By Ahmed Mounir Gad, Product Manager, Firebase Test Lab
To deliver the best user experience right out of the gate, Firebase Test Lab for Android allows you to test your apps and ensure their compatibility with multiple device configurations, across OS versions, screen orientations, and locales. With a single click, you can run your tests on hundreds of device configurations in Google Cloud and receive your results quickly.
Today, we’re excited to announce the availability of the Android 7.1 Developer Preview on Firebase Test Lab virtual devices. In addition to testing the Android 7.1 Developer Preview on your physical Android Device with the Android Beta program, or on your local Android Emulator, you can use the Firebase Test Lab to scale your app testing to hundreds of Android virtual devices.
You can also use Firebase Test Lab to perform your own testing. If you don’t have any test scripts, Robo test is ideal for doing your basic compatibility testing on the new platform. It crawls your app in an attempt to find crashes. You can also use the Espresso Test Recorder in Android Studio to record your own instrumentation tests without writing any code.
From now until the end of December (12/31/2016), Firebase Test Lab will be offered at no charge on the Firebase Blaze plan for all virtual devices, to help you ensure the compatibility of your app with the Android 7.1 Developer Preview release, as well as with other Android releases.
Posted by Larissa Fontaine, Director, Global Head of Apps Business
Development, Google Play
Almost three
years ago, we started the first of an ongoing series of developer events,
called Playtime, dedicated to educating partners on best practices and tools
available to improve their apps and games and grow successful businesses on
Google Play. It was originally a modest gathering that was held on our campus in
Mountain View, CA, but it has quickly grown to become one our premier developer
events of the year (outside of Google I/O) with a huge global footprint. We've
already been in London, Paris, Berlin, San Paulo, New Delhi, Moscow, Tel Aviv,
Tokyo, Seoul and more, just to meet directly with developers.
Today, Playtime is back in San Francisco after a long international run! On
stage, we'll recap some of our recent efforts to invest in new areas that go
beyond the smartphone, as well as announce new tools and highlight the major
progress of recently launched features that help developers increase user
engagement and make more money.
Extending beyond mobile devices
We live in a multiscreen world and people want to enjoy Android apps on the
their phones, and many other devices. That's why we have been extending Google
Play to go beyond the smartphone, enabling new app and gaming experiences while
on the go, on a chromebook, in the living room and immersed in virtual reality.
The new Daydream device platform
is going to be available soon and will come with a Google Play Store filled with
high quality VR apps. Android Apps are now available
in beta on a few Chromebook devices (same Android apps that currently run on
phones and tablets). And we recently announced a developer preview of Android
Wear 2.0 which introduced Google
Play for Wear. This makes it easier for users to discover and install great
apps that work directly on the watch.
Enhanced developer tools and programs
We continue to deliver the best tools for developers in the Play Developer
Console to drive user engagement and increase revenue.
Offer new subscription promos
We know how important subscriptions are in helping you monetize and we're
continuing to invest in features to support your subscription business.
Subscriptions are the fastest growing business model on Play, with consumer
spending in subscription apps increasing 10x over the last 3 years. Coming soon,
you'll be able to create an introductory price for new subscribers for a set
period of time. For example, you can offer a subscription for $1 per month for
the first three months before the normal subscription price kicks in. Along with
local/custom pricing and free trials already offered, introductory pricing will
help you acquire more subscribers and grow your subscription business.
Build anticipation with pre-registration
Earlier this year, we started working with select developer to let users
pre-register for major upcoming Android titles, such as Clash Royale
(Supercell), and Candy Crush Jelly Saga (King), which has driven more than 30
million installs so far. With pre-registration, users simply tap the
'pre-register' icon to show their interest. The process automatically sets up an
alert that prompts a user once the app is available. The program is limited at
this time.
Get feedback early with Early Access
In only a few short months, more developers have been leveraging the "Early
Access" open beta program to build a user base, interact with early-adopter
users and get invaluable feedback before an official launch. It has been an
immediate hit! Since the collection became available to all users, open beta
titles have been installed over 4 million times (up from 1 million in September)
and demand is growing. If you are a developer getting ready to launch on Google
Play, you can nominate your app or game to be part of Early Access. Learn more
here.
