This is a great opportunity for you to showcase your indie title to the public, increase your network, and compete to win great prizes, such as Tango devices, free tickets for Google I/O 2017, and Google ad campaign support. Admission will be free and players will get the chance to play and vote on their favorites.
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.
Google Play continues to grow rapidly, as Android users installed over 65 billion apps in the last year from the Google Play Store. We’re also seeing developers move to update their apps more frequently to push great new content, patch security vulnerabilities, and iterate quickly on user feedback.
However, many users are sensitive to the amount of data they use, especially if they are not on Wi-Fi. Google Play is investing in improvements to reduce the data that needs to be transferred for app installs and updates, while making data cost more transparent to users.
Read on to understand the updates and learn some tips for ways to optimize the size of your APK.
New Delta algorithm to reduce the size of app updates
For approximately 98% of app updates from the Play Store, only changes(deltas) to APK files are downloaded and merged with the existing files, reducing the size of updates. Google Play has used delta algorithms since 2012, and we recently rolled out an additional delta algorithm, href="http://www.daemonology.net/bsdiff/">bsdiffhref="http://www.daemonology.net/bsdiff/">(created by Colin Percivalid="fnref1">1href="http://www.daemonology.net/bsdiff/">), that our experimentation shows can reduce delta size by up to 50% or more compared to the previous algorithm for some APKs. Bsdiff is specifically targeted to produce more efficient deltas of native libraries by taking advantage of the specific ways in which compiled native code changes between versions. To be most effective, native libraries should be stored uncompressed (compression interferes with delta algorithms).
An example from Chrome:
Patch Description
Previous patch size
Bsdiff Size
M46 to M47 major update
22.8 MB
12.9 MB
M47 minor update
15.3 MB
3.6 MB
Apps that don’t have uncompressed native libraries can see a 5% decrease in size on average, compared to the previous delta algorithm.
Applying the delta algorithm to APK Expansion Files to further reduce update size
APK Expansion Files allow you to include additional large files up to 2GB in size (e.g. high resolution graphics or media files) with your app, which is especially popular with games. We have recently expanded our delta and compression algorithms to apply to these APK Expansion Files in addition to APKs, reducing the download size of initial installs by 12%, and updates by 65% on average. APK Expansion file patches use the href="http://xdelta.org/">xdelta algorithm.
Clearer size information in the Play Store
Alongside the improvements to reduce download size, we also made information displayed about data used and download sizes in the Play Store clearer. You can now see actual download sizes, not the APK file size, in the Play Store. If you already have an app, you will only see the update size. These changes are rolling out now.
Colin Percival, Naive differences of executable code, http://www.daemonology.net/bsdiff/, 2003. ↩
Example 1: Showing new “Download size” of APK
Example 2: Showing new “Update size” of APK
Tips to reduce your download sizes
1. Optimize for the right size measurements: Users care about download size (i.e. how many bytes are transferred when installing/updating an app), and they care about disk size (i.e. how much space the app takes up on disk). It’s important to note that neither of these are the same as the original APK file size nor necessarily correlated.
Chrome example:
Compressed Native Library
Uncompressed Native Library
APK Size
39MB
52MB (+25%)
Download size (install)
29MB
29MB (no change)
Download size (update)
29MB
21MB (-29%)
Disk size
71MB
52MB (-26%)
Chrome found that initial download size remained the same by not compressing the native library in their APK, while the APK size increased, because Google Play already performs compression for downloads. They also found that the update size decreased, as deltas are more effective with uncompressed files, and disk size decreased as you no longer need an compressed copy of the native library. However, please note, native libraries should only be uncompressed when the minimum SDK version for an APK is 23 (Marshmallow) or later.
2. Reduce your APK size: Remove unnecessary data from the APK like unused resources and code.
3. Optimize parts of your APK to make them smaller: Using more efficient file formats, for example by using WebP instead of JPEG, or by using Proguard to remove unused code.
In today’s world of game-as-a-service on mobile, the lifetime value of a player
is a lot more complex, where revenue is now the sum of many micro transactions
instead of a single purchase with traditional console games.
