Android Developers Blog

Posted by Ady Abraham, Software Engineer For a long time, phones have had a display that refreshes at 60Hz. Application and game developers could just assume that the refresh rate is 60Hz, frame deadline is 16.6ms, and things would just work. This is no longer the case. New flagship devices are built with higher refresh rate displays, providing smoother animations, lower latency, and an overall nicer user experience. There are also devices that support multiple refresh rates, such as the Pixel 4, which supports both 60Hz and 90Hz. A 60Hz display refreshes the display content every 16.6ms. This means that an image will be shown for the duration of a multiple of 16.6ms (16.6ms, 33.3ms, 50ms, etc.). A display that supports multiple refresh rates, provides more options to render at different speeds without jitter. For example, a game that cannot sustain 60fps rendering must drop all the way to 30fps on a 60Hz display to remain smooth and stutter free (since the display is limited to presen...

Posted by Dave Burke, VP of Engineering Our teams, like all of you, continue getting used to a new normal. For many of us, that means working from living rooms, kitchens, backyards and bedrooms. So, from our homes to yours, we wanted to take a moment to share our most recent developer preview for Android 11. This update includes bug fixes and a set of productivity improvements for developers. You can see some of the highlights below, and visit the Android 11 developer site for details on all of the new features in Android 11. Today’s release is for developers and not intended for daily or consumer use, so we’re making it available by manual download and flash for Pixel 2, 3, 3a, or 4 devices. If you’re already running a Developer Preview build, you’ll receive an over-the-air (OTA) update to today’s release soon. As always, let us know what you think , and thank you for the helpful feedback you’ve shared so far. What’s in Developer Preview 3 In today’s release there are a number of ...

Posted by Nate Fischer , Software Engineer, WebView team Since 2014, Android WebView has paved the way as an updateable system component, delivering stability and performance improvements, modern web platform features, and security patches to Android apps and users. However, updates can be a double edged sword: as much as we strive for stability and backward compatibility, new crashes and breaking changes occasionally slip through. To solve these issues faster, today we're announcing WebView DevTools, a new set of on-device debugging tools to diagnose WebView-caused crashes and misbehaving web platform features. For your convenience, WebView DevTools comes included as part of WebView itself. The easiest way to launch WebView Devtools is to try out WebView Beta . WebView's beta program is a way for app developers to get WebView several weeks before they reach users, for extra lead time to report compatibility bugs to our team . Starting with today's release (M83), WebView B...

Posted by Krish Vitaldevara, Director of Product Management Trust & Safety, Google Play As part of our continuing efforts to enhance user trust and safety across Google Play, we regularly examine our policies to ensure a positive experience for developers and users. Today we are announcing policy updates that give users more control over their data, tighten subscription policies, and help prevent deceptive apps and media getting onto the Play Store. We understand that many of you are adjusting to or actively supporting efforts in response to the current unprecedented circumstances. We want to assure you that we are mindful and supportive of those efforts, and have taken steps to minimize the potential short-term impact of these changes. You can read more about that in this blog post which shares resources for developers navigating the current context. We also wanted to briefly highlight two of the more impactful policies announced today. More transparent subscription offers Subsc...

Posted by Angela Ying, Product Manager, Google Play For many developers, subscriptions are an important part of your business. Google Play has continued to support the growth of subscription offerings through developer tools such as new insights in the Google Play Console , and an improved user experience, including the subscriptions center , where users can easily manage all of their subscriptions. Part of improving the subscription user experience comes from fostering a trustworthy platform for subscribers; making sure they feel fully informed when they purchase in-app subscriptions. To continue to build this trust, we announced an updated subscriptions policy today , as part of a broader policy update to build user trust and enhance user safety across Google Play. This new policy requires you to be transparent about your subscription offering, to ensure every user evaluating your service has an informed choice. When users lose trust in your app due to unclear subscription offers, ...

Posted by Michael Watson, Product Manager, Google Play With more kids spending time at home, parents are looking for ways to find apps and games for children that are both enriching and entertaining. Today, we’re announcing an update that will make it easier for parents to find this content on the Google Play Store. We’re launching the Teacher Approved program , an editorial program to highlight high-quality, teacher-approved apps for kids. This is part of our ongoing effort to create a safer Google Play for kids . What’s changing We consulted with academic experts to develop a framework for rating apps for kids. Specially trained teachers across the US will rate apps for kids based on this framework, evaluating things like: Design quality Appeal to children Enrichment potential Ads & in-app purchases Age appropriateness Teacher-approved apps will: Be eligible to appear in the new Kids section on Google Play Be eligible for featuring in banners or collections on Google Play Displa...

Posted by Sam Tolomei , Business Development Manager, Google Play In these unprecedented times, Google Play's mission to support you, ensure your businesses continue to operate well, and help users get the content they need is more important than ever. With a surge in need for information, communications tools, entertainment, and more, we are striving to ensure our operations run smoothly, and we need your support. Below, we’ve pulled together some important information to help you maintain business continuity, as well as best practices to help you stay nimble in the changing landscape. Extended app review times Like many of you, we've had to manage work disruptions as a result of changing business conditions. This has led to a temporary slowing down of the app review process, which now may take 7 days or longer. As the situation evolves, we will continue to make sure that the most important updates reach users quickly, which may result in fluctuating review times. Certain cri...