Google Developers Blog: #io15

Grow your app installs with App Invites from Google

Friday, May 29, 2015

Posted by Ranjith Jayaram, Product ManagerIf 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:

Use app invites for expanded reach: Tap into SMS and email invites via your user’s phone and Google contacts.

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.

Send actionable invite cards: Include an install button right in an email invite.

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.

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.

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.

Polymer 1.0 Released!

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Posted by Taylor Savage, Product Manager, Polymer

Today we released the 1.0 version of the Polymer library. Polymer is a new way of thinking about building web applications - a sugaring layer on top of Web Components, making it easy for you to create interoperable custom elements. These elements can then be put together to create app-like immersive experiences on the web.Since the “Developer Preview” release, we’ve re-written the library from the ground up, focusing on cross-browser performance while keeping the developer-friendly ergonomics. The new library is about 3x faster on Chrome, 4x faster on Safari, and a third less code than in developer preview. And it’s ready to be used in production applications.Get started with the new libraryWe’ve updated the polymer-project.org site with documentation for the 1.0 release. Major new and updated features include:

Brand-new, fast, and easy-to-use data binding system

Element theming and styling using custom CSS properties

Fast and lightweight Shadow DOM shim for non-supporting browsers

“Behaviors” mechanism for sharing behavior between elements

It’s easier than ever to create high-quality, production-ready elements using Polymer, to use in your app or share with other developers.Browse, demo, and learn how to use the latest elements built by the Polymer teamCheck out the many brand-new element product lines built by the Polymer team with the Polymer elements catalog. There you can browse for elements to help create or add features to your web app - whether you need buttons or layouts, Google maps or push notifications. For just about any problem you might need to solve on the web, there’s an element for that.Kick off your app with the Polymer Starter KitLooking for a fast and easy way to get started building a production-ready web application using Polymer? Use the Polymer starter kit. Packed with the latest elements, ready-to-use boilerplate, and an end-to-end toolchain to use from development through production deployment, the starter kit works out of the box so you can focus on adding features right away.We’re incredibly excited about this release, and can’t wait to see what you’ll build!

Introducing the Google Identity Platform

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Posted by Adam Dawes, Product Manager Identity is an important building block to any app. Even if it’s not top of mind when you’re building out new features, authentication is critical to get right. We realize developers want their users to have an efficient and secure experience with their products rather than dealing with forgotten passwords that prevent app usage. The Google Identity Platform is a suite of developer tools that cuts friction out of every step of getting people signed in: Smart Lock for Passwords, Google Sign-in, and Identity Toolkit. New: Get people automatically signed-in with Smart Lock for PasswordsSmart Lock is a password manager built into your Google account. It can automatically sign you into an Android app, and autofills credentials on websites viewed with Chrome. It removes the need to remember and type in password credentials.We're now extending Smart Lock as an API to app developers and publishers, starting with Android. Android developers can programmatically save and retrieve credentials, and automatically sign their users in across devices and websites in Chrome. Companies like Eventbrite, Orbitz, Netflix, Instacart, the New York Times, and soon — LinkedIn, are using Smart Lock for Passwords to get people automatically signed-in across their properties.

For new account sign-ups, or first-time sign ins, your users now have the option to save their passwords to Smart Lock, and be automatically signed-in subsequently. How does Smart Lock for Passwords work for your app or site? It recognizes and pre-fills login credentials across devices. When a user signs into or signs-up on your property, they’ll see a Smart Lock prompt to save their password for future use. If they accept, they’ll never have to enter a password again on your Android app or website on Chrome. In turn, this helps your app or site boost sign-up and sign-in rates for new and existing users. This also means when your users buy and activate new devices, they can easily download and get logged right back into your app using the proper account. You don’t have to spend resources in re-acquiring them again, or encounter forgotten passwords along the way.

Integrating with Smart Lock for Passwords lets your users save their password on one device, and be automatically be signed-in on other devices.Here’s how early partners are using Smart Lock for Passwords, which you can see rolling out in their Android apps and websites on Chrome.

Eventbrite easily integrated and tested SmartLock in their app to increase the number of signed in users, because signing in "gives users a more personalized event discovery experience and a more seamless ticket purchase experience", says Atul Kakkar, Senior Product Manager at Eventbrite.