Of course you don’t need a sophisticated statistical model to understand that
the more time a player invests in your game, and the more money they spend, the
greater their LTV. But how can you design and improve monetization as a mobile
game developer? Here are 5 tips to help you improve game-as-a-service
monetization, with best practice examples from mobile games publisher, href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/dev?id=7580247376460930437&hl=en_GB">Kongregate:
1. Track player behavior metrics that have a strong and positive correlation with LTV
D1, D7, D30 retention indicates how well a casual player can be converted into a committed fan.
Session length and frequency measures user engagement and how fun your game is.
Completion rate at important milestones can measure and pinpoint churn.
Buyer and repeated buyer conversion, represents your most valuable user segment.
2. Optimize for long-term engagement and delight your best players
Retention is the first metric that can distinguish great games from mediocre
ones. Games with higher retention rates throughout the user’ lifecycle, monetize
better consistently. Retention is king, and more importantly, long-term retention should be prioritized. Therefore, when designing your game,
aim to create a sophisticated and engaging experience to delight your most
committed fans.
[This chart shows the retention of top games / apps over time]
When considering long term retention, focus on achieving a strong D30, but also look beyond the first 30 days. Measure long term retention by assessing the following rates: D30 to D60, D30 to D90, and D30 to D180. The higher the rate, the stickier your game is in the long term, which will increase your LTV.
Players are willing to pay a fixed amount of money per hour of “fun”, so think about updates when designing your game, to make the content rich and fun for those who will play at very high levels and spend the most time within your game, don’t gate your players or hinder their in-game progression.
3. Increase buyer conversion through targeted offers
First-time buyer conversion is the most important as player churn rate drops significantly after the first purchase, but stays relatively flat regardless of the amount spent. Also, past purchase behavior is the best predictor of future purchases. Find your first-time and repeated buyer conversion rate directly in the href="https://developer.android.com/distribute/users/user-acquisition.html">Developer Console.
Use A/B testing to find the price that will maximize your total revenue. Different people have different willingness to pay for a given product and the tradeoff between price and quantity is different for different products, so don’t decrease prices blindly.
[Two week test results showing preference for the more expensive pack, which also generated more revenue]
Kongregate decided to keep the higher priced Super Shard Bot in the store,
although both packs resulted in very similar retention rates:
4. As well as what monetization features to implement, take into consideration why, when and how to do so
Why: “Buyer intent” is most important. Any item with a price tag should serve to enhance your players in-game experience. For example, a new map, a new power, something exciting and additional to the free experience. Don’t gate your players with a purchase-only item as happy users means more time spent with your game, which will lead to higher revenue. Educate users by gifting some free premium goods and currency during the tutorial, and let users experience the benefit first.
When: Time offers based on when users may need it. If your IAP is to continue gameplay after timeout, then you should surface it right when the timer ends. If your IAP is to offer premium equipment, then you should surface it when users gear up their characters. The offer should be contextually relevant, such that the content should cater to the player’s current status and needs in-game.
In particular, Starter Packs or New Buyer Promos need to be well timed. Players need to understand the value and importance of all the items before they are shown the promotion. If surfaced too early, players will not feel compelled to purchase. If surfaced too late, the offer will not be compelling enough. The Starter Pack should appear within 3 to 5 sessions since install, depending on your game. Additionally, limiting its availability to 3 to 5 days will urge players to make a quicker purchase decision.
Thanks to the strength of the promotion over 50% of players choose the Starter Pack instead of the regular gems offerings:
How: There are many ways you can implement premium content and goods in your game, such as power-ups, characters, equipment, maps, hints, chapters etc. The two most impactful monetization designs are:
Gacha - There are many ways to design, present and balance gacha but the key is to have randomized rewards, which allows you to sell extremely powerful items that players want without having to charge really high prices per purchase.
LiveOps - Limited time content on a regular cadence will also create really compelling opportunities for the players to both engage further with the game and invest in the game. For instance, Adventure Capitalist has been releasing regular limited themed time events with their spin on the permanent content, their own progression, achievements and IAP promotions.
Through this initiative, the game has seen regular increases in both engagement and revenue during event times without affecting the non-event periods:
[Timed events drastically increase engagement and revenue without lowering the baseline average over time]
5. Take into account local prices and pricing models
Just like different people have different willingness-to-pay, different markets have different purchasing powers.