Recognizing art and innovation from Indies
To build awareness of the awesome innovation and art that indie game developers
are bringing to users on Google Play, we have invested heavily over the past
year in programs like Indie
Corner, as well as industry events like the Google
Play Indie Games Festival in North America. The new Indie Corner collection,
in particular, has already helped million of gamers discover the latest and most
innovative releases on Google Play. Developer can nominate indie game for
inclusion at g.co/indiecornersubmission. We'll pick the best games to showcase
based on the quality of the experience and exemplary use of Google Play game
services.
Ensuring fair play for everyone
Our goal is always to do the right thing for both users and developers. As game
economies have become more complex, developers are looking for more tools to
ensure that all users play fairly to make gameplay fun for everyone. Today, we
are announcing a new API (in beta) that helps developers identify users who have
requested refunds so they can better manage their economies. This program is
currently in early beta and interested developers can sign up to learn more here.
It has been another great year for Google Play thanks to the continued feedback
and support from the developer community.
With the release of Android
Studio 2.2, the time has now come to say goodbye to the Eclipse Android
Developer Tools. We have formally ended their support and development. There's
never been a better time to switch to Android Studio and experience the
improvements we've made to the Android development workflow.
Android Studio
Android Studio,
the official IDE for Android, features powerful code editing with advanced
code-completion and refactoring. It includes robust static analysis,
bringing the intelligence of the Android engineering team to you to help you
easily apply Android coding best practices, and includes simultaneous debugging
in both Java and C++ to help fix any bugs that slip through. When you combine
this with performance tooling, a fast, flexible build system, code templates,
GitHub integration, and its high-performance, feature-rich emulator, you get a
deeply Android-tailored development environment for the many form factors of the
OS. It's the development environment used by 92% of the top 125 Google Play
apps and games, and we're constantly innovating it to handle every Android
development need.
What's New in Android Studio 2.2
Android
Studio 2.2 builds on the great features from Android Studio 2.0. There are
over twenty new features that improve development whether you are designing,
iterating, or testing. Notable changes include:
Instant Run- The super-fast iteration engine now is both more reliable and
available for more types of changes
Layout
Editor- The new user interface designer that makes it easier than
ever to create beautiful app experiences
Constraint
Layout - A new flexible layout engine for building dynamic user
interfaces - designed to work with the new layout editor
C++
Support- CMake and ndk-build are now supported alongside improved
editing and debug experiences
APK
Analyzer- Inspects APKs to help you streamline your APK and debug
multi-dex
issues
GPU
Debugger (beta) - Captures a stream of OpenGL ES commands and
replays them with GPU state inspection
Espresso
Test Recorder (beta) - Records interactions with your app and
outputs UI test code
Top Developers Love Android Studio
For our ADT Fans
All of your favorite ADT tools are now part of Android Studio, including DDMS,
Trace Viewer, Network Monitor, and CPU Monitor. We've also improved Android
Studio's accessibility,
including keyboard navigation enhancements and screen reader support.
We announced
that we were ending development and official support for the Android Developer
Tools (ADT) in Eclipse at the end of 2015, including the Eclipse ADT plugin and
Android Ant build system. With the latest updates to Studio, we've completed
the transition.
Migrating to Android Studio
To get started, download and install
Android Studio. For most developers, including those with C/C++ projects,
migration is as simple as importing your existing Eclipse ADT projects in
Android Studio with the File > New > Import Project menu
option. For more details on the migration process, check out the migration
guide.
Feedback and Open Source Contributions
We're dedicated to making Android Studio the best possible integrated
development environment for building Android apps, so if there are missing
features or other challenges preventing you from switching to Android Studio, we want to hear about it [survey] ! You can also file bugs or feature requests
directly with the team, and let us know via our Twitter or Google+ accounts.
Android Studio is an open source
project, available to all at no cost. Check out our Open Source project page if
you're interested in contributing or learning more.
Posted by Kazushi Nagayama, Search Quality Analyst, and Andrew Ahn, Product
Manager
We strive to continuously make Google Play the best platform for enjoying and
discovering the most innovative and trusted apps. Today we are announcing
additional enhancements to protect the integrity of the store.
