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Showing posts with label Google Play. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Google Play. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Grow your games business on Google Play: Game parameters management, video recording, streaming ads, and more

Posted by Morgan Dollard, Product Manager of Google Play Games



With mobile gamers across 190 countries, Google Play Games is made up of a vibrant and diverse gaming community. And these players are more engaged than ever. Over the past year, the number of games reaching over 1 million installs grew by 50 percent.



Today, at our annual Developer Day at the Game Developers Conference, we announced new platform and ads tools for developers, of all sizes reach, to reach this global audience and accelerate the growth of their games business. Check out below the full range of features that will help game developers build their apps, grow their user base, and earn more revenue.



Making Google Play Games better for players



In February, we introduced Gamer IDs so that anyone could create a gaming persona. We also simplified the sign-in process for Google Play Games so players could pick up playing their game more quickly. We’re also working on product enhancements to make Play Games a little more social and fun, which will mean more engaged players who’re playing your game for longer. One example is the launch of Gamer friends (coming soon!), where your players can add and interact with their friends from within the Google Play Games app (without needing a Google+ account).



We’re also launching the Indie Corner, a new collection on Google Play, that will highlight amazing games built by indie developers. You can nominate your awesome 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.



Grow your game with powerful new features from Google Play game services



In January, we added features to Player Analytics, the free reporting tool of Google Play game services, which helps you understand how players are progressing, spending and churning. Today, we previewed some upcoming new tools that would be available in the coming months, including:




  • Game parameters management: With game parameters management, you will be able to update gameplay and game economy parameters without the need for APK changes or resubmitting your app. You’ll be able to optimize virtual goods and currencies from the Developer Console or the Google Play Developer API.




Game parameters management in the Google Play Developer Console




  • Video Recording API: You will be able to easily add video recording to your app and let users share their videos with their friends and on YouTube in a few simple steps. We are also adding live streaming functionality to allow your fans to broadcast their gameplay experiences in real time on YouTube.






  • Predictive Analytics: The Player Stats API now has Predictive Analytics to help you identify which groups of players are likely to spend or churn, and we are adding new predictions for how much a player is likely to spend within 30 days and the probability that a player is a high spender. This allows you to tailor experiences for these players to try to increase their spend or engagement. Learn more about the
    Player Stats API.



“Not showing ads to users that were probable to spend increased number of IAP transactions by 15%.”
– Avetis Zakharyan, CEO Underwater Apps



New ad formats and targeting to find, keep and monetize high-quality gamers



Promoting your game and growing your audience is important, but it’s just as important to reach the right audience for your game, the players who want to open the game again and again. That’s why today we’ve unveiled new features that make it simpler to reach the right audience at scale.





  • Search Trial Run Ads: In the next few weeks, we’ll launch a new way for users to try your game out when they do a search for games on Google through a new ad format, Search Trial Run Ads. After tapping “Try now”, an individual can play your game for up to 10 minutes, and then download the game in full if they choose. These ads will appear to smartphone users on WiFi. Using this format, you can drive qualified users who are likely to stay engaged with your game after install.




SGN’s Search Trial Run Ad for Panda Pop




  • Portrait Video Ads: More than 80% of video ad views in mobile apps on the Google Display Network are from devices held vertically, but often these videos are created for landscape viewing. Over the next few weeks, we’re launching Portrait Video Ads for a full-screen, immersive portrait video experience. Developers have seen significant improvement in both click-through and conversion rates, resulting in lower cost per install and more installs.

  • Active User Targeting for Games: In the coming weeks, we’re rolling out a new type of targeting for Android apps that allows you to show ads to users who have spent more than 30 minutes playing games, or who have played a Google Play Games integrated game, in the last 30 days.



Earn more revenue in your game with AdMob



AdMob helps game developers around the world maximize revenue through in-app advertising. At GDC, we also announced a new way to help you earn more through AdMob Mediation. Rewarded advertising is a popular form of game monetization -- users are given the choice to engage with ads in exchange for an in-app reward. AdMob Mediation will enable you to easily monetize your apps with rewarded video ads from a number of ad providers. Supported networks and platforms include AdColony, AppLovin, Chartboost, Fyber, Upsight and Vungle, with more being added all the time.



You can learn more about this, and all our ads announcements on the Inside AdWords blog.



This is just the start of what we’ve got planned for 2016. We hope you can make use of these tools to improve your game, engage your audience, and grow your business and revenue.






















Thursday, March 3, 2016

Find success on Google Play: What app developers can learn from games

Posted by Matteo Vallone, Business Development Manager at Google Play



(As a way to reach more app developers and help them grow successful businesses on Google Play, this post was first published on The Next Web – Ed.)



There is much common ground between freemium apps and games businesses when it comes to achieving success. Users are, however, more used to paying for games than apps, stemming from the history of traditional gaming consoles. Moreover, mobile games are also able to easily offer ‘virtual goods’ across a range of price points to suit every pocket. This means that game developers have had plenty of opportunity to learn about how to improve onboarding, conversion, and ultimately the user Lifetime Value (LTV). So what can app developers learn from game developers? Here are some best practice tips and insights from successful game developers that can be applied to many apps, today.



Drive app success the game developer way:



1. Optimize retention before investing in acquisition


Retention is king, and retention drives conversion. For games developers, retention is the key measure of game quality and whether it appeals to players.



Most game developers will “soft launch” to beta testing communities or test markets. During this phase, the game is tweaked to optimize retention by looking into specific areas, such as tutorial completion, level difficulty and conversion. Developers can then track retention using the Cohorts reports in Google Analytics. Once retention is satisfactory, the developer can go to full launch and start investing in user acquisition.



2. Retain users with step-by-step engagement



The first seven days after install are the most critical for retention: users install several apps to try them, and decide in the first few days which ones they want to keep using. If you can retain for that time span, your app is more likely to become part of the user’s daily routine.