Test what price points make sense for local consumers in each major market. Don’t just apply an umbrella discount, find the price points that maximize total revenue.
Consider charm pricing but remember it doesn’t work everywhere.For example, in the United States, prices always end in $x.99, but that’s not the case in Japan and Korea, where rounded numbers are used. Pricing in accordance to the local norm signals to the customers that you care and designed the game with them in mind. The Google Developer Console now automatically applies href="https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/6334373?hl=en&ref_topic=6075663">local pricing conventions of each currency for you.
We know many of you consider your mobile device as your primary tool to consume business information, but what if you could use it to get more work done, from anywhere?
We’re excited to introduce Android add-ons for Docs and Sheets, a new way for you to do just that—whether it’s readying a contract you have for e-signature from your phone, or pulling in CRM data on your tablet for some quick analysis while waiting for your morning coffee, Android add-ons can help you accomplish more.
Get more done with your favorite third-party apps, no matter where you are
We’ve worked with eight integration partners who have created seamless integrations for Docs and Sheets. Here’s a preview of just a few of them:
DocuSign - Trigger or complete a signing process from Docs or Sheets, and save the executed document to Drive. Read more here.
DocuSign lets you easily create signature envelopes right from Google Docs
ProsperWorks - Import your CRM data to create and update advanced dashboards, reports and graphs on Sheets, right from your device. Read more here.
AppSheet - Create powerful mobile apps directly from your data in Sheets instantly — no coding required. Read more here.
Scanbot - Scan your business documents using built-in OCR, and insert their contents into Docs as editable text. Read more here.
With users in 190 countries around the world, Google Play offers you a truly
global audience for your apps and games. Localization is one of the most
powerful ways to connect with people in different places, which is why we
launched translation support for in-app purchase and Universal App Campaigns
earlier this year. With over 30 language translation options available via the
Developer Console, we updated our app translation service to help you select the
most relevant languages, making it quick and easy to get started.
With the launch of new language and country analytics, you gain access to app
install analysis on Google Play, including:
Information on the top languages and countries where apps have been installed, broken down to the level of your app’s category
The percentage of installs that come from users of those languages
Further information to help inform your go-to-market plans for these countries
To make ordering translations easier, we show language bundles that you can add
to your order in a single click.
With over one million apps published through the Google Play Developer Console,
we know how important it is to publish with confidence, acquire users, learn
about them, and manage your business. Whether reacting to a critical performance
issue or responding to a negative review, checking on your apps when and where
you need to is invaluable.
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.
Today, the href="http://g.co/play/playbook-androiddevelopers-blog-launch">Playbook for Developers mobile app is now generally available for Android devices. The app helps you stay up-to-date with the features and best practices to grow your business on Google Play. Thanks to all our beta testers over the last six weeks whose feedback helped us tweak and refine the app in preparation for launch.
Here’s how you read and watch content in the Playbook for Developers app:
Choose topics relating to your business interests to personalize My Playbook with curated articles and videos from Google and experts across the web.
Explore the in-depth guide to Google’s developer products, with articles grouped by what you’re trying to do: develop, launch, engage, grow, and earn.
Take actions on items – complete, share, save, or dismiss them – and read your Saved articles later, including offline if they’re written in the app. A data connection will be needed to read articles and videos from across the web.
The app supports Android 5.0 and above. If you're on an older device, check out our ebook, The Secrets to App Success on Google Play. We will be adding and updating content in the app to help you stay up-to-date and grow your business. href="http://g.co/play/playbook-androiddevelopers-blog-launch">Get the Playbook for Developers app today and then href="mailto:playbookfeedback@google.com">give us your feedback. The app is also available in the following languages: href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.secrets&hl=id&utm_source=androiddevelopers&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=id">Bahasa Indonesia, href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.secrets&hl=de&&utm_source=androiddevelopers&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=de">Deutsch, href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.secrets&hl=es-419&&utm_source=androiddevelopers&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=es-419">español (Latinoamérica), href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.secrets&hl=fr&&utm_source=androiddevelopers&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=fr">le français, href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.secrets&hl=pt-BR&&utm_source=androiddevelopers&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=pr-BR">português do Brasil, href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.secrets&hl=vi&&utm_source=androiddevelopers&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=vi">tiếng Việt, href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.secrets&hl=ru&&utm_source=androiddevelopers&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=ru">русский язы́к, href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.secrets&hl=ko&&utm_source=androiddevelopers&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=ko">한국어, href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.secrets&hl=zh-CN&&utm_source=androiddevelopers&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=zh-CN">中文 (简体), href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.secrets&hl=zh-TW&&utm_source=androiddevelopers&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=zh-TW">中文 (繁體), and href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.secrets&hl=ja&&utm_source=androiddevelopers&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=ja">日本語.
