Top 13 Things Android Developers Should Not Miss at Google I/O

Author / Maru Ahues Bouza, Director, Android Developer Relations

There are only a few platforms in the world that help developers easily build their creations and distribute them to billions of users across various devices— not just on phones, but also on TVs, cars, tablets, watches, and more. At the recently held Google I/O, we introduced many ways to seize these opportunities on the Android platform and use Modern Android Development to solve more common problems, making it easier for you to create experiences suitable for devices of various screen sizes in daily life.

We have summarized 13 things that Android developers need to know: from Jetpack Compose to tablets to Wear OS, and of course… Android 13! Stay tuned for updates from the Google I/O, as well as 26 technical sessions and 4 workshops from the Android team.

Google I/O: Exciting Android Content

https://io.google/2022/program

Modern Android Development

#1: Jetpack Compose Beta 1.2, Supporting More Advanced Use Cases

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

https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2022/05/whats-new-in-jetpack-compose.html

#2: Android Studio: New Live Edit Feature

Android Studio Dolphin Beta and Electric Eel Canary can 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 Index and Firebase Crashlytics. It also offers a new resizable emulator for testing your app’s performance on large screens, and the new Live Edit feature allows you to deploy changes in composable functions immediately. Watch the “Android Development Tools Update” presentation video or read the published article for more information on updates to Android Studio during I/O.

Google Play SDK Index

http://developer.android.google.cn/distribute/sdk-index
Android Development Tools Update

https://io.google/2022/program/8215c766-f097-4b18-bc97-5085d77c4dad/
Android Studio Updates at I/O

https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2022/05/whats-new-in-android-studio.html

#3: Baseline Profiles – Speeding Up App Load Times!

The load time of an app after installation has a significant impact on user retention. To improve this experience, we created Baseline Profiles. Baseline Profiles allow apps and libraries to provide metadata about code paths used to the Android runtime, which it uses for ahead-of-time (AOT) compilation. After adding just the Baseline Profiles, without changing any other code, we saw a 30% increase in app startup time! We have already used Baseline Profiles in Jetpack: providing better end-user experience by adding baseline files for popular development libraries like Fragments and Compose. Watch the “App Performance Update” presentation video or read the article for more details.

App Performance Update

https://io.google/2022/program/2cf473b7-113e-4332-a469-8dfd815eb45b/
Jetpack Update

https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2022/05/whats-new-in-jetpack.html

Better Collaboration

#4: Strong Focus on Android Tablets

Google is all in on tablets. At last year’s I/O, we launched Android 12L, a feature update focused on optimizing for large-screen devices, and Android 13 includes all these improvements and more. We also released the Pixel tablet, which will officially launch next year. Now we have prepared exciting new hardware, updated operating systems and Google apps, optimized guidelines and development libraries, and introduced exciting changes in the Play Store, making it the best time to test your apps and prepare them for large-screen devices and Android 13. This is why we scheduled four presentations and one workshop at this year’s I/O to showcase the development journey of designing and implementing apps for large-screen devices.

Designing Apps for Large Screens

https://io.google/2022/program/222bf914-24e3-4478-be37-9d8162d6460e/
Implementing Android Apps for Various Screen Sizes

https://io.google/2022/program/1351e983-465f-4b32-99e0-de0647240352/

#5: Wear OS: Compose and More!

With the arrival of the latest updates for 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, bringing a lot of innovation to the health and fitness developer community. Finally, we announced the launch of the Google Pixel Watch, which combines the best of Fitbit and Wear OS, set to launch this fall. You can learn more about exciting new developments in wearables by watching the Wear OS Technical Presentation and reading the Jetpack Compose for Wear OS release announcement.

Wear OS Technical Presentation

https://io.google/2022/program/7f0f4d16-b260-414d-9f2d-bd2e18ea469b/
Jetpack Compose for Wear OS

https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2022/05/announcing-compose-for-wear-os-beta.html

#6: Introducing Health Connect

Health Connect is a new platform launched in close collaboration between Google and Samsung to simplify connections between applications, allowing you to cover more users with less effort and share user health and fitness data between apps and devices more securely. Today, we opened access to Health Connect through Jetpack Health. Please read our published article or watch the I/O presentation video for more details.

Health Connect Release: A New API for Android Developers to Securely Access User Health Data

https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2022/05/introducing-health-connect.html
Android Brings New APIs for Health and Fitness, Health Connect

https://io.google/2022/program/cae72ae9-2516-4e89-b1a2-852f8e653046/

#7: Android for Cars and Android TV OS

Android for Cars and Android TV OS continue to grow in the US and globally. More and more users are going online and listening to various programs while driving, and we will launch new features this year to make it easier for you to develop applications for cars and TVs. Watch the “Updates on Android for Cars” and “Updates on Google TV and Android TV” presentations for more details.