There are some simple ways to progressively build user engagement. It’s important to present a strong story that explains why that app is relevant to the user, while introducing them to key features. Then place features that offer the user value early, so they can be found without much effort.



This is a not a one-size-fit-all. To find the right solution, a developer needs to first make assumptions on what user flows can improve retention and then run A/B tests to validate or correct them. For example, a developer could think that introducing sign-in later in the user flow might improve retention. Also, the developer needs to keep in mind what the key long term engagement metrics are for the individual app (such as photos uploaded or the number of articles read) and measure the impact of the different onboarding flows on those metrics as well.



In general, these principles are good places to start optimizing your onboarding:



  • Look for ways to let the users experience the app straight away, rather than taking them through a long, complex setup.

  • Present “activation moments” — such as registering an account, uploading a video, or finding friend — gradually

  • Start by requiring minimal investment by the user, then ask them for more details as they are needed to use the apps features.

  • Treat permissions as a service for the user. For example, if you want users to register, show them in advance that, by making their experience more personal, they’ll get more value from the app.




In this example, OkCupid tried different onboarding flows and found the most engaging version increased seven-day retention by over 20 percent.



Finally, ensure the user can understand the value of your app before you start asking them to pay. Game developers are particularly good at letting their users try most or all product features for free in in a set number of days or sessions.



A great tool to help analyze how users are engaging (or not) with the app is through the Flow Report in Google Analytics. Using this report, a developer can see how users navigate through the app and where they leave to identify potential roadblocks.



3. Target the right offers at the right users


Understanding different groups of users in-app purchase behavior is the key to devising strategies to encourage them to spend.



Start by identifying groups of users by how they spend and much they are likely to spend. It may be by age group, the channel that brought the install, or in-app behaviour. Use the Segment builder in Google Analytics to identify and define these groups of users. Then, tailor in-app purchase offers to match the segments spending behavior. For example, for segments where multiple users tend to spend more in one go, but spend infrequently, offer them in-app features bundled together.



4. Offer in-app purchases when users are most likely to spend


Users are also more likely to spend, if the purchasing experience is frictionless, and even more so when they can see how the expenditure will add value. So:



  • Present purchase opportunities to users when they’re most likely to need or want it — and explain to the user why it’s relevant.

  • Make purchasing accessible easily from within the app with a minimum number of taps. For example, offer an upgrade button on the footer of relevant screens.




TomTom added a countdown to indicate when the free service runs out (counted in kilometers travelled). The counter includes a button to upgrade offering a one tap in-app purchase.



Like all good game developers, they focus on building good experiences that retain and engage users through constant testing and analytics. First impressions are important, so users need to be able to quickly understand the importance of the app and easily navigate through the onboarding experience. And to start generating revenue, it is important to be thoughtful about how to make in-app purchases actionable.



Watch Matteo’s Playtime 2015 session ‘The rules of games, for apps’ to hear more in-depth insights which app developers can learn from games with best practices and developer examples:





You can also watch the other sessions from Google Playtime 2015 to learn more about tools and best practices which can help you find success with business on Google Play.





























Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Explore the new Google Play Developer Policy Center

Posted by Atul Kumar, Google Play Policy



More than 1 billion Android users come to Google Play every month to discover their favorite apps and games, enabling developers to reach a vast global audience and build successful businesses on the platform. To maintain a positive experience for both users and developers, the Google Play Developer Program Policies play a central role in helping make Google Play an open, safe and enjoyable ecosystem by educating the community and defining appropriate content and activities in the store.




We constantly listen to our developers and users to maintain fair and defined policies and look for ways to improve how we communicate those policies to help developers avoid accidental pitfalls. As part of that effort, we’ve redesigned our Developer Program Policy Center to communicate our policies with greater transparency and clarity. This redesign includes:



  • Thematic organization of policies, so it is easier for developers to find relevant policies and understand the broad principles behind them

  • Visual examples and detailed guidelines for the most common violations based on developer feedback


  • Expanded information on our policy enforcement to help resolve violations

  • A visual refresh embracing Material Design to help developers more intuitively find the information they are looking for on mobile or desktop





From making it easier to self-correct minor violations in minutes using the app publishing status feature to improving our policy communication, the new policy center is part of our ongoing effort to improve the developer experience. We invite you to explore the new policy center and and share your feedback.

Friday, February 26, 2016

New tools for ratings & reviews on Google Play to engage and understand your users

Posted by Fergus Hurley, Product Manager, Google Play




Millions of users rate and review your apps every day on Google Play. From feature requests to technical issues, ratings and reviews offer a wealth of information about what people like and dislike. Since 2013, you’ve been able to reply to reviews on Google Play, giving you a direct communication channel with your most engaged users. You've told us you value having this channel because it helps you iterate on user feedback faster on Android than other platforms. In the last few months, we’ve made a number of improvements in the Google Play Developer Console to help you better analyze and manage ratings and reviews so that you can improve your app experience and boost its rating.



Improvements to ratings and reviews



We recently revamped ratings and reviews with features you can now find on dedicated pages in the Developer Console:





The new ratings page in the Google Play Developer Console




  • See ratings over time: See how your rating changes daily, weekly, and monthly and easily spot any changes when you release a new version of your app.

  • Ratings breakdown: Break down your rating by country, language, device, app version, or Android version.





The new reviews page in the Google Play Developer Console




  • Review highlights: See common themes from what users say in reviews of your app – these are the same highlights that users see on the Play Store. Review highlights are shown when you have a high enough volume of reviews and are updated regularly to reflect the latest user experiences with your app.

  • Device metadata: See certain device data such as RAM, CPU, and screen size so you can more easily identify problems users are mentioning in user reviews and debug such issues.

  • Search review text: Search inside reviews to see what people are saying about a particular topic or keyword.

