Watch I/O together | 13 things Android developers can't miss

By Maru Ahues Bouza, Director, Android Developer Relations

There are only a few platforms in the world that allow developers to easily build and distribute to the devices of billions of users around the world - not just on phones, but TVs, cars, tablets, watches, and more . At the just-released Google I/O conference , we covered many of the ways you can take advantage of these opportunities on the Android platform, as well as solving more general problems with Modern Android Development, making it easier to build suitable The experience of screen devices of various sizes in daily life.

We've rounded up 13 things Android developers need to know: From Jetpack Compose to tablets to Wear OS, and of course... Android 13! Stay tuned for updates from Google I/O, as well as 26 tech talks and 4 workshops from the Android team.

Modern Android Development

#1: Jetpack Compose Beta 1.2, supporting more advanced use cases

Jetpack Compose , the modern UI toolkit for Android, continues to bring the APIs you need to support more advanced use cases such as downloadable fonts, LazyGrids, window inlines, nested scrolling interop, and more tool support , such as LiveEdit, Recomposition Debugging, and Animation Preview. Please read the article for details.

#2: Android Studio: Added Live Editing feature

Android Studio Dolphin Beta and Electric Eel Canary help you get more done, faster! Android Studio Dolphin provides new features and improvements for Jetpack Compose and Wear OS development, as well as an updated Logcat experience. Android Studio Electric Eel integrates the new Google Play SDK indexing and Firebase Crashlytics. It also provides a new resizable emulator for testing your app's performance on a large screen, and a new Live Edit feature that lets you deploy code changes in composable functions instantly . Watch the " Introduction to Android Dev Tools Updates " talk, or read the published article to learn more about Android Studio updates during I/O.

#3: Baseline Profile - Faster App Loading!

The loading speed of an app after installation can have a big impact on user retention. To improve the experience in this area, we have created Baseline Profiles. Baseline profiles let apps and libraries provide the Android runtime with metadata used by code paths and use it to prioritize ahead-of-time (AOT) compilation. After only adding the baseline configuration file, with no other code changes, we saw a 30% faster app startup time! We already use benchmark profiles in Jetpack: Provide a better end-user experience by adding benchmark files for popular development libraries like Fragments and Compose. Watch the " Introduction to App Performance Updates " talk, or read the article for details.

better collaboration

#4: Go big on Android tablets

Google is going all out in the tablet space. At last year's I/O we launched Android 12L, a feature update optimized for big-screen devices, and Android 13 includes all those improvements and more. We also announced the Pixel tablet, which will officially ship next year. Now that we've got you covered with exciting new hardware, updated OS and Google apps, optimized guides and development libraries, and exciting changes to the Play Store, it's time to test your app And the perfect time to get them ready for big-screen devices and Android 13. That's why we have four talks and a workshop at this year's I/O conference to give you a complete walkthrough of the development journey from application design to implementation for large-screen devices.

#5: Wear OS: Compose and more!

With the latest update to Wear OS, you can rethink the possibilities of developing for wearables. Jetpack Compose for Wear OS is now in beta, allowing you to create beautiful Wear OS apps with less code. Health Services is also in beta now, bringing a ton of innovation to the health and fitness developer community. Finally, we're announcing the Google Pixel watch, which combines the best of Fitbit and Wear OS, coming this fall. You can learn more about the exciting new news about wearables by watching the Wear OS tech talk and reading the Jetpack Compose for Wear OS announcement .

#6: Launching Health Connect

Health Connect is a new platform from close collaboration between Google and Samsung to simplify the connection between apps, make it easier to reach more users with less effort, and share users more securely across apps and devices Health and fitness data. Today, we're opening up access to Health Connect through Jetpack Health. Read our published article or watch the I/O talk video to learn more.

#7: Android for Cars and Android TV OS

Android for Cars and Android TV OS continue to grow in the US and globally. Now that more and more users are surfing the Internet and listening to a variety of programs while driving, we'll be introducing new features this year that will make it easier for you to develop apps for your car and TV. Watch the " Introduction to Updates for Android for Cars" and "Introduction to Updates for Google TV and Android TV " presentations to learn more.

#8: Deliver Voice Across Devices

To help make it easier for users to call apps by voice on different devices through Google Assistant , we're adding support for the Shortcuts API to Android for Cars , and we'll also support Wear OS apps later this year. We're also making it easier for developers to build this experience with Smarter Custom Intents , enabling Assistant to better identify more types of user queries through machine learning without any tedious natural Language Understanding (NLU) training. Additionally, we're introducing improvements to make your app more discoverable on mobile platforms by voice, starting with Brandless Queries , which pushes your app even if the user doesn't explicitly name it App usage, and App Install Suggestions when your app isn't already installed - these are automatically enabled by existing App Actions.

The latest from Android, Play and more

#9: The latest update from Google Play

Learn about the highlights of updates from Google Play and new ways Play can help you grow your business, including: deep linking capabilities, the ability to create up to 50 custom store displays, and LiveOps Beta allowing more developers to submit for use on Play Candidate content for featured display on the Store, as well as giving you more flexibility in selling subscription content. Please read our published article for details.

#10: Google Play SDK Index

You can take advantage of the new Google Play SDK index to evaluate whether an SDK is right for your app. We made this public site and listed over 100 of the most widely used commercial SDKs, along with which app permissions they require, statistics on the apps that use them, and even which version of the SDK is the most popular. Watch the " Introduction to Google Play Updates" and "Introduction to Android Developer Tools Updates " presentations, or read our published articles to learn more.

#11: Android Privacy Sandbox

The Privacy Sandbox on Android provides a path for new advertising solutions that improve user privacy protections without compromising the use of free content and services. We recently released the first developer preview of the Android Privacy Sandbox, giving you an early preview of the SDK runtime and Topics API . You can conduct initial tests of these new technologies, evaluate how you are adopting them in your own solutions, and share your feedback with us.

#12: New Google Wallet API

The new Google Wallet gives users quick and secure access to everyday essentials on Android and Wear OS. We're enhancing the Google Wallet API (formerly the Google Pay Passes API) to support universal passes, grouped and hybrid passes, such as combining event tickets with coupons. We've also introduced a new Android SDK that allows you to save passes directly from your app without the need for background integration support. Please read the published article or watch the presentation video , you can also check the official documentation for details.

#13: And of course, Android 13!

The second beta version of Android 13 has been released (read the second graphic)! Get your apps ready for the latest features in Android 13 privacy and security, including new permissions to send notifications, a photo picker for privacy, and improvements to pairing with nearby devices and accessing media files permissions. You can also add new features to your app, such as language settings for individual apps, themed app icons, and support for new modern standards such as HDR video and Bluetooth Low Energy Audio (LE Audio). Simply sign up for the beta with a supported Pixel device , or experience Android 13 on select models of phones, tablets, and foldables from our partners. Visit the Android 13 developer site to learn more.

These are just the tip of the iceberg of what's coming to Android developers at this year's Google I/O conference . Be sure to watch the "What's New in Android" talk, plus 26 tech talks and 4 workshops to get the full picture of Android technology at Google I/O, don't miss it!

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