Android Developer Story: Robinhood uses Android Studio to quickly build and test new features

Posted by Christopher Katsaros, Developer Marketing, Android



Robinhood allows users to buy and sell stocks commission-free* in the US. It is designed to make financial investment easy for all users, even if you�ve never traded before.



With a team of two Android developers, the company has relied on fast tools like
Android Studio to
build rich new features, which have helped make Robinhood the highest-rated
stock brokerage app on Google Play.




Watch Robinhood's Joe Binney, VP of Product Engineering, and Dan Hill, Android
Developer, talk about how Android Studio is helping them achieve strong growth
on Android.

The top Android developers use Android Studio to build powerful and successful
apps on Google Play; learn more about the official IDE for Android app
development and get
started for yourself.




Get more tips and watch other success stories in the Playbook for
Developers app.




*Free trading refers to $0 commissions for Robinhood Financial self-directed individual cash or margin brokerage accounts that trade U.S. listed securities via mobile devices. SEC & FINRA regulatory fees may apply.

 How useful did you find this blogpost?

? ? ? ? ?

Discover and celebrate the best local games at Indonesia Games Contest

Posted by David Yin, Business Development Manager, Indonesia, Google Play.




It is a great time to be a mobile game developer on Android with the opportunity
reaching more than a billion global users on Google Play. At the same time,
developers in fast growing mobile markets like Indonesia have an additional
opportunity in the form of a huge local audience that is hungry for local
content. We have already seen thousands of Indonesian developers launch high
quality, locally relevant games for this new audience, such as "Tahu
Bulat" & "Tebak
Gambar".




In our continuous quest to discover, nurture growth, and showcase the best games
from Indonesia, we are really happy to announce Indonesia Games
Contest. This contest celebrates the passion and great potential of local
game developers, and provides an opportunity to raise awareness of your game
with global and local industry experts, together with gamers, from across
Indonesia. It's also a chance to showcase your creativity and win cool
prizes.

Entering the contest

The contest is only open to developers based in Indonesia who have published a
new game on Google Play after 1 January 2016. Make sure to visit our contest
website for the full list of eligibility
criteria and terms. A quick summary of the process is below:

1. If you are eligible, submit your game by 19 March 2017.
   


2. Entries will be reviewed by Google Play team and industry experts, and up to
   15 finalists will be announced in early April 2017.
   


3. The finalists will get to showcase their games at the final event in Jakarta
   on 26 April 2017.
   


4. Winner and runners up will be announced at final event.

To get started

Visit our contest
website to find out more about the contest and submit your game.

Terima Kasih!

How useful did you find this blogpost?

? ? ? ? ?

                                                                                

Android Developer Story: Wallapop improves user conversions with store listing experiments on Google Play

Posted by Lily Sheringham, Developer Marketing, Google Play

Wallapop
is a mobile app developer based in Barcelona, Spain. The app provides a platform
to users for selling and buying things to others nearby in a virtual flea market
by using geolocalization. Wallapop now has over 70% of their user base on
Android.




Watch Agus Gomez, Co-Founder & CEO, and Marta Gui, Growth Hacking Manager,
explain how using store listing experiments has increased their conversion rate
by 17%, and has allowed them to optimize organic installs.

Learn
more about store listing experiments. Get the Playbook for
Developers app to stay up-to-date with more features and best practices that
will help you grow a successful business on Google Play.

How useful did you find this blogpost?

? ? ? ? ?

                                                                              

Tips from developers Peak and Soundcloud on how to grow your startup on Google Play

Posted by Francesca Di Felice, Developer Marketing at Google
Play

At Playtime 2016, Google Play's series of developer events, we met with top app
and game developers from around the world to share learnings on how to build
successful businesses on Google Play. Several startups, including game developer
Peaklabs and audio platform SoundCloud, presented on stage their own best
practices for growth, which you might find helpful.