  • Replies & updates to reviews: When you reply to reviews, the user receives an email. Now, you can also opt-in to be emailed if the user updates their review or rating.



Learn from other developers on how to make the most of ratings and reviews



Photo Editor by Aviary is a photo editing app with a strong focus on simplicity and intuitive use. Ratings and reviews and other Android features allow Aviary to iterate on builds two to three times faster compared to other platforms while being in a regular dialogue with their users.






Glu Mobile is a mobile gaming company known for Racing Rivals, Cooking Dash 2016 and its upcoming Taylor Swift game. Ratings and reviews features help Glu engage their audience, gather feedback, and manage user satisfaction. “Google’s review highlights allow us to see a snapshot of game features users like or dislike at a glance. We monitor review trends, watch out for notifications, and respond to reviews for our games,” says Niccolo de Masi, Glu Mobile CEO. Here are some tips Glu is using to master ratings and reviews in the Developer Console:




  1. Reply to reviews: Reply to user reviews of your game in the Google Play Developer Console. Help them with their issues or let them know that you're considering their feature suggestions. A positive experience could result in the user increasing their rating.
  2. Use search: You can now search within all reviews and apply search filters for rating, language, app version, device and more. Use this feature to find specific user feedback, for example, on new content you’ve added.
  3. Take action: Now, you can be notified when a user answers you or updates their review. You can immediately start working on improvements if you learned about an issue. If the feedback is positive, engage with your community and turn satisfied users into fans.
  4. Analyze over time: Analyze ratings over time to learn more about how user satisfaction improves as you update your game. This allows you to understand if your latest feature update or bug fix results in higher user satisfaction.
  5. Identify key themes: Google Play automatically surfaces review highlights that users are mentioning about your game. This makes it quick for you to analyze reviews and understand user feedback.


We hope these tools help you better engage with your audience and improve your app. Visit the Developer Console Help Center to find out more about seeing and managing ratings and reviews. For more tools and best practices to help you grow a successful business, download The Secrets to App Success on Google Play.







Saturday, February 20, 2016

Using Credentials between your Server and Google Services

Posted by Laurence Moroney, Developer Advocate



This is part 4 of a series on Google Sign-In that began with a blog post on the user experience improvements that launched with Google Play services 8.3. We then discussed the API updates that make the programming model much easier. Most recently, we went into how you can use Google Sign-In to authenticate a user with your backend server.



In this post, we’ll discuss how you can have your users sign in via your app to authorize your service for access to Google APIs, such as Google Drive, on their behalf.



When using Google Sign-In, it is easy to extend your integration with Google by requesting additional scopes for API access after sign-in, like storing the user’s pictures of food in Google Drive. Typically, you should request this access incrementally (not at initial sign-in) -- i.e. in the context of a user’s actions (for example, after an app user’s order has been delivered and they’d like to save a copy of their food photos), following best practices in user experience to make it most likely that the user will grant access, and aligning with the runtime permissions model in Android Marshmallow 6.0.



When you do this kind of integration, you probably want to access data from your server, so that you can continue to have access when the user is offline, or to store user-generated data in your own database. This flow would look like Figure 1. This also has the advantage of working across all platforms.





Figure 1. Accessing Google Services with Credentials.



To do this, follow these steps:



Step 1: As with the scenario in server authentication covered in the previous post, this sample provides canonical code for your Android app. In particular see the ServerAuthCodeActivity. 




 GoogleSignInOptions gso = new GoogleSignInOptions.Builder(GoogleSignInOptions.DEFAULT_SIGN_IN)  
      .requestScopes(new Scope(Scopes.DRIVE_APPFOLDER))  
      // The serverClientId is an OAuth 2.0 web client ID  
     // Details at: https://developers.google.com/identity/sign-in/android/?utm_campaign=android_discussion_server_021116&utm_source=anddev&utm_medium=blogstart step 4  
     .requestServerAuthCode(serverClientId)  
     .requestEmail()  
     .build();


This requires you to get a web client ID for your server. Details on how to obtain this are available here (see Step 4).



In this case, the scope DRIVE_APPFOLDER is requested, meaning that the user will be asked to give the app permission to access their Google Drive. In addition to this, a server auth code will be requested.



If the sign-in is successful, the auth code can be extracted from the account object like this:




 if (result.isSuccess()) {  
     GoogleSignInAccount acct = result.getSignInAccount();  
     String authCode = acct.getServerAuthCode();  
 }


(Taken from onActivityResult in the sample here)



This auth code should then be sent to your server using HTTPS POST, and, after it is exchanged, will give your server access to the user’s Google Drive. [Important: you should send the code in an authenticated call to your backend to ensure that it is a legitimate request from the active user].



Step 2: On your server, you will then exchange the auth code for tokens using the GoogleAuthorizationCodeTokenRequest class:




 // Set path to the Web application client_secret_*.json file you downloaded from the  
 // Google Developers Console: https://console.developers.google.com/project/_/apiui/credential  
 // You can also find your Web application client ID and client secret from the  
 // console and specify them directly when you create the GoogleAuthorizationCodeTokenRequest  
 // object.  
 String CLIENT_SECRET_FILE = "/path/to/client_secret.json"; // Be careful not to share this!  
 String REDIRECT_URI = "/path/to/web_app_redirect" // Can be empty if you don’t use web redirects  
 // Exchange auth code for access token  
 GoogleClientSecrets clientSecrets =  
     GoogleClientSecrets.load(  
         JacksonFactory.getDefaultInstance(), new FileReader(CLIENT_SECRET_FILE));  
 GoogleTokenResponse tokenResponse =  
            new GoogleAuthorizationCodeTokenRequest(  
                new NetHttpTransport(),  
                JacksonFactory.getDefaultInstance(),  
               "https://www.googleapis.com/oauth2/v4/token",  
                clientSecrets.getDetails().getClientId(),  
                clientSecrets.getDetails().getClientSecret(),  
                authCode,  
                REDIRECT_URI)  
               .execute();  
 String accessToken = tokenResponse.getAccessToken();  
 String refreshToken = tokenResponse.getRefreshToken();  
 Long expiresInSeconds = tokenResponse.getExpiresInSeconds();  
 // You can also get an ID token from the exchange result if basic profile scopes are requested  
 // e.g. starting GoogleSignInOptions.Builder from GoogleSignInOptions.DEFAULT_SIGN_IN like the  
 // sample code as used here: http://goo.gl/0Unpq8   
 //  
 // GoogleIdToken googleIdToken = tokenResponse.parseIdToken();