For Instacart, “Smart Lock makes sign-in much faster, sparing the need for users to type in their information - across devices. Many people first browse Instacart on mobile or desktop web and then download the app. With all their credentials ready, our customers can get their groceries even faster. We’re excited for integrating with Smart Lock to help save customer time, and increase business conversions.” - Maksim Golivkin, Android Engineer

Netflix is using Smart Lock for Passwords to keep viewers signed in and consuming content no matter what device they’re watching on, even in the living room on Android TV. "Wherever possible, we want to reduce friction in getting our members authenticated across devices. Smart Lock can help, particularly on big screens, where entering user credentials is more cumbersome than on mobile or PC." - Rob Caruso, Director of Partner Engagement

In addition to helping pave the way for paid subscribers, the New York Times is using Smart Lock to help build a better cross-device experience for their readers. “This is a retention strategy for us, and part of an ongoing push to create registration and signed-in usage in the app. Smart Lock for Passwords makes it essentially frictionless for someone to do so. Readers who log in or create a registration have a higher propensity to subscribe, and this goes up further if they’re interacting with us on multiple platforms.” - Rachel Kirscht, Android Marketing Manager

“When consumers sign-in on Orbitz they benefit in a number of ways. For example, people can get quick access to the travel searches they’ve done on Orbitz using a different device and have a streamlined booking experience with minimal data entry. While traveling, signed-in app users receive push notifications to stay on top of flight delays and gate changes. Desktop Orbitz.com users can now get all these benefits automatically in our app when they utilize Smart Lock, avoiding the usual friction of sign-in or having to know that sign-in comes with benefits.” - Ryan Kowalczyk, Senior Director, Product Strategy

For beta partner LinkedIn, "We are thrilled to be Google's launch partner for their Smart Lock debut, which helps to further simplify the log-in experience for our existing LinkedIn members as well as streamline the sign-up process for new members.” - Bob Rosin, VP of Business Development at LinkedIn

Later on this year, we’re planning to offer new features including support for sync passphrases and Smart Lock for Passwords API support on other platforms. Stay tuned!Give people a trusted registration system with Google Sign-in

Google Sign-in is the gateway to securely connecting Google’s users and services to your app or site. It reduces the burden of login for your users, by enabling them to sign in with their Google account—the same account they already use with Gmail, Play, Google+, and other Google services. The New York Times was able attribute a 20% lift in new registered user signups to the implementation of Google Sign-In, in the months immediately following launch.Implement authentication in-a-box with Identity ToolkitIdentity Toolkit gives you a robust, more secure authentication system that helps you do sign-in the right way, and can grow with your app. The toolkit supports email and password authentication as well as major identity providers including Google and Facebook. Even non-technical developers can add future sign-in options and migrate existing users with simple configuration changes. Getting started with Identity Toolkit lets you easily scale your auth system as you grow across platforms. We hope that the Google Identity Platform makes it easy for your users to sign in, so that you can deliver them more personalized, engaging experiences. To view documentation, visit developers.google.com/identity

Add Google to your iOS Apps with CocoaPods

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Posted by Jonathan Beri, Product ManagerToday, 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!

Google I/O 2015: Develop, Engage & Earn

Thursday, May 28, 2015

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.