This is the second app we’ve released for Google Play developers. Get the href="http://g.co/play/consoleapp">Google Play Developer Console app to review your app's performance statistics and financial data, get notified about your app's status and publishing changes, and read and reply to user reviews on the go.
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.
Posted by Purnima Kochikar, Director, Apps and Games Business Development, Google Play
During a special ceremony last tonight at Google I/O, we honored ten apps and games for their outstanding achievements as part of the inaugural Google Play Awards.
As we shared onstage, when you look at how Google Play has evolved over the years, it’s pretty amazing. We’re now reaching over 1 billion users every month and there’s literally something for everyone. From real-time multiplayer to beautiful Indie games, industry changing startups to innovative uses of mobile technology, developers like you continue to push the boundaries of what apps can do.
Congrats to the following developers in each category!
Posted by Purnima Kochikar, Director, Google Play Apps & Games
Google Play reaches over 1 billion monthly active users giving developers the world’s largest app distribution platform. Last year, Play users installed apps 65 billion times. To keep that great momentum going, we’re continuing to listen to your feedback and invest in more ways to help you grow your app or game business. Today, we’re sharing new features that benefit developers of all sizes.
Improvements to beta tests and app discovery on Google Play
Beta testing is a crucial tool that many developers use in the Google Play Developer Console to test their apps with real users, gather feedback, and make improvements before launching widely. Open beta tests are helpful to get feedback from a large group of users and allow any user to join a beta test. We're making open beta tests easier to find and participate in: apps that are available only as open betas and aren’t in production yet will soon appear in Play search results, users will be able to opt-in from Play store listings directly, and users will be able to send you private feedback through your Play store listing too.
We'll also be adding a new featured section to the store, called Google Play Early Access, showcasing a hand-picked group of promising open betas that haven’t gone to production yet.
There are more than a million apps available on Google Play and we continue to work on making it easy for people to discover the apps they’ll love. To that end, you’ll start seeing new collections on the store for tasks that might require a combination of apps. For example, when you're buying a house, you’ll see the best apps for finding real estate, keeping notes, getting a mortgage, and travelling in the area in one handy collection. Developers don’t need to take any action to take advantage of this benefit, apps will automatically be chosen. These contextual collections make it easier for users to discover complimentary apps as well as new types of apps.
Users can now opt-in to beta tests from the Play Store
An example of a new collection for apps relating to buying a house
Improve your app with the Play pre-launch report
Your app business relies on having high quality apps. To achieve quality, your apps need to be tested on a range of real devices before you ship them to your users. Play’s new pre-launch report summarizes issues found when testing your app on Firebase Test Lab for Android on a wide range of devices.
The pre-launch report in the Developer Console
Along with diagnostics to help you fix any crashes we detected in your app, your reports will also include screenshots from devices that use different Android versions, languages, and screen resolutions. These can help you find layout issues. We’ve also included early warnings of known security vulnerabilities that may have sneaked into your app -- even via third party libraries you rely on. You can enable the pre-launch report in the Developer Console.
Gain deeper insights from user reviews at a glance and reply to user reviews more easily
Your app reviews offer a wealth of information on what your users like and dislike about your app. We’re expanding on the improvements we made to ratings and reviews earlier this year, to offer you more ways to take advantage of reviews and better engage your audience.
Review benchmarks let you see your app’s rating distribution compared to similar apps in your category for a list of common topics which are relevant for all apps – like design, stability, and speed. You are also able to see how each area impacts your app’s rating. Review topics will let you see your app’s rating distribution for a list of topics which are specific to your app. With this analysis functionality, you can more easily identify what users think of your app and where to focus your improvement efforts.