Then, create a GoogleCredential object using the tokens from GoogleTokenResponse:




 GoogleCredential credential = new GoogleCredential.Builder()  
          .setTransport(new NetHttpTransport())  
          .setJsonFactory(JacksonFactory.getDefaultInstance())  
          .setClientSecrets(clientSecrets)  
          .build();  
 credential.setAccessToken(accessToken);  
 credential.setExpiresInSeconds(expiresInSeconds);  
 credential.setRefreshToken(refreshToken);


If a refresh token is available, you can persist the credentials using StoredCredential for later use if you need ongoing access to the API on behalf of the user.



Step 3: The credential can then be used to access Google services. Now, in our food delivery scenario, you might want to store or retrieve photos or receipts of finished deliveries in Google Drive. For example, it would look something like this:




 Drive drive = new Drive.Builder(new NetHttpTransport(),   
                                 JacksonFactory.getDefaultInstance(),   
                                 credential)  
       .setApplicationName("Auth Code Exchange Demo")  
       .build();  
 File file = drive.files().get("appfolder").execute();


This demonstrates the use of Google Sign-In credentials where your server can make Google API calls on behalf of your users. To learn more about this, and all Google Sign In technologies, visit the Google Identity Platform website.



Friday, February 19, 2016

Get the guide to family app success on Google Play and see how BabyFirst increased installs by 50%

Posted by Lily Sheringham, The Google Play Apps & Games team



We recently released the second edition of The Secrets to App Success on Google Play with more best practices for finding success growing an app or game business on Google Play. Today we’re sharing our first companion guide for developers, The Family Playbook, which includes information on developing high-quality apps and games for kids and families, along with advice from other developers.



The guide includes advice to help you optimize your user interface design for children, build interactive features that both educate and entertain, develop a business model, understand legal considerations, and plan age-appropriate marketing.



If you create family apps, opt-in to the Designed for Families developer program to designate your apps and games as family-friendly. Apps that meet the program requirements will be featured through Google Play’s family-friendly search and browse experiences and help parents discover great, age-appropriate content and make more informed choices.



Once you’ve checked out the guide, we’d love to hear your feedback so we can continue to improve our developer resources, please let us know what you think.



Android Developer Story: BabyFirst increases installs by 50% with Google Play



BabyFirst was founded to create good educational content for babies, toddlers and their parents. Their apps now have over 30 million downloads, with 40% more downloads on Google Play than other platforms.



Watch this Android Developer Story to learn how opting-in to Designed for Families on Google Play, implementing Store Listing Experiments, and localizing the store listing into 10 languages helped them increase installs by 50% across their portfolio of apps.







Find out more about the Designed for Families program and download our new Family Playbook to help you find success on Google Play.




Thursday, January 28, 2016

Android Developer Story: Travel app Wego, increases monthly user retention by 300% with material design

Posted by Lily Sheringham, Google Play team



Headquartered in Singapore, Wego is a popular online travel marketplace for flights and hotels for users in South East Asia and the Middle East. They launched their Android app in early 2014, and today, more than 62 percent of Wego app users are on Android. Wego recently redesigned their app using material design principles to provide their users a more native Android experience for consistency and easier navigation.



Watch Ross Veitch, co-founder and CEO, and the Wego team talk about how they increased monthly user retention by 300 percent and reduced uninstall rates by up to 25 percent with material design.






Learn more about material design, how to use Android Studio, and how to find success on Google Play with the new guide ‘Secrets to App Success on Google Play.’

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

New features to better understand player behavior with Player Analytics

Posted by Lily Sheringham, Developer Marketing at Google Play



Google Play games services includes Player Analytics, a free reporting tool available in the Google Play Developer Console, to help you understand how players are progressing, spending, and churning. Now, you can see what Player Analytics looks like with an exemplary implementation of Play games services: try out the new sample game in the Google Play Developer Console, which we produced with help from Auxbrain, developer of Zombie Highway 2. The sample game uses randomized and anonymized data from a real game and will also let you try the new features we’re announcing today. Note: You need a Google Play Developer account in order to access the sample game.



Use predictive analytics to engage players before they might churn



To help you better understand your players’ behavior, we’ve extended the Player Stats API in Player Analytics with predictive functionality. The churn prediction method will return data on the probability that the player will churn, i.e., stop playing the game, so you can create content in response to this to entice them to stay in your game. Additionally, the spend prediction method will return the probability that the player will spend, and you could, for example, provide discounted in-app purchases or show ads based on these insights.



Create charts in the new funnels report to quickly visualize sequences of events



The funnels report enables you to create a funnel chart from any sequence events, such as achievements, spend, and custom events. For example, you could log custom events for each step in a tutorial flow (e.g., tutorial step 1, step 2, step 3), and then use the funnel report to visualize the exit points in your tutorial.






Measure and compare the effect of changes and cumulative values by new users with cohort’s report



The cohorts report allows you to take any event such as sessions, cumulative spend, and custom events, and compare the cumulative event values by new user cohorts - providing valuable insight into the impact of your decisions on your gaming model. For example, you can view users that started the day before you made a change and the day after. This allows you to measure and compare the effect of changes made, so if you doubled the price of all your items in your in-game store, you can see if the cumulative sessions started after the change was lower or higher than the users that started before the change.





