CMake and ndk-build support in Android Studio 2.2

Posted by Kathryn Shih, Android Product Manager

In addition to supporting the experimental Gradle plugin, href="http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2016/09/android-studio-2-2.html">Android
Studio 2.2 enables you to build C/C++ components of Android projects using
CMake and ndk-build.

The Android Studio team plans to continue to support the experimental Gradle plugin.
This will eventually replace the current Gradle plugin, providing additional
tightly-integrated benefits to C/C++ developers such as smarter dependency
management. So if you're interested in someday having the smartest possible
interface between your IDE and your build system, you shouldn't ignore the
experimental plugin.

CMake and ndk-build are useful alternatives to Gradle in several cases:

• Projects that are already using CMake or ndk-build, such as legacy Eclipse
  ndk projects
  
• Projects that are unable to assume the risk of using an experimental plugin
  for their C/C++ builds
  
• Projects that will share a C/C++ build system across multiple platforms
  
• C/C++ projects that need to use advanced features currently unavailable in
  experimental Gradle such as NEON support

For new projects, we recommend using CMake or experimental Gradle. For new
Android projects with limited C++, we recommend trying the experimental Gradle
plugin. For projects with substantial amounts of C++, or where you want the
maximally stable build configuration, we recommend using a CMake build. Android
Studio intends CMake to be a permanently supported solution.

While we think that there are substantial advantages to having a single build
system able to handle all parts of an Android application, stabilizing the
experimental plugin is not an option for us because it relies on Gradle APIs
that are still a work in progress. Until the Gradle APIs are stabilized, the
experimental plugin will keep changing, particularly in its Domain Specific
Language, and will be strictly tied to a very specific version of Gradle itself.

Note that the the old, undocumented ndkCompile integration is deprecated. If you
are using it, you need to move away from it as we'll remove it completely in the
near future. We recommend migrating to gradle+cmake via our href="https://developer.android.com/studio/projects/add-native-code.html?utm_campaign=android_discussion_cmake_110716&utm_source=anddev&utm_medium=blog">migration
guide.

Migrating from Eclipse to Android Studio

href="https://android-developers.blogspot.com/2016/11/support-ended-for-eclipse-android.html">We
no longer support the Eclipse ADT. To get started migrating, href="https://developer.android.com/studio/index.html?utm_campaign=android_discussion_cmake_110716&utm_source=anddev&utm_medium=blog">download and install
Android Studio. For most 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 href="https://developer.android.com/studio/intro/migrate.html?utm_campaign=android_discussion_cmake_110716&utm_source=anddev&utm_medium=blog">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 using Android Studio, href="https://goo.gl/forms/aGz9hQyRaTRQzN4s1">we want to hear about it [href="https://goo.gl/forms/aGz9hQyRaTRQzN4s1">please take our survey]. You
can also file bugs or feature
requests directly with the team, and let us know via our href="http://www.twitter.com/androidstudio">Twitter or href="https://plus.google.com/103342515830390186255">Google+ accounts.

Android Studio is an open source
project, available to all at no cost. Check out our href="http://tools.android.com/contributing">Open Source project page if
you're interested in contributing or learning more.

Test on Android 7.1 Developer Preview in Firebase Test Lab

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.

Prepare your app for API level 25, then go to the Firebase Test Lab console to run your first test.

Happy testing!

Robo tests uncovering a crash on Android 7.1 Developer Preview for the Flood-It! app.

Welcome to Playtime!

Posted by Larissa Fontaine, Director, Global Head of Apps Business
Development, Google Play

Almost href="https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipPWGjEv2iaJxAOiJZc1JnqZ5chXbI3zVxXYkBYplvdNqHM5ZjQSYtj3a8YJ86MB7g?key=T1NNZURfbGhyV0wta3Z2ajhBUUFncC1rQnNtR1p3">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 href="https://blog.google/topics/education/android-apps-coming-to-chromebook-near/">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 href="http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2016/09/android-wear-2-0-developer-preview-3-play-store-and-more.html">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 href="https://play.google.com/store/info/topic?id=topic_b000054_games_indie_corner_tp&hl=en&e=-EnableAppDetailsPageRedesign">Indie
Corner, as well as industry events like the href="http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2016/09/announcing-the-winners-of-the-google-play-indie-games-festival.html">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 href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeob_Dhrd8Ew6fbRAa_2uj3B_SeXq8Nf0iF-dE6P8je0LabZA/viewform?c=0&w=1">here.

It has been another great year for Google Play thanks to the continued feedback
and support from the developer community.

