The latest Android and Google Play news for app and game developers.
Posted by David Brazdil and Nicolas Geoffray, Software Engineers
In Android, we care immensely about providing the best experience to our users and our developers. With each OS release, new features enable you to provide amazing experiences for users; however, we noticed that some app developers have been using non-SDK interfaces, which leads to increased crashes for users and emergency rollouts for developers. We want to do better and need your help to ensure that Android is stable with each new OS.
Three months ago, we announced our plans to start restricting the usage of non-SDK interfaces in Android P. We know these restrictions can impact your release workflow, and we want to make sure you have the tools to detect usage of non-SDK interfaces, as well as time in your planning for adjusting to the new policies and for giving us feedback.
In the Developer Preview and Beta 1, we have provided ways for you to see the impact of these restrictions on your app. In the Developer Preview, use of restricted APIs show up in logs and toast messages, and in Beta 1, we provided a StrictMode policy that allows you to programmatically find these restrictions and do your own logging. For example:
We understand there can be multiple reasons apps want to use non-SDK interfaces, and ensuring your app will continue to work in Android P is important to us. Many of you have explained your use cases through our issue tracker (thank you!), and for most of these requests, we have lifted the restrictions on specific non-SDK interfaces for Android P by adding them to the greylist. In addition, our team has conducted static analysis on millions of apps and processed thousands of automated reports from internal and external beta testers. Through this analysis, we have identified additional non-SDK interfaces that apps rely on and added them to the greylist. For everything on the greylist, we will be investigating public SDK alternatives for future releases. However, it's possible we may have missed some non-SDK interface uses, so we have made the majority of them available for apps whose target SDK is Android Oreo or below.
In summary, apps running on Android P will be subject to restricted usage of non-SDK interfaces. If you are targeting Android P, the greylist shows the non-SDK interfaces that will still be available, while all other non-SDK interfaces will not be accessible. If you are targeting Android Oreo or below, most restrictions will not apply, but you will get logcat warnings if you are accessing non-SDK interfaces that are not in the greylist (note that users don't see such warnings).
Try out our new Beta 2 release and use StrictMode to detect your non-SDK interfaces usage. You should expect Beta 2 to closely match what the final release will implement for restricting non-SDK interface usages. Also, please take a look at our new FAQ, which we hope will answer any questions you have around the feature. If not, let us know!
Originally posted on Google Developers Blog
Posted by Nathan Martz, Product Manager, Google Cardboard
Human beings experience sound in all directions—like when a fire truck zooms by, or when an airplane is overhead. Starting today, the Cardboard SDKs for Unity and Android support spatial audio, so you can create equally immersive audio experiences in your virtual reality (VR) apps. All your users need is their smartphone, a regular pair of headphones, and a Google Cardboard viewer.
Many apps create simple versions of spatial audio—by playing sounds from the left and right in separate speakers. But with today’s SDK updates, your app can produce sound the same way humans actually hear it. For example:
We built today’s updates with performance in mind, so adding spatial audio to your app has minimal impact on the primary CPU (where your app does most of its work). We achieve these results in a couple of ways:
It’s really easy to get started with the SDK’s new audio features. Unity developers will find a comprehensive set of components for creating soundscapes on Android, iOS, Windows and OS X. And native Android developers will now have a simple Java API for simulating virtual sounds and environments.
Check out our Android sample app (for developer reference only), browse the documentation on the Cardboard developers site, and start experimenting with spatial audio today. We’re excited to see (and hear) the new experiences you’ll create!
By Jamal Eason, Product Manager, Android
Yesterday we announced Android 5.1, an updated version of the Android Lollipop platform that improves stability, provides better control of notifications, and increases performance. As a part of the Lollipop update, we are releasing the Android 5.1 SDK (API Level 22) which supports the new platform and lets you get started with developing and testing.
For developers, Android 5.1 introduces a small set of new APIs. A key API addition is support for multiple SIM cards, which is important for many regions where Android One phones are being adopted. Consumers of Android One devices will have more flexibility to switch between carriers and manage their network activities in the way that works best for them. Therefore you, as a developer, can create new app experiences that take advantage of this new feature.
In addition to the new consumer features, Android 5.1 also enhances enterprise features to better support the launch of Android for Work.
Android 5.1 supports multiple SIM cards on compatible devices like Android One.
To get you started with Android 5.1, we have updated the Android SDK tools to support the new platform and its new APIs. The SDK now includes Android 5.1 emulator system images that you can use to test your apps and develop using the latest capabilities and APIs. You can update your SDK through the Android SDK Manager in Android Studio.
For details on the new developer APIs, take a look at the API Overview.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll be rolling out updates for Android 5.1 to the following Nexus devices: Nexus 4, Nexus 5, Nexus 6, Nexus 7 [2012], Nexus 7 [2012] (3G), Nexus 7 (2013), Nexus 7 [2013] (3G/LTE), Nexus 9, Nexus 9 (LTE), Nexus 10, and Nexus Player.
As with all Android releases, it’s a good idea to test your apps on the new platform as soon as possible. You can get started today using Android 5.1 system images with the emulator that’s included in the SDK, or you can download an Android 5.1 Nexus image and flash the system image to your Nexus device.
If you have not had a chance to update your app to material design, or explore how your app might work on Android Wear, Android TV, or even Android Auto, now is a good time to get started with the Android 5.1 SDK update.
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