Updated C++, iOS SDKs and Unity plug-in to support Player Stats API




We have updated the C++ and iOS SDKs, and the Unity plug-in, all of which now support the Player Stats API, which includes the basic player stats as well as spend and churn predictions.

Be sure to check out the sample game and learn more about Play Games Services. You can also get top tips from game developer Auxbrain to help you find success with Google Play game services.



Sunday, January 24, 2016

Play Games Permissions are changing in 2016

Play Games Permissions are changing in 2016

Posted by Wolff Dobson, Developer Advocate



We’re taking steps to reduce sign-in friction and unnecessary permission requests for players by moving the Games APIs to a new model. The new interaction is:




  • Players are prompted to sign-in once per account, rather than once per game

  • Players no longer need their account upgraded to Google+ to use Play Games services

  • Once players have signed-in for the first time, they will no longer need to sign in to any future games; they will be automatically signed in

  • Note: Players can turn off auto-sign-in through the Play Games App’s settings



Advantages:


  • Once a user signs in for first time, new games will generally be able to sign in without any user interaction

  • There is no consent screen required for signing in on any particular game. Sign-in will be automatic to each new game.



In order to respect user’s privacy and avoid revealing their real name, we also have to change the way player IDs work.




  • For existing players: Games will continue to get their Google+ ID (also called “player ID” in previous documentation) when they sign in.

  • For new players: Games will get a new player ID which is not the same as the previous IDs we’ve used.



Potential issues



Most games should see no interruption or change in service. There are a handful of cases, however, where some change is required.



Below are some issues, along with potential solutions.



These are:



  1. Asking for the Google+ scope unnecessarily

    • Issue: Your users will get unnecessary, potentially disturbing pop-up consent windows
    • Solution: Don’t request any additional scopes unless you absolutely need them

  2. Using the Play Games player ID for other Google APIs that are not games

    • Issue: You will not get valid data back from these other endpoints.
    • Solution: Don’t use player ID for other Google APIs.

  3. Using mobile/client access tokens on the server

    • Issue: Your access token may not contain the information you’re looking for

      • ...and this is not recommended in the first place.

    • Solution: Use the new GetServerAuthCode API instead.



Let’s cover each of these issues in detail.



Issue: Asking for unnecessary scopes


Early versions of our samples and documentation created a GoogleApiClient as follows:



 // Don’t do it this way!  
 GoogleApiClient gac = new GoogleApiClient.Builder(this, this, this)  
           .addApi(Games.API)  
           .addScope(Plus.SCOPE_PLUS_LOGIN) // The bad part  
           .build();  
 // Don’t do it this way!


In this case, the developer is specifically requesting the plus.login scope. If you ask for plus.login, your users will get a consent dialog.



Solution: Ask only for the scopes you need


Remove any unneeded scopes from your GoogleApiClient construction along with any APIs you no longer use.


 // This way you won’t get a consent screen  
 GoogleApiClient gac = new GoogleApiClient.Builder(this, this, this)  
           .addApi(Games.API)  
           .build();  
 // This way you won’t get a consent screen


For Google+ users


If your app uses specific Google+ features, such as requiring access to the player’s real-world Google+ social graph, be aware that new users will still be required to have a G+ profile to use your game. (Existing users who have already signed in won’t be asked to re-consent).



To require Google+ accounts to use your game, change your Games.API declaration to the following:


 .addApi(Games.API, new GamesOptions.Builder()  
                       .setRequireGooglePlus(true).build())


This will ensure that your game continues to ask for the necessary permissions/scopes to continue using the player’s real-world social graph and real name profile.



Issue: Using the Player ID as another ID


If you call the Games.getCurrentPlayerId() API, the value returned here is the identifier that Games uses for this player.



Traditionally, this value could be passed into other APIs such as Plus.PeopleApi.load. In the new model, this is no longer the case. Player IDs are ONLY valid for use with Games APIs.



Solution - Don’t mix IDs


The Games APIs (those accessed from com.google.android.gms.games) all use the Player ID, and as long as you use only those, they are guaranteed to work with the new IDs.



Issue: Using mobile/client access tokens on the server


A common pattern we’ve seen is:



  • Use GoogleAuthUtil to obtain an access token

  • Send this token to a server

  • On the server, call Google to verify the authenticity. This is most commonly done by calling https://www.googleapis.com/oauth2/v1/tokeninfo and looking at the response



This is not recommended in the first place, and is even more not-recommended after the shift in scopes.



Reasons not to do this:



  • It requires your app to know the current account the user is using, which requires holding the GET_ACCOUNTS permission. On Android M, this will result in the user being asked to share their contacts with your app at runtime, which can be intimidating.

  • The tokeninfo endpoint isn’t really designed for this use case - it’s primarily designed as a debugging tool, not as a production API. This means that you may be rate limited in the future if you call this API.

  • The user_id returned by token info may no longer be present with the new model. And even if it is present, the value won’t be the same as the new player ID. (See problem 2 above)

  • The token could expire at any time (access token expiration times are not a guarantee).

  • Using client tokens on the server require extra validation checks to make sure the token is not granted to a different application.



Solution: Use the new GetServerAuthCode flow



Fortunately, the solution is known, and is basically the same as our server-side auth recommendations for web.