Review benchmarks in the Developer Console
Developers frequently tell us they find replying to reviews valuable as a channel to directly engage their audience and gather feedback. In fact, we have found that users who update their star rating after a developer has responded to their review increase it by an average of 0.7 stars. For developers who have their own customer support solutions, we’re making replying easier with a new Reply to Reviews API. In the last few months, we’ve tested the API with Zendesk and Conversocial, so you can now start replying to reviews directly from those popular platforms or build your own custom integration.
Developers can now reply to reviews on Google Play from platorms such as Zendesk and Conversocial
Understand more about user acquisition and conversion, and see how you’re doing compared to others
The User Acquisition performance report in the Developer Console gives you a snapshot of how many users visit your store listing, how many install your app, and how many go on to make purchases. We’ve now added the ability to see user acquisition data by country and you’ll soon be able to see user acquisition benchmarks and compare your app’s conversion rates to similar apps on the Play store. With this data, you can find opportunities to focus your marketing efforts and increase your installs with tools like Store Listing Experiments.
User acquisition country data in the Developer Console
Building apps and games for billions of users
Hundreds of millions of users, many of them in emerging markets, are coming online and, for many of them, their first experience is on an Android device.
To help you get your app ready for this opportunity, we’ve created Building for Billions guidelines with a development checklist to help you optimize your app. You can also get more in-depth tips and best practices for expanding to new markets in the accompanying Building for Billions Playbook.
To help you meet local expectations when you set your prices and make purchases more attractive to your users, the Developer Console will now automatically round prices to local conventions in each market. For example, for a US app priced at $1.99, a user in Japan would see ￥200 rather than a non-rounded price from a straight FX conversion. You can also set up pricing templates to change pricing for products in bulk. You can make this change in the Developer Console.
While you're working on getting your app ready for billions of users, we've been enhancing the Google Play experience for them too. With improved compression, we've made app updates more data efficient, and we're focusing on making the Play Store itself faster than ever on all connection types.
We’ve also revamped how we select visible apps in key markets like India and Brazil to better showcase apps that are more relevant locally and apps made by local developers. And we continue to add more payment methods in new countries, including carrier billing and gift cards in India and Indonesia.
Two new apps: Get your app data and important notifications on the go, and stay up to date with best practices
To give you access to your data when you need it, and to keep you informed of crucial business updates with notifications, we’re launching the Play Console app. You can access your app’s data including installs, uninstalls, crashes, ratings, and reviews. You can also receive push notifications for important news like when your app update is live on Google Play. And you can even reply to reviews directly in the app, making it easier and quicker to engage your audience when you want to. Get the Play Console app on Google Play today.
Staying on top of all the features and best practices and strategies you should consider when growing your business can be a challenge. We’ve built another app, the Playbook by Google Play. The Playbook is a tailored list, based on your objectives, of the latest articles and videos from Google experts and across the web to help you grow a successful business on Google Play. Join the Playbook beta today and let us know your feedback.
The Play Console app
Playbook by Google Play
Finally, we will be soon making some updates to the Developer Distribution Agreement (DDA), which includes the ability for family members to share purchased apps on Google Play. Here you can see the updated DDA.
Developers have built amazing Android apps. They use your mobile device to the fullest, including the camera, GPS, and sensors to connect to the real world. They’re beautiful and immersive, with Material Design and smooth animations running at 60 frames per second. They use access to identity and payments to create seamless experiences.
But developers tell us they wish they could bring users into their apps more quickly and easily. With the web, you can click on a link and land on a web page — it takes one click and just a few seconds. It should be easier for users to access a wider range of apps, and for developers to reach more people.
So, we asked ourselves: How do we make it possible for people to access a wider range of apps, seamlessly? How do we help developers reach more people? And how do we do that while giving developers access to the range of capabilities and experiences that Android apps provide?
Today we’re sharing a preview of a new project that we think will change how people experience Android apps. We call it Android Instant Apps, and it evolves Android apps to be able to run instantly, without requiring installation. With Instant Apps, a tap on a URL can open right in an Android app, even if the user doesn’t have that app installed.