Testing for growth, by Peak



Hear from Kevin Shanahan, Product Manager from Peak,
a brain training app, on how to grow sustainably.

• Test lots of ideas: You can't be sure of what will work and
  what won't, so you need to test lots of ideas. Peak ran four different tests to
  try to increase conversions to Pro (their subscriber offering):

1. Made the ability to replay games a Pro feature
   


2. Reduced price of Pro by 25% in top 2 markets
   


3. Bundled add-on modules from partners into Pro
   


4. Showed a preview of Pro-only content
   

          One of these tests resulted in a 50% increase in conversions.

• Get the basics right: Start with a great product and have a
  data-informed culture. Don't only test app features, experimenting your store
  listing using store
  listing experiments is also important.
  


• Build a robust A/B testing process: Having
  a well-defined A/B testing process and a system for tracking your experiments is
  key to testing quickly and effectively.

Improving user retention, by
SoundCloud



Andy Carvell, former Product Manager at SoundCloud,
an online audio distribution platform that enables its users to upload, record,
promote, and share their originally-created sounds, explains how they focus on
retention to improve growth.

 

• Design your retention strategy: Apps with poor retention
  grow slowly. To increase your retention you should:
  
  
  • Convert new users to repeat visitors by providing a strong onboarding
    experience for new users and taking a high-touch approach during the first days
    and weeks.
    
  
  
  • Increase visit frequency within this group by providing frequent, timely,
    and relevant messaging about content or activity on the platform.
    
  
  
  • Target returning users who were not seen over the last period, who are 'at
    risk of churn' users, by giving them reasons to come back for another session
    before losing them.
    
  
  
  • Re-activate lapsed (long-term churned) users with campaigns to remind them
    about your app and offer an incentive to return.
  
  
  
  

• Build 'growth machines': Create repeatable processes that
  testing has proven to positively impact retention, retaining users, and
  preventing churn.

• Use activity notifications in a personalised and effective
  way: At SoundCloud there are plenty of things that happen when users
  are not in the app that might be relevant to them, for example new content
  releases or social interactions. They tested 5 new notification types, always
  keeping a control group to better keep track of the impact, and managed to
  increase retention in a 5%. Watch the video
  above for more of Andy's tips on making better use of notifications.

Other speakers, such as Silicon Valley VC Greylock, have also shared their
tips for startup growth. Watch
more sessions from this year's Playtime events to learn best practices from
other apps and game partners, and the Google Play team. Get the Playbook for Developers app to stay up to
date with news and tips to help you grow a successful business on Google Play.

How useful did you find this blogpost?

? ? ? ? ?

                                                                              

Southeast Asian indie game developers find success on Google Play

Posted by Vineet Tanwar, Business Development Manager, Google Play

Indie game developers bring high quality, artistic, and innovative content to
Google Play and raise the bar for all developers in the process. In fact, they
also make up a large portion of our 'Editor's Choice' recommended titles.

Southeast Asia, in particular, has a vibrant indie game developer ecosystem, and
we've been working closely with them to provide tools that help them build
successful businesses on Google Play. Today, we're sharing stories from three
Indie developers based in Singapore, Vietnam, and Indonesia, who joined us at
our 'Indie Game Developers Day' workshops in May 2016 and all of whom have
experienced significant growth since.




Inzen Studio from Singapore learned how to use store
listing experiments and has improved the conversion rate of their newly
launched game Dark
Dot by 25%. Indonesia based studio, Niji Games, creator of Cute
Munchies, implemented 'Saved Games' and 'Events and Quests' from Google Play
games services to significantly improve user retention, and also earned an
'Editor's Choice' badge in the process. Ho Chi Minh City based developer,
VGames, optimized monetization and introduced new paid products for their game
Gungun
online, and grew revenue by over 100%.

Indie game developers who are interested in meeting members of Google Play and
who would like to work closer with us are invited to join our next round of SEA
workshops in March 2017. To apply for these events, just fill in this
form and we will reach out to you.