  1. Upgrade to the latest version of Google Play Services SDK - at least 8.4.87.

  2. Create a server client ID if you don’t already have one

    1. Go to the Google Developer Console, and select your project

    2. From the left nav, select API Manager, then select Credentials

    3. Select “New Credentials” and choose “OAuth Client ID”

    4. Select “Web Application” and name it something useful for your application

    5. The client id for this web application is now your server client id.

  3. In your game, connect your GoogleApiClient as normal.

  4. Once connected, call the following API:

    1. Games.getGamesServerAuthCode(googleApiClient, “your_server_client_id”)

    2. If you were using GoogleAuthUtil before, you were probably calling this on a background thread - in which case the code looks like this:




 // Good way  
 {  
      GetServerAuthCodeResult result =   
           Games.getGamesServerAuthCode(gac, clientId).await();  
      if (result.isSuccess()) {  
           String authCode = result.getCode();  
            // Send code to server.  
   }  
 }  
 // Good way



  1. Send the auth code to your server, exactly the same as before.

  2. On your server, make an RPC to https://www.googleapis.com/oauth2/v4/token to exchange the auth code for an access token, probably using a Google Apis Client Library.

    1. You’ll have to provide the server client ID, server client secret (listed in the Developer Console when you created the server client ID), and the auth code.

    2. See more details here: https://developers.google.com/identity/protocols/OAuth2WebServer?utm_campaign=play games_discussion_permissions_012316&utm_source=anddev&utm_medium=blog#handlingresponse

    3. No, really:  You should use a Google Apis Client Library to make this process easier.

  3. Once you have the access token, you can now call www.googleapis.com/games/v1/applications/<app_id>/verify/ using that access token.

    1. Pass the auth token in a header as follows:

      1. “Authorization: OAuth <access_token>”

    2. The response value will contain the player ID for the user. This is the correct player ID to use for this user.

    3. This access token can be used to make additional server-to-server calls as needed.

Note: This API will only return a 200 if the access token was actually issued to your web app.




In summary


Let’s be very clear: If you do nothing, unless you are depending explicitly on Google+ features, you will see no change in functionality, and a smoother sign-in experience.



If you are:




  • Requesting Google+ scopes without using them, it’s a good idea to stop using them from here out.

  • Sending client access tokens to your server, we strongly suggest you use getGamesServerAuthCode() instead.



Thanks, and keep making awesome games!













Thursday, January 21, 2016

Android Developer Story: Music app developer DJIT builds higher quality experiences and successful businesses on Android

Posted by Lily Sheringham, Google Play team



Paris-based DJiT is the creator of edjing, one of the most downloaded DJ apps in the world, it now has more than 60 million downloads and a presence in 182 countries. Following their launch on Android, the platform became the largest contributor of business growth, with 50 percent of total revenue and more than 70 percent of new downloads coming from their Android users.



Hear from Jean-Baptiste Hironde, CEO & Co-founder, Séverine Payet, Marketing Manager, and Damien Delépine, Android Software Engineer, to learn how DJit improved latency on new Android Marshmallow, as well as leveraged other Android and Google Play features to create higher quality apps.







Find out more about building great audio apps and how to find success on Google Play.

Saturday, January 16, 2016

Create promo codes for your apps and in-app products in the Google Play Developer Console

Posted by Yoshi Tamura, Product Manager, Google Play




Over the past six months, a number of new tools in the Google Play Developer Console have been added to help you grow your app or game business on Google Play. Our improved beta testing features help you gather more feedback and fix issues. Store Listing Experiments let you run A/B tests on your app’s Play Store listing. Universal App Campaigns and the User Acquisition performance report help you grow your audience and better understand your marketing.



Starting today, you can now generate and distribute promo codes to current and new users on Google Play to drive engagement. Under the Promotions tab in the Developer Console, you can set up promo codes for your apps, games, and in-app products to distribute in your own marketing campaigns (up to 500 codes per app, per quarter). Consider using promo codes to reward loyal users and attract new customers.



How to use promo codes



  1. Choose your app in the Developer Console.
  2. Under the Promotions tab choose Add new promotion.

  3. Review and accept the additional terms of service if you haven’t run a promotion before.
  4. Choose from the options available, then generate and download your promo codes.
  5. Distribute your promo codes via your marketing channels such as social networks, in email, on the web, to your app’s beta testers, or in your app or game itself.
  6. Users can redeem your promo codes in a number of ways, including:


  1. From Google Play, using the Redeem menu option.
  2. From your app. They’ll be directed to the Play checkout flow before being redirected back to your app.
  3. By following a link that embeds the promo code (see tips below).


For more details about running a promotion for your app or game, read this article on the Google Play Developer Help Center.



Tips for making the most of promo codes



Some things to keep in mind when running a successful promotion:




  • There’s a limit of 500 promo codes per app every quarter.

  • You can embed your code in a URL so that users don’t have to enter it themselves (for example, if you’re sending your codes in an email). You can use the URL: https://play.google.com/redeem?code={CODE} (where {CODE} is a generated promo code).

  • To use promo codes for in-app products, you should implement In-app Promotions in your app. Note that promo codes can’t be used for subscriptions.

  • Review and adhere to the Promotional Code Terms Of Service.



We hope you find interesting ways to use promo codes to find new users and engage existing fans. To learn more about the many tools and best practices you can use to grow your business on Google Play, download our new developer playbook, “The Secrets to App Success on Google Play”.


Saturday, December 12, 2015

One tap sign-up and automatic sign-in without password entry using Smart Lock

Posted Steven Soneff, Product Manager, Google Identity



More than 30 percent of users signing in to the Netflix app on Android no longer have to enter a password thanks to Google’s Smart Lock for Passwords. Learn more



It’s been six months since the launch of Smart Lock for Passwords and we are thrilled with the impact it has made in getting users signed back in to many of their favorite apps. Million of users have been seamlessly signed in using saved accounts for over 40 major apps when going from one Android device to another or from Chrome to Android and vice versa. This first wave of developers have realized that removing the friction of sign-in increases user re-engagement, monetization opportunities, and cross-device analytics, improving the value and experience of their users.