Support Ended for Eclipse Android Developer Tools

By Jamal Eason, Product
Manager, Android

With the release of href="http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2016/09/android-studio-2-2.html">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 href="https://developer.android.com/studio/write/lint.html?utm_campaign=android_deprecation_eclipse_110216&utm_source=anddev&utm_medium=blog">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

href="http://android-developers.blogspot.jp/2016/09/android-studio-2-2.html">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:

• href="https://developer.android.com/studio/run/index.html?utm_campaign=android_deprecation_eclipse_110216&utm_source=anddev&utm_medium=blog">Instant Run
  - The super-fast iteration engine now is both more reliable and
  available for more types of changes
  
• href="https://developer.android.com/studio/write/layout-editor.html?utm_campaign=android_deprecation_eclipse_110216&utm_source=anddev&utm_medium=blog">Layout
  Editor - The new user interface designer that makes it easier than
  ever to create beautiful app experiences
  
• href="https://developer.android.com/training/constraint-layout/index.html?utm_campaign=android_deprecation_eclipse_110216&utm_source=anddev&utm_medium=blog">Constraint
  Layout - A new flexible layout engine for building dynamic user
  interfaces - designed to work with the new layout editor
  
• href="https://developer.android.com/studio/projects/add-native-code.html?utm_campaign=android_deprecation_eclipse_110216&utm_source=anddev&utm_medium=blog">C++
  Support - CMake and ndk-build are now supported alongside improved
  editing and debug experiences
  
• href="https://developer.android.com/studio/build/apk-analyzer.html?utm_campaign=android_deprecation_eclipse_110216&utm_source=anddev&utm_medium=blog">APK
  Analyzer - Inspects APKs to help you streamline your APK and debug
  multi-dex
  issues
  
• href="https://developer.android.com/studio/debug/am-gpu-debugger.html?utm_campaign=android_deprecation_eclipse_110216&utm_source=anddev&utm_medium=blog">GPU
  Debugger (beta) - Captures a stream of OpenGL ES commands and
  replays them with GPU state inspection
  
• href="https://developer.android.com/studio/test/espresso-test-recorder.html?utm_campaign=android_deprecation_eclipse_110216&utm_source=anddev&utm_medium=blog">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 href="https://developer.android.com/studio/intro/accessibility.html?utm_campaign=android_deprecation_eclipse_110216&utm_source=anddev&utm_medium=blog">accessibility,
including keyboard navigation enhancements and screen reader support.

We href="http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2015/06/an-update-on-eclipse-android-developer.html">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, href="https://developer.android.com/studio/index.html?utm_campaign=android_deprecation_eclipse_110216&utm_source=anddev&utm_medium=blog">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 href="https://developer.android.com/studio/intro/migrate.html?utm_campaign=eclipse-626&utm_source=dac&utm_medium=blog">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, href="https://goo.gl/forms/aGz9hQyRaTRQzN4s1">we want to hear about it [href="https://goo.gl/forms/aGz9hQyRaTRQzN4s1">survey] ! You can also href="http://tools.android.com/filing-bugs">file bugs or feature requests
directly with the team, and let us know via our href="http://www.twitter.com/androidstudio">Twitter or href="https://plus.google.com/103342515830390186255">Google+ accounts.

Android Studio is an open source
project, available to all at no cost. Check out our href="http://tools.android.com/contributing">Open Source project page if
you're interested in contributing or learning more.

Look out for our bi-annual Google Play Developer Sentiment Survey, coming soon

Posted by Dorothy Kelly, Head of Developer Insights, Google Play Developer
Marketing

Core to our mission, we're always
focused on the user and delivering the best experience possible. This same
principle underlies how Google Play works with developers, as we aim to provide
you with best experience working with us and our products. We can only do this
through understanding what you need and how we can improve. We ran our first
Developer Sentiment Survey in July this year, and heard feedback from over 4,000
developers across 15 countries. This bi-annual survey gathers feedback at scale
from the thousands of developers around the world who publish their apps and
games on Google Play. While it was great to hear how Google Play is working for
you, we also learned how we should improve to enable you to build even more
successful businesses.

This month, you may receive an email from Google Play inviting you to
participate in the next Google Play Developer Sentiment Survey. This invitation
is sent to a selection developers who have opted in to receive Research contacts
in the Developer Console, or to those who are directly managed by Google. You
can review and update your
preferences in the Developer Console to ensure you get the opportunity to be
invited to participate in future surveys.

In this survey we ask you to give us feedback across a number of areas:

• Develop: Testing, publishing and launching your app or
  game.
  
• Grow: Discovery and marketing of your app or game.
  
• Engage: Distributing to and engaging with your target
  market.
  
• Earn: Pricing and Payment methods.
  
• Getting Support: Accessing the information and support you
  need when you have a question.

We use your feedback to decide what we need to focus on next to help you grow
your app or game business. Initiatives announced at I/O 2016, such as improved
betas, prelaunch reporting, the Developer Console app, and pricing templates,
were all developed in response to feedback from developers like you.

If you do receive an invitation to participate in this survey, we really
appreciate you taking the time to complete it. We value your feedback and want
to act on it to help you create apps and games that delight your users, and help
you build a successful business anywhere in the world.

Keeping the Play Store trusted: fighting fraud and spam installs

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 href="https://play.google.com/about/developer-content-policy/?utm_campaign=android_discussion_playstore_103116&utm_source=anddev&utm_medium=blog">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 href="https://developer.android.com/support.html?utm_campaign=android_discussion_playstore_103116&utm_source=anddev&utm_medium=blog">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 graduates from Google Play�s Early Access beta program & offers some learnings

Guest post by Rajiev Timal, Founder of Readfeed

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 href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.readfeedinc.readfeed">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.