the most recent version of the TypeScript-based Angular web application development frameworks. It comes out with some exciting new features for Angular developers. The traditional View Engine, on the other hand, is no longer supported by Angular 13. Also, Angular will no longer assist Internet Explorer 11. Angular version 13 codebases that rely on View Engine have higher maintenance costs and are more complex. Now, with Angular 13, creating dynamic components is easy.

Previously we had to write so much code for creating a dynamic component and now it is a hassle-free experience. The new API eliminates the requirement to introduce a ComponentFactoryResolver into the function Object() {[native code]}. Ivy gives you the option of using ViewContainerRef.createComponent to instantiate the component without having to create a factory.

Angular now supports the use of persistent build-cache by default for new v13 projects, resulting in a 68% boost in build speed. For new apps, RxJS 7.4 is now the default. Dropping IE 11 is a positive factor because it results in smaller bundle size and faster app loading time. In addition to that, Angular can now use modern browser features like CSS variables and web animations via native web APIs. TypeScript 4.4 support is now available in the Angular 13 version. As a result, versions before TypeScript 4.4.2 are no longer supported in the core. 

Angular 14 

Google’s latest typescript-based online application, Angular 14, comes with a number of built-in capabilities to facilitate the creation of high-quality apps.

Top Angular 14 Features:

Angular 14 is unique among its predecessors and other web development frameworks for its set of impressive features such as:

• Streamlined Page Title
• A Lesser Need For Complex Code 
• Extended Developer Diagnostics
• No Requirement For Ng Modules
• Standalone Components 
• Typed Angular Forms 
• Angular CLI Enhancements
• Catch Nullish Coalescing
• More Expedient And Quick Angular App Development
• Banana-in-a-box Error

Top Angular 14 Use Cases 

As a popular JavaScript framework developed by Google, Angular 14 offers a comprehensive set of tools, features, and components that let developers build dynamic and responsive apps. Here are some of the main use cases and features of Angular 14:

1. Business Web Applications 
2. Flexible Mobile Applications 
3. One-page Applications
4. Progressive Web Applications 
5. An Animated UI 
6. Industry-specific Apps Include: Travel Applications, Social Media Applications, Applications For Healthcare, Applications For Weather, Job Boards, Apps For Streaming Video & eCommerce Software. 

Angular 14 comes packed with a plethora of advanced features that significantly enhance its usability, consistency, and productivity. With its effectiveness, user-friendly nature, and flexibility, Angular empowers developers to create highly successful and impressive applications.

One noteworthy improvement in Angular 14 is the introduction of stand-alone components, eliminating the necessity for the ng module. This enhancement streamlines and accelerates the app development process, making it even simpler and more efficient.

Angular 15 

With the release of Angular 14, the Angular Team officially announced the removal of Angular’s outdated compiler and rendering pipeline, resulting in a significant improvement in the development experience. Angular 15 continues this trend, offering similar benefits. One notable addition in Angular 15 is the introduction of stable standalone APIs, allowing developers to build applications without relying on Ng Modules.

This update not only enhances the overall experience and performance but also reduces the need for boilerplate code. Additionally, Angular 15 introduces an API for directive composition, further empowering developers with increased flexibility and capabilities. These changes and additions in Angular 15 have pleasantly surprised the developer community, making it an exciting release.

Having said that, let’s delve deeper into the top features and updates of Angular 15 that have garnered significant attention among developers.

Top Features Of Angular 15

● Stable Standalone APIs

● Introduction Of A New API System 

● Debugging Made Easy With Improved Stack Traces 

● Improved Experimental ESbuild Support 

● Single File Components 

● More Stable Image Directives 

● Stabilized MDC-Based Components

How To Switch From Angular 14 To Angular 15 

So having explored the key features of Angular 15, the one final question is “How do I update to the new version of Angular 15?” 

Updating from Angular 14 to Angular 15 is a straightforward process that requires minimal effort. If you are currently using Angular 14, there are only a few steps that you need to follow for the update. These steps include:

1. Make sure you’re using a supported version of node.js (versions 14.21.x, 16.13.x, and 18.10x). 

2. Verify that your version of TypeScript is also supported. Starting from version 4.8, Angular 15 officially supports TypeScript as its programming language.