The New York Times has seen 80 percent of their new sign-in events assisted by Smart Lock. Meanwhile, the Netflix customer support team found over a 20 percent reduction in support cases related to account recovery for their Android user base. Users strongly choose to stay signed in across their devices with over 60 percent opt-in to save sign-in info for major Smart Lock-enabled apps. And many of these developers were able to realize these gains with less than a day’s work by making only client-side changes to their app. To learn more about Smart Lock for Passwords, visit our developer site.



What’s New




With the latest release of Google Play services, we’ve made some enhancements to the Smart Lock for Passwords API to help you sign up new users or sign existing users in more quickly. Using the new method to retreive sign-in "hints", your users will see a dialog with a list of email addresses that they can select in a single tap:








This new experience is particularly important with Android Marshmallow’s runtime permissions model. To simplify and improve the user experience, this dialog doesn’t require device permissions and includes any email addresses that the user has saved with Smart Lock, not just the accounts on the device. This means that you can improve your sign-in and sign-up flows so that most of your users never need to type their email address. Apps using this dialog have seen nearly three-quarters of users select an entry shown, improving sign-up rates.



Next, after the user has tapped and shared their email address, with some server-side support, a sophisticated app can fully tailor the sign-in flow. By using the email address, you can check your database to see if a user has already registered for an account. You can then intelligently render either the sign-in or sign-up screens with the user’s email address, name and profile photo pre-filled.



Skipping the Password Altogether



It’s possible to do even better: if the user chooses a Google account from the dialog, an OpenID Connect ID Token is provided. This can save your app from having to verify email addresses for new accounts or skip the password altogether for returning users. ID tokens are also used by Google Sign-In to authenticate in place of a password, and are a strong assertion from Google that the owner of the given email address is present. If users on your site recover their passwords by email, then an ID token from Google is giving you the same assertion that the user owns the email address and is signed in to this device with that email address. You can also consider presence of ID token in addition to the password a signal to prevent password cracking and abuse.



We’ve found that the majority of users on Android use the email address that’s signed in on their device as their account for third-party apps, so this means seamlessly signing in most of your returning users, or creating a new account with one tap!



Code Samples and User Flow



Here’s a recap of how to streamline your app’s sign-in flow:






When your app starts, request stored Smart Lock credentials, and go straight to the user’s content when possible. Create a request for password or Google credentials, then listen for a callback with the results. Sign in immediately if stored user credentials (username / password, ID token, etc.) is available.


 CredentialRequest request = new CredentialRequest.Builder()  
     .setSupportsPasswordLogin(true)  
     .setAccountTypes(IdentityProviders.GOOGLE) // you can add other identity providers, too  
     .build();  
 Auth.CredentialsApi.request(mCredentialsApiClient, request).setResultCallback(  
     new ResultCallback<CredentialRequestResult>() {  
       public void onResult(CredentialRequestResult result) {  
         if (result.getStatus().isSuccess()) {  
          handleCredential(result.getCredential()) // sign in automatically!


When the user wants or needs to sign in with their email address, show the picker to help them input it. Create a request for hints, pass control to the system to display UI, and handle the result when the user selects an entry.


 HintRequest hintRequest = new HintRequest.Builder()  
     .setEmailAddressIdentifierSupported(true)  
     .setAccountTypes(IdentityProviders.GOOGLE)  
     .build();  
 PendingIntent intent = Auth.CredentialsApi.getHintPickerIntent(mCredentialsApiClient,   
                                 hintRequest);  
 startIntentSenderForResult(intent.getIntentSender(), RC_HINT, null, 0, 0, 0);  
 ...  
 onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) {  
   switch (requestCode) {  
     case RC_HINT:  
       if (resultCode == RESULT_OK) {  
         Credential hint = data.getParcelableExtra(Credential.EXTRA_KEY);  
         handleCredential(hint);



The result from the hint request will contain the user’s selected identifier and an ID token if it is a Google account on the device. If you use the ID token, you must send and verify it on your server for security. Note that this token will also include a claim if the email address is verified, so you can skip any email verification step. If no token is present, or you can’t do server-side validation, just pre-fill the email field for the user.


 handleCredential(Credential credential) {  
   if (!credential.getIdTokens().isEmpty()) {  
     credential.getIdTokens().get(0).getIdToken(); // send the ID token string to your server  
   } else {  
     // otherwise, try fill the sign-in form fields and submit if password is available  
     mEmailField.setText(credential.getId());  
     mPasswordField.setText(credential.getPassword());


On your server, after validating the ID token, use it to create an account or sign the user in without need for their password. Google provides libraries to do token validation, or you can use an open-source implementation. The ID token contains the user’s email address, and you can look it up in your database to determine whether an account needs to be created.


 GoogleIdTokenVerifier verifier = new GoogleIdTokenVerifier.Builder(transport, jsonFactory)  
         .setIssuer("https://accounts.google.com")  
         .setAudience(Arrays.asList(String.format("android://%s@%s",   
                             SHA512_HASH, PACKAGE_NAME)))  
         .build();  
 ...  
     GoogleIdToken idToken = verifier.verify(idTokenString);  
     if (idToken == null) {  
       Log.w(TAG, "ID Token Verification Failed, check the README for instructions.");  
       return;  
     }  
     GoogleIdToken.Payload payload = idToken.getPayload();  
     Log.d(TAG, "IdToken:Email:" + payload.getEmail());  
     Log.d(TAG, "IdToken:EmailVerified:" + payload.getEmailVerified());  
     // based on the email address, determine whether you need to create account   
     // or just sign user in


Then save the user’s email address credential “hint” in Smart Lock for automatic sign-in next time. Simply call the Credentials API save method with the hint and either set the user-entered password, or set the account type if you logged the user in with an ID token.


