Android Developers Blog

Posted by Steve Hartford, Product Manager, Google Play Google Play is committed to a healthy ecosystem, where developers succeed by creating high-quality apps that users love. Many developers realize that success using Google Play’s one-time purchase and subscription services. Over the last decade, we’ve improved the purchase experience for Android users with features like paying via carrier billing (with over 180 supported carriers today), and tools to budget expenses and easily manage subscriptions. We’re furthering these efforts with the launch of Billing Library version 3. Now available, this newest version includes new ways users can pay, subscription promotion capabilities, purchase attribution for games, and improvements to purchase reliability and security. Starting August 2, 2021 , all new apps must use Billing Library version 3 or newer. By November 1, 2021 , all updates to existing apps must use Billing Library version 3 or newer. Paying with Cash We continuously work to e...

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 Kanika Sachdeva, Product Manager, Google Play At Google Play, we’re committed to providing a positive, safe environment for children and families. Over the last few years, we’ve helped parents find family-friendly content through the Designed for Families program and empowered them to set digital ground rules for their families with Family Link parental controls. After taking input from users and developers we are evolving our Google Play policies to provide additional protections for children and families. These policy changes build on our existing efforts to ensure that apps for children have appropriate content, show suitable ads, and handle personally identifiable information correctly; they also reduce the chance that apps not intended for children could unintentionally attract them. Over the next few months, we will continue to roll out additional features that will help parents make informed choices before they install apps for their kids. What’s changing for develope...

Posted by Kobi Glick, Product Lead, Google Play Over the last 10 years, we’ve worked together to build an incredible ecosystem with more than 2.5 billion active users in over 190 countries. This would not be possible without you and all the fantastic apps and games you’ve built that entertain, help, and educate people around the world. Every month, you upload more than 750,000 APKs and app bundles to the Play Console. We’ve been amazed by your enthusiasm, and it’s been our privilege to help you grow your business. This year, we want to help you go even further. So today at Google I/O, we're announcing new tools and features to help you develop, release, and grow your apps and games — many of them based on your feedback and suggestions. Efficient, modular apps and customizable feature delivery Last year we introduced Android's new publishing format, the Android App Bundle , and an entirely new dynamic delivery framework on Google Play. There are now over 80,000 apps and games us...

Posted by Kobi Glick, Product Lead, Google Play Read this in العَرَبِيَّة‎‎ , Bahasa Indonesia , Deutsch , español (Latinoamérica) , le français , português do Brasil , tiếng Việt , русский язы́к , ไทย , Türkçe , 한국어 , 中文 (简体) , 中文 (繁體) , or 日本語 . Over the last 10 years, we’ve worked together to build an incredible ecosystem with more than 2.5 billion active Android devices in over 190 countries. This would not be possible without you and all the fantastic apps and games you’ve built that entertain, help, and educate people around the world. Every month, you upload more than 750,000 APKs and app bundles to the Play Console. We’ve been amazed by your enthusiasm, and it’s been our privilege to help you grow your business. This year, we want to help you go even further. So today at Google I/O, we're announcing new tools and features to help you develop, release, and grow your apps and games — many of them based on your feedback and suggestions. Efficient, modular apps and customizabl...

Posted by Chris Yang, Program Manager, Translation Service It is not uncommon for developers to have the following concerns and thoughts when considering whether to localize their apps: "I just don't have the time!" "Translation is too expensive." "High-quality translation is just hard to find.'' Does this sound familiar? At Google, we consider translation a key component of making the world's information universally accessible and useful. This commitment extends not only to localizing our own products, but also to providing tools to help developers and translators more easily localize their apps. Introducing the Google Play App Translation Service Available in the Google Play Console, the Google Play App Translation Service simplifies localization of your app user interface strings, store listing, in-app product names, and universal apps campaign ads. Thousands of developers have already used this service to reach hundreds of millions of users...