Posted by Ranjith Jayaram, Product Manager

If you’re looking to drive usage and grow a mobile app, you’re probably testing out referrals, recommendations, and the user onboarding experience. These product flows are resource-intensive to design, build, and optimize. What if you could use a set of tools that help your users share your app, and get more of the right people to download and use your app? What if you could craft a more personalized onboarding experience in your new user’s journey?

Now in beta, App Invites let mobile app developers increase their reach, deep link new users to custom experiences, and tap into your users’ device and Google-wide contacts as a source to drive referrals. This is available for both iOS and Android app developers. We’re launching with UrbanSitter, Yummly, The CW, Coinbase and Picsart apps.

Here’s what some of our early partners had to say:

• For Andrea Barrett, co-founder and VP of Product at UrbanSitter, “App Invites gives our members the ability to easily share favorite sitters with their friends and Google contacts. As a service targeting busy parents, our user growth thrives on social recommendations and word-of-mouth referrals, so Google’s app invites are a natural fit for us.”
• Sharing is an important part of TV network The CW’s app growth strategy. “Tools that help fans of our shows recommend The CW app to their contacts and friends are important. App Invites let’s specific users share their favorite shows with selected friends; it's the next evolution of ‘word of mouth’. We’re integrating App Invites into our episode sharing capabilities, so that fans can speak to each other about the The CW app.” - Zach Mannon, Director of Digital Media at Warner Brothers Television
• For PicsArt, their fast growth to 250M installs has been driven by word-of-mouth. “Google’s new App Invites will accelerate our organic growth even further, giving people the opportunity to proactively invite their friends to join our mission of beautifying the world!" - Arusiak Kanetsyan, Director of Content and Communication
• Yummly integrated app invites to expand their user base and generate awareness of their app, by allowing people to suggest the app to those who love to cook or are interested in food. “We see this expanding beyond just inviting new users to join our app. In the future, we hope to use this to share different meal ideas and have the opportunity to share your shopping list with family members or even inviting friends over for dinner. With the power of Google and personalized app invites, making a dinner everyone agrees on will never been easier." -- Brian Witlin, Chief Operating Officer

App Invites is available on both Android and iOS. Here’s what’s in the beta toolkit:

1. Use app invites for expanded reach: Tap into SMS and email invites via your user’s phone and Google contacts.
2. Make it easy for your users to send invites. We’ll recommend their closest contacts to share your app with, and suggest a preferred method of delivery.
3. Send actionable invite cards: Include an install button right in an email invite.
4. Faster Android install flows: Your new Android users can click App Invite and download your app straight from the Play Store, bypassing the browser windows that usually open in between.
5. Create personalized onboarding flows: New users can get deep linked into a specific onboarding experience - for example, you can offer custom discount codes or content.
6. Measure app invites using Google Analytics custom reports.

With App Invites, our goal is to take the hard work out of building user referral and onboarding flows and build a toolkit that works across platforms, so that you can focus on your core app experience. Visit https://developers.google.com/app-invites/?utm_campaign=app-invites-529&utm_source=gdbc&utm_medium=blog to get started To learn about opportunities to re-engage app users using goo.gl deep links, check out this post.

Posted by Jonathan Beri, Product Manager

Today, we’re announcing that CocoaPods will be the primary channel to acquire Google SDKs for iOS. CocoaPods is a popular, free dependency manager for iOS that significantly simplifies the process of importing libraries and frameworks into Xcode. And it will help you manage your dependencies between our various libraries.

While there was a small but growing number of official Google Pods, as well as a few Pods written by other iOS developers, it was often difficult for developer to find the right SDK. With today’s announcement, some of our key libraries, like Google Cloud Messaging and the Google Maps SDK for iOS can now be found on the public CocoaPods service. Going forward, new iOS SDKs will be packaged and documented as Pods and published on cocoapods.org. You can find the full list of Google Pods and all supporting documentation at developer.google.com/ios/cocoapods.

If you haven't used CocoaPods yet, now is a great time to give it a try. Add GoogleAnalytics to a Podfile to start counting new users. Or pod install your way to adding AdMob ads in your app. And check out pod try, a CocoaPods plugin that allows you to quickly launch our demo projects.

For more iOS developer protips and to learn more about Google’s iOS SDKs, please check out the Route 85 video series from Todd Kerpelman. We look forward to all the great Google-powered iOS apps you will create!

Posted by Jason Titus, Senior Director of Engineering

This morning, we kicked off our 8th annual Google I/O conference, joined by 5,600 developers at Moscone Center, 530 I/O Extended communities around the world, and millions via the I/O Live stream. This year’s event is focused on delivering incredible experiences on mobile and helping developers build successful businesses through these key themes: Develop, Engage, and Earn.

