The sunflower example app by Google uses a private Class with a companion object to implement a Singleton pattern of their repository instead of simply implementing the repository as an (inherently Singleton) Object.

This is the first time I've seen a Singleton implemented this way in Kotlin instead of implementing it as an Object. In what context(s) should this private constructor implementation be used instead of the more common Object implementation?

class GardenPlantingRepository private constructor(
  private val gardenPlantingDao: GardenPlantingDao
) {
  suspend fun createGardenPlanting(plantId: String) {
    withContext(IO) {
      val gardenPlanting = GardenPlanting(plantId)
      gardenPlantingDao.insertGardenPlanting(gardenPlanting)
    }
  }

  suspend fun removeGardenPlanting(gardenPlanting: GardenPlanting) {
    withContext(IO) {
      gardenPlantingDao.deleteGardenPlanting(gardenPlanting)
    }
  }

  fun getGardenPlantingForPlant(plantId: String) =

    gardenPlantingDao.getGardenPlantingForPlant(plantId)

  fun getGardenPlantings() = gardenPlantingDao.getGardenPlantings()

  fun getPlantAndGardenPlantings() = gardenPlantingDao.getPlantAndGardenPlantings()

  companion object {
    // For Singleton instantiation
    @Volatile private var instance: GardenPlantingRepository? = null

    fun getInstance(gardenPlantingDao: GardenPlantingDao) =
      instance ?: synchronized(this) {
        instance ?: GardenPlantingRepository(gardenPlantingDao).also { instance = it }
      }
  }
}