 Credential credential = new Credential.Builder(hint)  
     // if you signed in with ID token,   
     // set account type to the URL for your app (instead of a password field)  
     //.setAccountType("https://yourdomain.com")   
     .setPassword(password)  
     .build();  
 Auth.CredentialsApi.save(mCredentialsApiClient, credential).setResultCallback(  
     new ResolvingResultCallbacks<Status>(this, RC_SAVE) {


Learn More



To learn more about the basics of a Smart Lock API integration, check out our code lab for a step-by-step guide. We’re excited to make authentication without passwords possible via Smart Lock and are looking forward to a world where not only credentials can be managed more effectively, but apps can get their users signed in and up quickly and securely without the friction of typing usernames and passwords. We’d love to hear your feedback or questions!




Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Android Developer Story: SGN game ‘Cookie Jam’ increases user conversions with Store Listing Experiments

Posted by Lily Sheringham, Google Play team



Founded in 2010, SGN is a Los Angeles based mobile game developer with hit titles including Cookie Jam, Panda Pop, Juice Jam and Book of Life: Sugar Smash. They now have more than 200 employees and are one of the fastest growing cross-platform gaming developers.



SGN used Store Listing experiments to test multiple variants across their portfolio of games. For Cookie Jam, they saw an 8 percent increase in conversions simply by changing the background color of their app icon. They also saw increased installs following tests with the Panda Pop app icon and by changing the character in their Book of Life: Sugar Smash app icon.



Watch Josh Yguado, Co-founder and President of SGN, and Matthew Casertano, SVP of Game Operations, talk about how using Store Listing Experiments helped SGN improve their ROI, conversion rates and gamer retention.







Find out more about how to run tests on your Store Listing to increase installs and achieve success with the new guide to ‘Secrets to App Success on Google Play’.





Friday, November 20, 2015

Android Developer Story: Gifted Mom reaches more mothers across Africa with Android

Posted by Lily Sheringham, Google Play team


Gifted Mom is an app developed in Cameroon which provides users with basic, yet critical information about pregnancy, breastfeeding and child vaccinations. The widespread use of Android smartphones in Africa has meant that Gifted Mom has been able to reach more people at scale and improve lives.



Watch the creators of Gifted Mom, developer Alain Nteff and doctor Conrad Tankou, explain how they built their business and launched Gifted Mom on Google Play. They also talk about their plans to grow and help people in other developing countries across the continent in the next three years, in order to ultimately tackle maternal and infant mortality.





Find out more about building apps for Android and how to find success on Google Play.

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

An updated app guide and new video tips to help you find success on Google Play

Posted by Dom Elliott, The Google Play Apps & Games team



Last year, we introduced our first playbook for developers, “The Secrets to App Success on Google Play”, to help you grow your app or game business, which has been downloaded more than 200,000 times.. Many new features have since been announced on the platform – from Store Listing Experiments and beta testing improvements to App Invites and Smart Lock for Passwords.



Get the second edition of “The Secrets to App Success on Google Play”



Hot off the press, you can now download the second edition to learn about all the new tools and best practices for improving the quality of your app, growing a valuable audience, increasing engagement and retention, and earning more revenue.







Get the book on Google Play in English now or you can sign-up to be notified when the booklet is released in the following languages: Bahasa Indonesia, Deutsch, español (Latinoamérica), le français, português do Brasil, tiếng Việt, русский язы́к, ไทย, 한국어, 中文 (简体), 中文 (繁體), 日本語. Based on your feedback, the guide was updated to work seamlessly in the Google Play Books app. If you prefer, you can also download a PDF version from the Android Developers website.



New videos with tips to find success on Google Play



To accompany the guide, watch the first two episodes in a new ten-part video series of actionable tips you can start using today to achieve your business objectives. Subscribe to the Android Developers channel on YouTube and follow +Android Developers to watch the new videos as they’re released weekly.





Two new videos will be released each week in the ten-part series


on the Android Developer YouTube channel.



Let us know your feedback



Once you’ve checked out the guide and the videos, we’d again love to hear your feedback so we can continue to improve our developer support, please let us know what you think.

Minimum purchase price for apps and in-app products reduced on Google Play

Posted by Alistair Pott, Product Manager, Google Play



Available in more than 190 countries, Google Play is a global platform for developers to build high quality apps and successful businesses. But every market has its own unique challenges and opportunities. Purchasing behavior, in particular, varies significantly between markets. So to provide developers with more flexibility, we've worked to adapt Google Play pricing options to better suit local consumers and make content more accessible.



Following a successful pilot in India earlier this year, today, developers have the option to reduce the price of their premium titles and in-app products in 17 more countries to these new minimum thresholds:



Countries affected:


  • Brazil: R$ 0.99 (was R$2.00)

  • Chile: CLP $200.00 (was CLP $500.00)

  • Colombia: COP$ 800.00 (was COP$ 2000.00)

  • Egypt: E£2 Previous (was E£7)

  • Hungary: Ft 125.00 (was Ft 225.00)

  • Indonesia: Rp 3,000.00 (was Rp 12,000.00)

  • Malaysia: RM 1.00 (was RM 3.50)

  • Mexico: MXN$ 5.00 (was MXN$ 9.90)

  • Nigeria: ₦40 (was ₦195)

  • Peru: S/. 0.99 (was S/. 3.00)

  • Philippines: ₱15.00 (was ₱43.00)

  • Poland: zł1.79 (was zł2.99)

  • Russia: руб 15.00 (was руб 30.00)

  • Saudi Arabia:﷼ 0.99 (was 4.00﷼)

  • South Africa: R3.99 (was R10.00)

  • Thailand: ฿10.00 (was ฿32.00)

  • Turkey: ₺0.59 (was ₺2.00)

  • Ukraine: ₴5.00 (was ₴8.00)

  • Vietnam: ₫6,000 (was ₫21,000.00)


You can lower the price of your apps and games right away by visiting the Google Play Developer Console and clicking on “Pricing & Distribution” or “In-app Products” for your apps.



We hope this change allows you to reach more people around the world so that you can continue to grow your business on Google Play.



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