New Developments in Android for Cars

https://io.google/2022/program/8276c69a-83cd-4cd8-bece-31231c3d8454/
New Developments in Google TV and Android TV

https://io.google/2022/program/1e5d0560-24f2-4891-8991-0d93af8d9965/

#8: Cross-Device Voice Features

To help users conveniently invoke applications via voice across different devices through Google Assistant, we are adding support for the Shortcuts API to Android for Cars, and later this year we will also support Wear OS apps. We will also introduce improvements that will make it easier for users to discover your apps via voice on mobile platforms, starting with Brandless Queries, allowing users to use your app even if they don’t explicitly state its name, along with App Install Suggestions when your app is not yet installed—these features are automatically enabled for existing App Actions.

Android for Cars

https://developer.android.google.cn/training/cars/apps
Wear OS

https://developer.android.google.cn/training/wearables/user-input/voice
Smarter Custom Intents

https://developers.google.cn/assistant/app/custom-intents
How the Architecture of Google Assistant Enables Voice Features for Your App

https://io.google/2022/program/23a82db5-cbd2-45f0-bc9e-2aa1cec254c5/

Latest Updates from Android, Play, and More

#9: Latest Updates from Google Play

Learn about the highlights of updates from Google Play, and how Play helps you grow your business in new ways, including: deep link features, the ability to create up to 50 sets of custom store display content, LiveOps Beta allowing more developers to submit content for recommendation display on the Play Store, and providing you with more flexibility in selling subscription content. Please read our published article for more details:

https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2022/05/whats-new-in-google-play.html

#10: Google Play SDK Index

You can utilize the new Google Play SDK Index to assess whether a particular SDK is suitable for your app. We created this public site and listed over 100 of the most widely used commercial SDKs, along with information about the permissions required by them, statistics on the apps using them, and which versions of the SDK are most popular. Watch the “Google Play Updates” and “Android Development Tools Update” presentation videos or read our published article for more information.

Google Play SDK Index

http://developer.android.google.cn/distribute/sdk-index
Google Play Updates

https://io.google/2022/program/e1fe8007-7338-4e33-814b-ecbfcb706c5e/
Android Development Tools Update

https://io.google/2022/program/8215c766-f097-4b18-bc97-5085d77c4dad/
The New Google Play SDK Index Helps Your App Choose the Right SDK

https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2022/05/new-google-play-sdk-index.html

#11: Android Privacy Sandbox

The Android Privacy Sandbox provides a path for new advertising solutions that improve user privacy while not compromising the use of free content and services. We recently released the first developer preview of the Android Privacy Sandbox for you to preview the SDK runtime and Topics API. You can conduct preliminary tests on these new technologies, assess how you can adopt them in your own solutions, and share feedback with us.

Android Privacy Sandbox

https://developer.android.google.cn/design-for-safety/privacy-sandbox
Developer Preview

https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2022/04/first-preview-privacy-sandbox-android.html
Project Overview

https://developer.android.google.cn/design-for-safety/privacy-sandbox/program-overview

#12: New Google Wallet API

The new Google Wallet allows users to quickly and securely access everyday essentials on Android and Wear OS. We are enhancing the Google Wallet API (formerly known as Google Pay Passes API) to support universal passes, grouping, and hybrid passes, such as combining event tickets with coupons. We also launched a new Android SDK that allows you to save passes directly through the app without backend integration support. Please read the published article or watch the presentation video, and you can also check the official documentation for more details.

Bringing Simpler Google Wallet Integration for Android Developers

https://developers.googleblog.com/2022/05/Simpler-Google-Wallet-integration-for-Android-developers.html
Google Play Passes Update Introduction

https://io.google/2022/program/02e77298-9eb9-4ee8-b82d-f3f02e19ac09/
Official Documentation

https://developers.google.cn/wallet

#13: And of course, Android 13!

The second Beta of Android 13 has been released (please read the second graphic)! Please prepare your apps for the latest features of Android 13 regarding privacy and security, including new permissions for sending notifications, a photo picker for privacy protection, and improvements in pairing with nearby devices and accessing media files. You can also add new features to your apps, such as setting languages for individual apps, theme application icons, and supporting new modern standards like HDR video and Bluetooth Low Energy Audio (LE Audio). Just register for testing using supported Pixel devices or experience Android 13 on some models of phones, tablets, and foldable devices from our partners. Please visit the Android 13 Developer Site for more information:

https://developer.android.google.cn/about/versions/13

Join the Beta Testing

https://www.google.com/android/beta

These are just the tip of the iceberg of the exciting content that this year’s Google I/O has brought to Android developers. Be sure to watch the “Latest Developments in Android” presentation, along with 26 technical sessions and 4 workshops to get the full picture of Android technology at Google I/O, which you cannot miss!

△ Latest Developments in Android

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