I have an open request for this at Google, we will see if they actually do something with it in the future since I don't see the point of wasting sometimes minutes for a initial build I cannot even use later. However on a normal startup case you can just cancel the build. However mind that this does not the same as 'Indexing' which is Android Studio indeed need. I consider this a bug because it's indeed pointless since it does not make consequent builds any faster nor it is required for the IDE to work unlike what the accepted answer suggests. When you ready to build then you can just click on run again. The way to cancel the build is just simply click on the little red x at the task at the bottom. while indexing if it happens straight after the initial syncing with Gradle if it is required when opening. even though the builds the app this doesn't mean much because when you click build again it starts over. Note, that the Android project view shows Loading.most devs would start the program then connect the phone/open the emulator first.I find this build to be pointless for a variety of reasons: You can actually cancel the build on start.

What is android studio indexing