Announcing new Google Cast APIs

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Posted by Nathan Camarillo and David Allison, Google Cast Product Managers Google Cast makes it easy for developers to extend their mobile experiences to bigger screens and speakers. Since the launch of Chromecast, the first Google Cast device, we’ve seen tremendous success. 17 million Chromecast devices have been sold, with 1.5 billion touches of the Cast button, changing the way people watch TV. In the US, active Chromecast users are consuming 66% more content per day than at launch in July 2013. We see a 45% increase in YouTube watch time upon a Chromecast activation.The Google Cast ecosystem continues to grow, with a range of new entertainment devices with Google Cast built-in-- from Chromecast and Android TV devices to speakers and soundbars.Today at Google I/O, we are announcing new developer tools specifically for mobile app and game developers to bring new experiences to the TV. Google Cast Remote Display APIs (Beta)We are making it easy for mobile developers to bring graphically intensive apps or games to Google Cast receivers with Google Cast Remote Display APIs for Android and iOS. While Casting your Android screen is an existing option for users, the new Remote Display API allows mobile developers to build a tailored, integrated second screen experience, without requiring an identical mirroring of content between mobile devices and the Google Cast device. Remote Display will be available both iOS and Android. Your app will contain the same Google Cast icon allowing users to select a device. On Android, you’ll connect to the device using the helper class CastRemoteDisplayLocalService, then create a subclass of CastPresentation where you can call setContentView() to display any content you want (including drawing directly on a SurfaceView!). The contents of your CastPresentation are then sent over to the connected Google Cast device for display. On iOS, you’ll use the core Google Cast SDK to discover receivers and connect to one, then GCKRemoteDisplayChannel to establish a new Remote Display session. Your app will then send video and audio frames via the session. Adaptors for OpenGL ES and Metal are provided to help integrating Remote Display with existing rendering code.There’s no need to write a receiver app as the Remote Display APIs are supported natively by all Google Cast receivers. However, you’ll still need to register a Remote Display App ID using the Google Cast SDK Developer Console.See Remote Display in action with Driver® Speedboat Paradise:

Autoplay and Queuing APIsAutoplay and Queuing APIs allow developers to create content queues and begin buffering a second video while a first video is finishing playback. This enables the creation of a continuous playback experience and can significantly increase watch time, helping lift per-session watch times by 10-20% or more.Playing single media items on Chromecast has been something RemoteMediaPlayer (or CastCompanionLibrary’s VideoCastController) has been doing well for some time. With this release, RemoteMediaPlayer is gaining a full media queue, allowing you to queue up multiple MediaQueueItems, skip between items, set a repeat mode, reorder the queue, and enable autoplay for a seamless media playback experience. The MediaStatus returned to you will be augmented with the current queue of items as well as new OnPreloadStatusUpdatedListener, allowing you to display what will be played next. This ensures that all connected devices can easily maintain a synchronized queue of upcoming media items, opening up new possibilities of creating collaborative Google Cast media experiences. Game Manager APIs for Google CastSince last November, Cast has had the ability to turn your TV screen into a game board, racetrack, dance floor, or trivia quiz—inviting everyone in your living room to use their phone as a personal game controller. Now we’re introducing new Game Manager APIs that will simplify the process for developers to build multiplayer games. To make it easier to synchronize game state across a potentially large number of players, Google Play services 7.5 introduces the Cast Game Manager API. This API, available for Android via the GameManagerClient class, iOS, Chrome, and for receivers, allows you to send messages and state changes to all connected clients and the receiver. All of the send methods also have a method that includes a specific player ID, making it possible to have multiple players sharing a single sender device.All of these APIs are available on Android today. iOS and Chrome SDK updates will be available in the coming days. You can learn more about these Google Cast APIs on the Google Cast Developers Site. We’re excited to see what you come up with to bring more mobile-centric experiences to the living room.

Get ready for even more material design

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Posted by Monica Bagagem, Developer MarketingGoogle I/O 2015 starts tomorrow, and, like last year, we’ve got an exciting lineup of design-focused content for both developers and designers to experience in-person and online. Just a year ago, we announced material design - a system for cross-platform visual, motion, and interaction design. This year at I/O, we’ll see how material has been adopted and implemented by the community, and our approach on design across our platforms.

SessionsAt 4PM PDT on Thursday, May 28, join Matias Duarte’s “Material Now” session to recap where we’ve been and get a sneak peek of where we’re going with design at Google. We’ll be recognizing some of the phenomenal material design work from across the community, so definitely tune in if you’re an Android developer or designer. For more details, check Matias’ post on Google+.The session will be live streamed so you can follow along in real-time even if you’re not at Moscone. Recordings will also be available shortly after on the I/O website.Add Design Sessions to your I/O scheduleDesign SandboxWe’ve dedicated an entire section of Moscone West to design-related programming, including one-on-one and group UX reviews with members of the material design team. Appointments will be on a first-come, first-serve basis, but we'll also have Google designers on hand for more casual questions.Add Material Design Reviews to your I/O scheduleSandbox TalksGoogle designers and engineers will host several deep-dive, 20 minute tech talks in a breakout area within the Design Sandbox on Level 2. The space has been designed to facilitate conversation and discussion with small audiences, so come prepared with questions! We’ll be covering a range of topics such as cross-platform and responsive design, designing for platforms like Google Cast and Android Auto, and how to adapt material design to your brand. As an added bonus, most Sandbox Talks will take place twice throughout the conference giving you more flexibility to adjust your schedule. Add Design Sandbox Talks to your I/O scheduleExplore the full Google I/O schedule here. Be sure to follow +GoogleDesign and @GoogleDesign, where we’ll be posting design-related announcements throughout the conference. You can also follow and join the general conversation about I/O at #io15. See you tomorrow!