3. Using the ng update command, you can directly upgrade the version of the Angular CLI. Simply navigate to your application directory and execute the command “ng update @angular/core@15 @angular/cli@15”. This command directly updates both the Angular Core and Angular CLI to version 15.

4. Another approach is to uninstall and reinstall the CLI for both Angular 14 and 15 if you prefer a fresh installation.

Alternatively, you can proceed with updating the components and library files specific to your Angular version. This process involves updating the necessary dependencies, such as Angular modules, libraries, and other related files, to ensure compatibility and take advantage of the latest features and improvements.

Angular 16

Google’s Angular team has recently unveiled the highly anticipated Angular 16, marking a significant milestone since its inception. With its release on May 3, 2023, Angular 16 is hailed as the largest and most notable update to date, surpassing the already impressive Angular 15.

In the section above, I have highlighted the remarkable changes introduced in Angular 15, but the latest version raises the bar even higher. The Angular team has risen to the challenge and have delivered a powerhouse release in 2023, packed with impressive features and updates that cater to the needs of developers, business owners, and technology enthusiasts alike. 

Angular 16 Features

Angular v16 has joined the ranks of the revolutionary Angular framework, bringing along a host of enhancements and updates that elevate its capabilities and efficiency for developers and technology enthusiasts. This latest version of Angular is a testament to the community’s feedback and demands, as it addresses numerous quality-of-life improvements and incorporates over 2500 highly requested features on GitHub. Let’s delve into the details of what Angular v16 has in store for us.

1. Angular Signals (Developer Preview) that enhances the control of the state changes in applications.

2. Enhanced Hydration Developer Preview 

3. Faster Builds With The esbuild Developer Preview 

4. Improved Documentation And Schematics for Standalone Components 

5. Options To Improve JavaScript Bundles Created By Angular CLI

6. Bind Router Information To Component Inputs 

Other Features and Improvements Include:

• Support For Tailwind CSS
• Support For CSS Isolation
• Supports Native Trusted Types
• Dynamic Import Of Router Data Feature
• New Date Range Picker Component

Angular 17

Angular 17, unveiled on November 8, 2023, introduces a host of exhilarating updates and features designed to elevate the developer experience. Among these enhancements, a standout addition is the incorporation of built-in syntax for control flow. This empowers developers with a more expressive and efficient template syntax, further enriching the capabilities of Angular.

Angular 17 Features

Angular 17 boasts a plethora of compelling new features, upgrades, and enhancements, enriching the framework with a myriad of exciting possibilities. The new features include:

• Angular’s New Innovative Site
• Default Standalone Components
• SSR and SSG support
• Build-in Control flow
  • @If
  • @If, @else If, @else
  • @for
• Automatic Migration to built-in control flow
• Deferrable Views
• Build Performance with ES-build

Frequently Asked Questions On Angular 

What Is The Latest Angular Framework?

Angular v16 is the latest and the most recent angular version released by Google’s Angular team. 

Is Angular 16 Stable?

Yes! The Angular 16 version is stable. But it’s important to note that ongoing bug fixes and support are limited to the three most recent versions. To maintain a balance between stability and progress, the Angular team follows a consistent release cycle of a major update every 6 months.

What Are The Most Important Concepts Of Angular?

The fundamental components of Angular include directives, modules, decorators, components, services, dependency injection, pipes, and templates.

What Are The Main Pillars Of Angular?

The Angular Router is built upon three fundamental pillars: router states, URL matching, and navigation. 

How To Update The Angular Version?

The Angular update website offers a simple web interface for selecting project attributes like the Angular version to target, project complexity, and so forth. The website will then walk you through the process of updating your project to a newer version. 

Conclusion 

Well, it’s certainly a challenging task to release Angular versions in that frequency with a huge JavaScript ecosystem and Developers community. Without any doubt, the Angular Version History shows the commendable job done by the Angular team at Google by bringing out the latest versions of Angular with a refreshed feature list. 

Hope you enjoyed this article. If you have read the blog from top to bottom, then it is quite obvious that you are an angular freak as I am. It is evident that the Angular team tries to release a new version update every six months. If you are still using some of the older Angular versions, it’s high time to upgrade to the newer version to create amazing apps that support modern Web Application Development standards. This article will be upgraded from time to time when the new versions of Angular are released. Visit back again to get more information about the version upgrades.

Sakthi S

April 26, 2022

Last updated: April 2, 2024

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