During the keynote, we had a number of announcements that covered the evolution of the mobile platform, tools for Android, iOS, and Web developers, and the push towards more immersive mobile experiences with VR. Here’s a closer look at the news:

Develop

• Android M Developer Preview — Get an early look at the next version of Android.
• Google Play services 7.5 — Check out new features like Smart Lock for Passwords, new APIs for Google Cloud Messaging and
• Google Cast, and the Google Maps API on Android Wear devices.
• Android Studio 1.3 — Preview Android Studio v1.3, now with improved Gradle build speed, a new memory profiler, and full editing and debugging support for C/C++.
• Polymer 1.0 — As the first production-ready release for the web components library, we’re also adding new product lines of elements. Features range from toolbars and menus to offline caching.
• iOS & CocoaPods — Access your favorite libraries via CocoaPods, the official distribution channel for Google SDKs on iOS.
• Cloud Test Lab — Building on the technology from our acquisition of Appurify, cloud Test Lab automates the testing of your mobile apps.
• Firebase — Firebase makes it easy to build apps quickly, without spinning up servers or writing server-side code.

Engage

• App Indexing — Index your app’s content into Google Search, just like you would with a website. Available for Android, and now piloting on iOS.
• Google Cloud Messaging — As one of the most popular ways to send messages from the cloud to user's devices on Android and Chrome, GCM is now also available on iOS.
• Engagement on the Web — Access previously unavailable native functionality on the web with push notifications from your mobile website and add to homescreen.
• Empowering successful global businesses on Google Play — Get new and powerful tools to help you further grow your business, improve decision making based on smarter insights, and engage and retain a valuable user base.
• Universal App Campaigns coming soon — Set up app install ads with just a few inputs like your budget and the cost you’re willing to pay per user--we take care of the rest.
• Measure App Installs Ads with Google Analytics — Measure app install campaigns based on engagement and lifetime value. On iOS, Google Analytics is now integrated with 20+ ad networks making it easy to understand how to spend your acquisition budget.

Earn

• AdMob — Monetize your apps intelligently on a single platform, so you can gain insights about your users, drive more in-app purchases and maximize your ad revenue.

What’s Next

• Android Nanodegree — Enroll in the industry's first Android Nanodegree, developed in collaboration with Udacity. The curriculum was built from the ground up s to meet the high standard we have for Android development. The Nanodegree covers everything from fundamentals to advanced development skills, as well as Google Play services and Material Design.
• Cardboard SDK — The Cardboard SDK for Unity now supports both Android and iOS.

Posted by Fabian Schlup, Software Engineer

Starting now, goo.gl short links function as a single link you can use to all your content — whether that content is in your Android app, iOS app, or website. Once you’ve taken the necessary steps to set up App Indexing for Android and iOS, goo.gl URLs will send users straight to the right page in your app if they have it installed, and everyone else to your website. This will provide additional opportunities for your app users to re-engage with your app.

This feature works for both new short URLs and retroactively, so any existing goo.gl short links to your content will now also direct users to your app.

Zillow shares a short URL on Twitter that automatically links to their native app.

Share links that ‘do the right thing’

You can also make full use of this feature by integrating the URL Shortener API into your app’s share flow, so users can share links that automatically redirect to your native app cross-platform. This will also allow others to embed links in their websites and apps which deep link directly to your app.

Take Google Maps as an example. With the new cross-platform goo.gl links, the Maps share button generates one link that provides the best possible sharing experience for everyone. When opened, the link auto-detects the user’s platform and if they have Maps installed. If the user has the app installed, the short link opens the content directly in the Android or iOS Maps app. If the user doesn’t have the app installed or is on desktop, the short link opens the page on the Maps website.

Try it out for yourself! Don’t forget to use a phone with the Google Maps app installed: http://goo.gl/maps/xlWFj.

How to set it up

To set up app deep linking on goo.gl:

1. Complete the necessary steps to participate in App Indexing for Android and iOS at g.co/AppIndexing. Note that goo.gl deep links are open to all iOS developers, unlike deep links from Search currently. After this step, existing goo.gl short links will start deep linking to your app.
2. Optionally integrate the URL Shortener API with your app’s share flow, your email campaigns, etc. to programmatically generate links that will deep link directly back to your app.

We hope you enjoy this new functionality and happy cross-platform sharing!

Posted by Eli Wald, Product Manager

We’ve been helping users discover relevant content from Android apps in Google search results for a while now. Starting today, we’re bringing App Indexing to iOS apps as well. This means users on both Android and iOS will be able to open mobile app content straight from Google Search.

Indexed links from an initial group of apps we’ve been working with will begin appearing on iOS in search results both in the Google App and Chrome for signed-in users globally in the coming weeks:

How to get your iOS app indexed

While App Indexing for iOS is launching with a small group of test partners initially, we’re working to make this technology available to more app developers as soon as possible. In the meantime, here are the steps to get a head start on App Indexing for iOS:

1. Add deep linking support to your iOS app.
2. Make sure it’s possible to return to Search results with one click.
3. Provide deep link annotations on your site.
4. Let us know you’re interested. Keep in mind that expressing interest does not automatically guarantee getting app deep links in iOS search results.