How useful did you find this blogpost?

? ? ? ? ?

   

Android Developer Story: Le Monde increases subscriptions with Google Play Billing

Watch Edouard Andrieu, Director of Mobile, and Ahcene Amrouz, Product Manager
for Mobile, explain how La Matinale has a 6% higher subscription conversion on
Android than on other platforms thanks to tools like Google Play Billing.

Learn more how to href="https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/140504#intro">add
an introductory price to your subscription, and href="https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=O7T3CwAAQBAJ&e">get the
News Publisher Playbook to stay up-to-date with more features and best
practices to help you find success for your news apps on Google Play.

How useful did you find this blogpost?

? ? ? ? ?

Android Developer Stories: drupe and Noom expand globally by localising their apps on Google Play

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

href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=mobi.drupe.app&hl=en&e=-EnableAppDetailsPageRedesign">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

href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wsl.noom&hl=en&e=-EnableAppDetailsPageRedesign">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 href="https://developer.android.com/distribute/tools/localization-checklist.html?utm_campaign=android_discussion_drupeandnoom_102016&utm_source=anddev&utm_medium=blog">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 href="http://g.co/play/playbook-androiddevblogposts-evergreen">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.

Read the full articles for href="https://developer.android.com/distribute/stories/apps/drupe-communications.html?utm_campaign=android_discussion_drupeandnoom_102016&utm_source=anddev&utm_medium=blog">drupe
and href="https://developer.android.com/distribute/stories/apps/noom-health.html?utm_campaign=android_discussion_drupeandnoom_102016&utm_source=anddev&utm_medium=blog">Noom.

Android Developer Story: PicMix reaches global audience on Google Play

Posted by Lily Sheringham, Google Play team

Inovidea Magna Global, is the developer of PicMix, a photo and video editing app, which has now evolved into an interest based social media platform powered by content discovery and social commerce. It has 27 million users worldwide, 65% of which are outside of its home market in Indonesia.

Hear Calvin Kizana, CEO, and Sandy Colondam, Co-founder, explain how they used Google Play tools, such as Store Listing Experiments and Material Design, to create a high quality app which appeals to a global audience.

Learn more about store listing experiments and find out how to get started with Material Design. Also, get the Playbook for Developers app and stay up-to-date with more features and best practices that will help you grow a successful business on Google Play.

Android Developer Story: Papumba grows revenue globally by localising its family titles on Google Play

Posted by Lily Sheringham, Google Play team

Papumba is an educational games developer based in Argentina, with a core team of four people and a vision to grow a global business.

Watch Gonzalo Rodriguez, CEO, and Andres Ballone, CFO, explain how working with a team of experts from across the world and adapting their games to local markets helped them find success globally.

Learn more about localized pricing and translation services to grow your app or game business globally on Google Play. 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.

Android Developer Story: Hutch improves player engagement with A/B testing on Google Play

Posted by Lily Sheringham, Google Play team

Hutch is a London based mobile studio focusing entirely on racing games, with
more than 10 million players on Google Play. For their latest game, MMX Hill
Climb, they used A/B testing and game analytics to improve the game design and
experience resulting in more than 48 mins daily active usage per user.

Watch Shaun Rutland, CEO, and Robin Scannell, Games Analyst, explain how they
were able to deliver a more engaging user experience in this video.

Learn more
about A/B testing and get the href="http://g.co/play/playbook-androiddevblogposts-evergreen">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.

Android Developer Story: Hole19 improves user retention with Android Wear

Posted by Lily Sheringham, Google Play team

Based in Lisbon, Portugal, href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hole19golf.hole19.beta&hl=en_GB&e=-EnableAppDetailsPageRedesign">Hole19
is a golfing app which assists golfers before, during, and after their golfing
journey with GPS and a digital scorecard. The app connects the golfing community
with shared statistics for performance and golf courses, and now has close to 1
million users across all platforms.