Surfacing content from iOS apps in Google Search

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Posted by Eli Wald, Product ManagerWe’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 indexedWhile 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:

Add deep linking support to your iOS app.

Make sure it’s possible to return to Search results with one click.

Provide deep link annotations on your site.

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.

Get ready for Google I/O 2015

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Posted by Mike Pegg, reppin' I/O since 2011Google I/O is almost here! We’ll officially kick-off live from the Moscone Center in San Francisco at 9:30AM PDT this Thursday, May 28th. While we’re putting the finishing touches on the keynote, sessions, sandbox talks, and code labs, we wanted to provide you with some tips to get ready to experience I/O, either in-person or offsite.

Navigate the conference with the Web & Android appsTo get the most out of Google I/O, make sure to download the I/O Android App and/or add the I/O web app to your mobile homescreen (both work offline!). From either, you can plan your schedule, view the venue map, and keep up with the latest I/O details. We just updated the website this morning, optimizing it for real-time content, as well as the Android app on Google Play - make sure to download the latest version (3.3.2) before the conference starts.Attending in person?New this year, keynote access will be assigned on a first-come, first-serve basis during badge pickup. Be sure to swing by Moscone West tomorrow, Wednesday, May 27th between 9AM-8PM PDT to pick up your badge (full badge pick-up schedule). Don’t forget to bring your government-issued photo ID and a copy of your ticket (on your phone or a printed copy). If you’re an Academic attendee, please remember to bring proof of eligibility. You might want to read through the pro tips in our FAQ before you arrive to learn how to best navigate the conference.Last but not least, we’re looking forward to kicking back and relaxing with you at the After Hours party during the evening of Day 1. Expect good food, good drinks, and a few Googley surprises. Be sure to check your email during the event for further instructions. Attending remotely?Can’t join us in person? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered! Whether you’re looking to to experience I/O with other devs in your neighborhood, or if you’ll be streaming it live from your couch, here are some ways you can connect with I/O in real-time:

I/O Extended: There’s still time to find an I/O Extended event happening near you. We have 460+ events happening in 91+ countries, so your chances of finding one near you are pretty good. These events are organized by Google Developer Groups, Student Ambassadors, and local developers, and include activities such as code labs, hackathons and more.

I/O Live: Tune into I/O Live on the web at google.com/io or via the I/O Android app. We will live stream the keynote and all sessions over the course of the event. During breaks, you can watch live interviews happening right from Moscone and educational pre-recorded content. If you want to bring the live stream and/or the #io15 conversation to your audience, simply customize our I/O Live widget and embed it on your site or blog.

#io15request: Send us your questions about what’s happening at I/O and a team of onsite Googlers will do their best to track down an answer for you. To submit a request, just make a public post on Google+ or Twitter with the #io15request hashtag. We’ll only be replying to requests made on May 28-29, in English, French or German. Learn more.

I/O in photos: Be sure to check out our photo stream during the event. We’ll upload photos in real time, live from Mocone.

We’re looking forward to seeing you in person or remotely on Thursday and Friday. Don’t forget to join the social conversation at #io15!

Grow your app installs with App Invites from Google

Polymer 1.0 Released!

Introducing the Google Identity Platform

Add Google to your iOS Apps with CocoaPods

Google I/O 2015: Develop, Engage & Earn

Announcing new Google Cast APIs

Get ready for even more material design

Surfacing content from iOS apps in Google Search

Get ready for Google I/O 2015

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