Our teams work every day to improve the quality of our discovery systems. These
content discovery systems ensure that users can find and download apps they will
love. From time to time, we observe instances of developers attempting to
manipulate the placement of their apps through illegitimate means like
fraudulent installs, fake reviews, and incentivized ratings. These attempts not
only violate the Google Play
Developer Policy, but also harm our community of developers by hindering
their chances of being discovered or recommended through our systems.
Ultimately, they put the end users at risk of making wrong decisions based on
inaccurate, unauthentic information.
Today we are rolling out improved detection and filtering systems to combat such
manipulation attempts. If an install is conducted with the intention to
manipulate an app's placement on Google Play, our systems will detect and filter
it. Furthermore, developers who continue to exhibit such behaviors could have
their apps taken down from Google Play.
In the vast majority of cases, no action will be needed. If you are asking
someone else to promote your app (e.g., third-party marketing agency), we advise
you to make sure that the promotion is based on legitimate practices. In case of
questions, please check out the Developer Support
Resources.
These important changes will help protect the integrity of Google Play, our
developer community, and ultimately our end user. Thank you for your support in
building the world's most trusted store for apps and games!
Readfeed was created to help book lovers around the world share and discuss
their favorite reads with each other more easily. Today, we are excited to
officially launch the Readfeed
app on Google Play. As one of the first online book clubs available only on
Android devices, Readfeed lets you create your virtual bookshelf by adding books
to custom lists, track and share your reading progress with community members,
and see what books others are reading and talking about.
Readfeed has come a long way since we first released the app as beta in Google
Play's Early Access program. As one of the first graduates of the beta program,
we were able to solicit feature requests, identify bugs, locate new and optimize
existing target markets, as well as build a sizable reader community. This
allowed Readfeed to deliver the best possible experience right out of the gate.
As a guest on this blog, we thought it would be helpful to share some important
best practices that we learned from the Early Access program to improve your
products and scale your user base.
Harnessing Feedback Loops
One of the core principles underlying the construction of any successful product
is setting up an effective feedback loop between users and product creators.
Google Play Early access does this automatically. Users show up (sometimes
seemingly out of nowhere), install the app, and leave feedback in the Beta
Feedback section of the developer console. We can then reply in that section or
take the conversation into an email, address the issue, and email users when
it's addressed. Many improvements to Readfeed have been made as a direct result
of this process.
Identifying New Target Markets
One major benefit of Early Access was that it gave us immediate access to a
worldwide audience of readers. We were able to quickly assess the different
book-related markets that existed based on user feedback and interviews done
through email. Since launched in beta, over 1000 people have asked to read free
books. Apparently this need exists in third-world countries and we plan to add
this functionality in a future release.
Identifying Bugs
Bugs plague any app in its early stages. Because of the variety of devices that
Early Access users have, ranging from Android 4.2 rooted devices to the latest
Nexus phones, we were able to identify bugs very quickly. For instance, on
Android 4.2 there was a recurrent crash which was tough for me to identify with
my own devices. After one user emailed me about it, I was able to gather enough
information to resolve the issue and put out an update immediately.
Identifying New Features
Google Play Early Access made it a lot easier to determine what to do next. When
about 10 people request a feature, we know it's immediately important and put it
in the app. One feature that came directly from Early Access feedback was the
ability to rate books without leaving a review.
Community Building
Early Access has allowed us to start building a community. For instance, a
Software tester from the UK who likes books sent me a detailed analysis of all
of Readfeed's bugs. Also, we've witnessed many people take the initiative and
answer others' questions about the app. Because of the critical mass that Google
Play Early Access helps you build, it's easy for communities to form and start
sharing information with each other.
A/B Testing
We now have enough users to A/B test certain parts of the app and get
statistically significant results. This is something that usually takes a long
time to achieve.
There are many other ways Google Play Early Access have helped us, and we're
thankful that Readfeed has had the opportunity to be a part of the program. I
can say without reservation that our current and future product would be in a
very different place had it not been for our inclusion in Early Access.
Get Involved
If you are a developer getting ready to launch on Google Play, you can nominate your app or game to be part of Early Access. Learn more here.
It's an exciting time to be a health & fitness app developer. With people
shelling out on fitness more than ever before, we're seeing record high levels
of gym memberships and attendance, the rise of boutique fitness, and an emphasis
on connected devices.