Watch Anthony Douglas, Founder & CEO, and F�bio Carballo, Head Android Developer, explain how Hole19 doubled its number of Android Wear users in 6 months, and improved user engagement and retention on the platform. Also, hear how they are using APIs and the latest Wear 2.0 features to connect users to their golfing data and improve the user experience.

Learn
more how to get started with Android Wear and href="http://g.co/play/playbook-androiddevblogposts-evergreen">get the Playbook
for Developers app to stay up-to-date with more features and best practices
that will help you grow a successful business on Google Play.

Android Developer Story: Culture Alley reaches millions of English learners on Google Play

Posted by Lily Sheringham, Google Play team

href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=Culture%20Alley&hl=en_GB">Culture
Alley developed the app href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.CultureAlley.japanese.english&hl=en_GB&e=-EnableAppDetailsPageRedesign">Hello
English to help Indians learn English through gamification, supporting over
15 dialects. More than 13 million people now use Hello English in India and
around the world.

Hear Nishant Patni, Founder & CEO and Pranshu Bhandari, Co-Founder, explain how
they optimized the app to address challenges faced by emerging markets. Learn
how they used various Google Play tools to address varying levels of
connectivity and device capabilities, and improve user retention.

href="https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Google_Inc_The_Building_for_Billions_Playbook_for?id=cJEjDAAAQBAJ&e=-EnableAppDetailsPageRedesign">Learn
more best practices about building for billions and href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfwHq8w9GBc&list=PLWz5rJ2EKKc_ElGrEtiEXc83m1SeYu3-Q&index=11">watch
the �10 tips to build an app for billions of users� video to get more tips.
Also, get the
Playbook for Developers app and stay up-to-date with more features and best
practices that will help you grow a successful business on Google Play.

Android Developer Story: StoryToys finds success in the �Family� section on Google Play

Posted by Lily Sheringham, Google Play team

Based in Dublin, Ireland, href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/dev?id=8762313232916265908">StoryToys
is a leading publisher of interactive books and games for children. Like most
kids� app developers, they faced the challenges of engaging with the right
audiences to get their content discovered. Since the launch of the Family
section on Google Play, StoryToys has experienced an uplift of 270% in revenue
and an increase of 1300% in downloads.

Hear Emmet O�Neill, Chief Product Officer, and Gavin Barrett, Commercial
Director, discuss how the Family section creates a trusted and creative space
for families to find new content. Also hear how beta testing, localized pricing
and more, has allowed StoryToy�s flagship app, href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.storytoys.myveryhungrycaterpillar.free.android.googleplay">My
Very Hungry Caterpillar, to significantly increase engagement and revenue.

href="https://developer.android.com/distribute/googleplay/families/about.html">Learn
more about Google Play for Families and href="http://g.co/play/playbook-androiddevblogposts-evergreen">get the Playbook
for Developers app to stay up-to-date with more features and best practices
that will help you grow a successful business on Google Play.

Android Developer Story: Sendy uses Google Play features to build for the next billion users

Posted by Lily Sheringham, Google Play team

href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sendy.co.ke.sendyy&hl=en&e=-EnableAppDetailsPageRedesign">Sendy
is a door to door on-demand couriering platform founded in Nairobi, Kenya. It
connects customers and logistics providers, providing two unique apps, one for
the driver and one for the customer. Watch CEO & Co-founder, Meshack Alloys, and
Android Developer, Jason Rogena, explain how they use Developer Console
features, such as alpha and beta testing, as well as other tips and best
practices, to build for the next billion users.

href="https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Google_Inc_The_Building_for_Billions_Playbook_for?id=cJEjDAAAQBAJ&e=-EnableAppDetailsPageRedesign">Learn
more about building for billions and get more tips to grow your games
business by href="https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.google.android.apps.secrets">opting-in
to the Playbook app beta and href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.secrets&e=-EnableAppDetailsPageRedesign">download
the Playbook app in the Google Play Store.