If you happen to be attending Google I/O this week, stop by our talk titled “Get your app in the Google index” to learn more about App Indexing. You’ll also find detailed documentation on App Indexing for iOS at g.co/AppIndexing. If you’ve got more questions, drop by our Webmaster help forum.

Cross-posted from the Geo Developers Blog

By Mike Jeffrey, Google Maps API Team

Are you an iOS developer interested in adding a map to your application? The instructional experts at Code School set out to create a course introducing the Google Maps SDK for iOS to developers like you — and they delivered!

Exploring Google Maps for iOS is a free course covering everything from adding a simple map, to using geocoding and directions, to incorporating Street View in iOS. You'll end up with a working sample application and gain the knowledge you need to build your own amazing Google Maps-based apps. Learn from videos, sample code, and Xcode-based coding challenges.

Check out the introduction video below, and then head over to Code School to get started with their interactive course!

You can also read our official developer documentation and reference docs at https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/ios/.

Posted by Louis Gray, Googler

By Stuart Reavley, Product Manager, Google Cloud Platform

Cross-posted with the Google Cloud Platform Blog

Mobile backends enable you to create connected mobile apps without writing server-side code. Today we are simplifying server-side development for iOS developers with Mobile Backend Starter for iOS. With our Mobile Backend and Objective-C client libraries you can:

• Store data in the cloud and share between users
• Send device-to-device push notifications
• Use continuous queries to notify devices of data changes
• Authenticate users using Google Accounts

Mobile developer Ryan Harter used Mobile Backend Starter to grow his Hashnote app usage from 3,000 users to 20,000:

“Mobile Backend Starter allowed me to focus on the Android app, while ensuring that I had an efficient backend. Most importantly, the backend isn't a black box that's intended to be the be all and end all, keeping me locked in. I was able to extend the backend to include Hashnote specific logic, while learning how Google implemented the initial feature set from the open source code.”

The Mobile Backend Starter is a Google App Engine application, so you can support hundreds of concurrent users at no charge. This source code for the entire app, both the backend as well as the Android and iOS clients, is available on Github, so you are free to explore and add specific customizations if you want.

Getting Started
You can try out the Mobile Backend Starter on an iPhone or iPad in just a few steps (further details here):
1. Provision your backend on App Engine
2. Download the iOS client zip file (or clone from GitHub repository)
3. Run the sample on a physical device (note: the sample does not run on the iOS simulator)

You use our framework classes to interact with the deployed backend as if it was local to the device. We incorporated our recent work to deliver scalable, reliable push notifications to thousands of iOS devices via the Apple Push Notification Service.

The same set of features exists for both Android and iOS, and the backend manages the platform specifics such as using Google Cloud Messaging for Android and APNS for iOS devices. You can follow these instructions to set up the backend for Android, or watch our Google I/O session.


Stuart Reavley’s goal is to enhance Google Cloud Platform for mobile. Outside work he enjoys traveling with his wife, Jen.

Posted by Scott Knaster, Editor

By Monica Tran, Google Maps API Team

This week's Map of the Week post from the Geo team features Adam Ratana's Sun Surveyor app, which allows photographers, gardeners and builders to visualize sun and moon paths over locations around the world. The Sun Surveyor app has both Map and Augmented Reality views, which not only let you see the sun and moon paths over satellite imagery, but also via your phone's camera, while you're onsite at the shoot.


Adam's users requested the ability to visualize the sun and moon paths on top of Street View panoramas, which would give them a better IRL (in real life) approximation of lighting for their photo shoots. When Street View launched in the Google Maps SDK for iOS, Adam did just that, bringing the feature to life for users in just a weekend.


We were impressed by his clever use of overlays to mimic the sun and moon path polylines that you see in the app. In his three-step tutorial on the Geo Developers Blog, Adam walks us through his approach to implementing overlays in Street View by:

1. Creating an overlay on top of the panorama upon which to draw the items
2. Synchronizing the positions of the overlay items with the panorama as it moves
3. Determining which data are visible and where on the screen to draw them

Check out Adam's post on the Geo Developers Blog for code snippets and details on the sample project.



Adam Ratana is a Carnegie Mellon University graduate living in, and loving, Pittsburgh, PA. He produces dance music as a member of Pittsburgh Track Authority, enjoys photography, traveling with his wife, and writing fun software in his free time. Adam also enjoys attending the Pittsburgh Cocoaheads chapter meetings.



Sun Surveyor visualizes the sun and moon in a variety of ways for photographers, filmmakers, solar industry professionals, architects, homebuyers, gardeners, and anyone needing to predict or understand the movement of the sun and moon.

Monica Tran joins us from our Google Maps API team in Sydney, where she helps developers tell stories and build businesses with maps.

Posted by Scott Knaster, Editor