As a developer, you won’t need to build a new, separate app. It’s the same Android APIs, the same project, the same source code. You’ll simply update your existing Android app to take advantage of Instant Apps functionality. In fact, it can take less than a day to get up and running for some developers, though the effort involved will vary depending on how your app is structured. You modularize your app, and Google Play downloads only the parts that are needed, on the fly. And when you do upgrade, your app will be available to more than a billion users on Android devices going back to Jelly Bean.
This is a big change, so it's going to take some time. We’ve been working with a small set of partners to help refine the experience, including developers like BuzzFeed, B&H Photo, Medium, Hotel Tonight, Zumper and Disney. We’ll be gradually expanding access for developers and bringing Instant Apps to users later this year.
B&H Photo
(via Google Search)
BuzzFeedVideo
(via a shared link)
Park and Pay (example)
(via NFC)
If you’re interested in learning more about Android Instant Apps, please check out the Android developers website, where you can sign up for updates as they become available. We can’t wait to see what you build when your app is just a tap away.
We’re constantly investing in new tools and services to help developers build secure Android applications. This includes the application sandbox and Security APIs in the platform, Security APIs in Google Play Services, and even open source testing tools. Last year, Google Play also helped developers enhance the security of their applications by looking directly at the code they’ve written and offering suggestions for improvements.
The Google Play App Security Improvement Program is the first of its kind. It has two core components: We provide developers with security tips to help them build more secure apps, and we help developers identify potential security enhancements when uploaded to Google Play. This week, to help educate developers, Kristian Monsen, one of our engineers, gave a presentation about security best practices at the Samsung Developer Conference. And in 2015, we worked with developers to improve the security of over 100,000 apps through the program.
How it works
Before any app is accepted into Google Play, it is scanned for safety and security, including potential security issues. We also continuously re-scan the over one million apps in Google Play for additional threats.
If your app is flagged for a potential security issue, you will be notified immediately to help you quickly address the issue and help keep your users safe. We’ll deliver alerts to you using both email and the Google Play Developer Console, with links to a support page with details about how to improve the app.
Typically, these notifications will include a timeline for delivering the improvement to users as quickly as possible. Applications may be required to make security improvements before any other app updates can be be published.
You can confirm that you’ve fully addressed the issue by uploading the new version of your app to the Google Play Developer Console. Be sure to increment the version number of the fixed app. After a few hours, check the Developer Console for the security alert; if it’s no longer there, you’re all set!
The success of this program rests on our partnership with you—the developers of apps on Google Play—and the security community. We’re all responsible for providing safe, secure apps to our users. For feedback or questions, please reach out to us through the Google Play Developer Help Center. To report potential security issues in apps, please reach out to us at security+asi@android.com.
We recently updated The Secrets to App Success on Google Play with tools and tips to help app and game developers grow successful businesses on Google Play. However, many great apps are created by agencies and freelancers on behalf of companies. Today, we’re releasing a new playbook to help companies of any size who are considering outsourcing their Android app development.
How do you choose an agency? What are the pitfalls you should avoid? What can you do to make your app successful? These are some of the questions tackled by the new Outsourcing Playbook that you can read on Google Play.
Let us know your feedback
Once you’ve checked out the guide, we’d love to hear your feedback so we can continue to improve our developer resources and support. Let us know what you think.
Posted by Purnima Kochikar, Director, Apps and Games Business Development, Google Play
Google Play has seen tremendous growth over the past year, reaching more than 1 billion Android users across 190 countries. As a way to recognize our incredible developer community and highlight some of the best apps and games, we’re kicking off our first-ever Google Play Awards.
The program will showcase five nominees across 10 award categories and feature them in a dedicated collection on Google Play. Nominees were selected by a panel of experts on the Google Play team based on criteria emphasizing app quality, innovation, and having a launch or major update in the last 12 months. The winners of each category will be announced at Google I/O in May.
The full list of categories and nominees are below:
Standout Startup
Apps from new developers that offer a unique experience while achieving strong install growth. And the nominees are...
Join us live at the ceremony on May 19th at 7:00 pm PDT on stage 7 at Google I/O or via the live stream. You can also track the conversation on Twitter and G+ using the hashtags #io16.
