Android Developers Blog

Posted by Dave Burke, VP of Engineering Every day, Android apps help billions of people work, play, communicate, and create on a wide range of devices from phones and laptops to tablets, TVs, and cars. As more people come to rely on the experiences you build, their expectations can rise just as fast. It’s one of the reasons we share Android releases with you early: your feedback helps us build a better platform for your apps and all of the people who use them. Today, we’re releasing the first Developer Preview of Android 12, the next version of Android, for your testing and feedback. With each version, we’re working to make the OS smarter, easier to use, and better performing, with privacy and security at the core. In Android 12 we’re also working to give you new tools for building great experiences for users. Starting with things like compatible media transcoding, which helps your app to work with the latest video formats if you don’t already support them, and easier copy/paste of ri...

Posted by Dave Burke, VP of Engineering A few weeks ago we unwrapped the first Beta of Android 11 with a focus on people, controls, and privacy. As we highlighted in the #Android11Beta Launch , we’re making Android more people-centric and expressive, helping users control their smart devices, and giving them even more control over sensitive permissions. Developers can use APIs like Conversations , Bubbles , Device Controls , and Media Controls , to integrate these experiences into their apps. Today we’re pushing out the second Beta of Android 11 for you to try. This release takes us to the Platform Stability milestone, which means that Android 11’s APIs and behaviors are finalized. For developers, it’s time to get started on your final compatibility updates and publish them in time for the official release later in Q3. This week’s theme in #11 Weeks of Android is Android 11 Compatibility and we’ll be sharing helpful content and materials all week. You can find them on the #11 Weeks ...

This blogpost is a collaboration between Google and Excelliance Tech. Authored by Zhuo Chen with support from Zhihai Wang, Gao Huang from Excelliance Tech. Excelliance Tech improved the stability and compatibility of their LeBian SDK by moving away from non-SDK APIs, toward stable, official APIs. Their collaboration with the Android team during the process also led to a new public API for resource loading that all developers can use - the ResourcesLoader API in Android 11. Helping game developers keep users engaged Games are becoming increasingly complex, and a loading progress bar is not only a countdown to a new adventure, but also a bridge which connects players and developers. Players want the game to load right away, so "loading" has its own priorities: resources that will be used in the first few minutes need to be packed into the APK, while the rest of the content can be downloaded in the background after the game starts. Developers are always creating new content fo...

Posted by Diana Wong, Product Manager, Android This blog post is part of a weekly series for #11WeeksOfAndroid . For each #11WeeksOfAndroid , we’re diving into a key area so you don’t miss anything. This week, we’re spotlighting Android 11 compatibility; here’s a look at what you should know. Android 11 compatibility week This week in 11 Weeks of Android , we’re highlighting Android 11 Compatibility, a theme that’s important for all developers. For Android, the term app compatibility means that your app runs properly on a specific version of Android, typically the latest version. We’re sharing resources to help you with compatibility testing here , and you can follow Android Developers on Twitter and Youtube to catch helpful content and materials in this area all this week! Making app compatibility easier in Android 11 With each release, we’re working to reduce the work you’ll need to do to get your apps ready. In Android 11, we’ve added new processes, developer tools, and release...

Posted by Stephanie Cuthbertson, Director, Product Management Editor’s note: The global community of Android developers has always been a powerful force in shaping the direction of the Android platform; each and every voice matters to us. We have cancelled the virtual launch event to allow people to focus on important discussions around racial justice in the United States. Instead, we are releasing the Android 11 Beta today in a much different form, via short-form videos and web pages that you can consume at your own pace when the time is right for you. Millions of developers around the world build their business with Android, and we're releasing the Beta today to continue to support these developers with the latest tools. We humbly thank those who are able to offer their feedback on this release. Today, we’re unwrapping the Beta release for Android 11 as well as the latest updates for developers from Kotlin coroutines, to progress on the Jetpack Compose toolkit, to faster builds ...

Posted by Dave Burke, VP of Engineering Update [May 29, 2020]: We are excited to tell you more about Android 11, but now is not the time to celebrate. We are postponing the June 3rd event and beta release. We'll be back with more on Android 11, soon. When we started planning Android 11, we didn’t expect the kinds of changes that would find their way to all of us, across nearly every region in the world. These have challenged us to stay flexible and find new ways to work together, especially with our developer community. To help us meet those challenges we’re announcing an update to our release timeline. We’re bringing you a fourth Developer Preview today and moving Beta 1 to June 3. And to tell you all about the release and give you the technical resources you need, we’re hosting an online developer event that we’re calling #Android11: the Beta Launch Show . Join us for #Android11: The Beta Launch Show While the circumstances prevent us from joining together with you in-person at S...

Posted by Dave Burke, VP of Engineering Our teams, like all of you, continue getting used to a new normal. For many of us, that means working from living rooms, kitchens, backyards and bedrooms. So, from our homes to yours, we wanted to take a moment to share our most recent developer preview for Android 11. This update includes bug fixes and a set of productivity improvements for developers. You can see some of the highlights below, and visit the Android 11 developer site for details on all of the new features in Android 11. Today’s release is for developers and not intended for daily or consumer use, so we’re making it available by manual download and flash for Pixel 2, 3, 3a, or 4 devices. If you’re already running a Developer Preview build, you’ll receive an over-the-air (OTA) update to today’s release soon. As always, let us know what you think , and thank you for the helpful feedback you’ve shared so far. What’s in Developer Preview 3 In today’s release there are a number of ...