Paramount to this growth is the integration of smart technology. Whether it be
through streaming video, wearables, or mobile apps, technology empowers us with
instant access to high quality workouts, sensor biofeedback, and endless
on-demand inspiration. At Google Play, we've seen this growth reflected by the
incredible popularity of health & fitness apps. In fact, this is one of Google
Play's fastest growing app categories, boasting the most engaged 30d active
users.
As the resident health & fitness expert on Google Play, I had the opportunity to
speak about what's driving the category's growth at the recent Wearables Technology Show. Here are the top
three recommendations I shared with the audience to help coach developers
towards building more valuable app experiences:
Lose it!
#1: Be invisible
We all know how painful manually logging activity and biometrics is- be
it calorie tracking, workouts, moods, or hormone cycles. Manual logging is
actually the number one reason users drop off.
What you should do: Minimize distraction with automation
wherever possible while maximizing value at the appropriate moments. Remember
that you are in all likelihood a companion experience to the main event.
Lose
It! makes food tracking easier by using your phone's camera and image
recognition technology to identify foods and their nutritional information.
Goodbye manual calorie counting!
Strava
uses auto pause detection, recognizing when you are resting during exercise so
you don't need to fiddle with your device and can stay safe and in the zone.
Freeletics
#2: Be personal
Investing in robust personalization has been the driving factor in
improving app engagement and buyer conversion among many of our top developers.
What you should do: Personalize the experience for each user or
distinct user cohorts by leveraging technology like the Awareness API, Fit API, Google
Sign In, and Facebook
Login to intelligently pull in relevant user data. Think about your
first-time users, power users, high value users, etc. and treat them uniquely.
Freeletics
personalizes onboarding and the overall app experience based on gender and
fitness level leading to a 58% increase in weekly active
sessions.
Workout
Trainer by Skimble increased user engagement by 30% through
personalizing training programs based on user fitness assessments, goals, and
workout patterns.
Glow
#3: Be assistive
The rise of smartphones, wearables and IoT have left us swimming in data
and dashboards and left many consumers wondering, so what?
What you should do: Offer insights and suggestions, not just
raw data. Users are not engineers and generally do not want to process complex
data or dashboards. In most cases, they want you to tell them what to do in the
moment or provide digestible summaries after the fact. Keep it simple.
Glow
provides personalized insights that leverage user-inputted data and third party
data from Google Fit to
help couples achieve their fertility goals.
Beddit
gives personalized daily tips to improve your sleep and wellness by analyzing
sleep cycles, resting heart rate, respiration, room temperature, and more.
At the end of the day, changing health and fitness habits is hard. Make it
easier for your users by seamlessly guiding them on what they
personally need to do to achieve their goal. It's that simple
;) We encourage you to experiment with these exercises to get your app fit for
the millions of Android users looking to live a healthier, happier life.
Posted by Kacey Fahey, Marketing Programs Manager, Google Play
Interested in growing your app on a global scale? See how two app developers
localized their apps in unique ways to drive revenue and user engagement.
drupe
drupe
is a communications app that utilizes the openness of android to build a truly
native experience delivering highly contextual recommendations to their users
across the world.
Key to achieving international growth, drupe has translated their app in 17
languages, and their store listing page in 28 languages. This led to an increase
in conversion and retention rates. Additionally, when entering India, the team
noticed several user reviews requesting integration with a specific messaging
app widely used in the Indian market. Through a combination of this integration,
adding Hindi language translation, and other new features, drupe saw improved
performance. In six months, daily active users increased 300%, and actions per
average daily user increased 25% in the Indian market.
Noom
Noom
is a health & fitness app that has achieved an 80% increase in international
revenue growth on Android over the past three years by localizing their app with
unique cultural behaviors, cuisines, and local-market coaches.
In addition to translating their app and store listing page, Noom conducted
extensive analysis to determine the right financial model tailored to each
international market. This included evaluation of their competitive landscape
and local health and wellness spending behavior, in addition to running pricing
experiments to determine the optimal offering between subscriptions, IAPs, or a
premium app.
Use the Localization
Checklist to learn more about tailoring your app for different markets to
drive installs and revenue, and to create a better overall user experience.
Also, get the Playbook for
Developers app to stay up-to-date on new features and learn best practices
that will help you grow a successful business on Google Play.
