Google Pay is designed to make transactions simple from contactless payments to online purchases and even peer-to-peer payments. It also allows users to store tickets and passes, manage loyalty cards and keep track of transactions. With Google Pay, users can pay with all credit and debit cards saved to their Google Account, making hundreds of millions of cards enabled for faster checkout in your apps or websites. This includes payments for goods and services on e-commerce merchants, online marketplaces and Android apps.
When you integrate the Google Pay API into your app or site, your customers can then transact using any of those cards in as few as two clicks.
When users use their NFC-enabled mobile device or smart watch to pay in places such as supermarkets, restaurants or shops, the card selected is emulated from the device using a secure number that changes on every transaction. Only the bank or card issuer can decrypt this number to process the transaction. The process of securing your card details is called tokenization. Only cards from supported banks can be tokenized, and this is a necessary step to pay contactless using Google Pay.
Users can pay in-stores using NFC-enabled devices with forms of payment that support tokenization.
In contrast, when users pay in your app or on your site through Google Pay, they can select any card saved to their Google Account, including tokenized cards. This enables users to pay on any device in your sites and apps globally.
Users paying online can use any card saved under their Google account(s).
All forms of payments are stored in the user's Google account and protected by multiple layers of security. This includes payment methods that users have already saved to pay for services like YouTube, Google Play or to speed up checkout forms using Chrome Autofill.
You can integrate Google Pay's online APIs to increase conversions by providing a more convenient, more secure and faster way to pay to your users. Some of the benefits include:
Adding Google Pay to your site or application is just a few lines of code away. There are tutorials on how to integrate Google Pay in your website or Android app and step-by-step guided codelabs for Web and Android. Here is a more visual tutorial:
To get started, use this integration checklist (Android | Web) to make sure you have everything you need to complete the integration. When you’re ready to go live with your integration, request production access and follow the final steps to deploy your app (Android | Web) in a production environment.
The Payment Request API is a Web Payments W3C standard that provides a native browser experience for collecting payment information from the user. You can accept Google Pay via PaymentRequest directly, however this may not be available across browsers.
To enable Google Pay for your users across all major browsers with a single implementation, we recommend using the Google Pay JavaScript library as described above. This enables a native Payment Request experience on Chrome, while giving you the flexibility of supporting Google users on other browsers.
The payments sheet is presented natively when triggered from a browser with support for Payment Handler API (on the right), while it falls back to showing a pop-up on browsers that don’t.
As users’ needs evolve, we continue to add features and forms of payment to the Google Pay API –like the recent addition of PayPal– so you can get access to these new payment methods in your app or site without any additional development work.
Don’t miss Google Pay sessions at Google I/O this year to learn about the latest features we are bringing to Google Pay. Bookmark our sessions and check back for livestream details–we look forward to seeing you this week.
Posted by William Florance, Global Head, Developer Training Programs
Building upon our pledge to provide mobile developer training to 100,000 Africans to develop world class apps, today we are pleased to announce the next round of Google Africa Certification Scholarships aimed at helping developers become certified on Google’s Android, Web, and Cloud technologies.
This year, we are offering 30,000 additional scholarship opportunities and 1,000 grants for the Google Associate Android Developer, Mobile Web Specialist, and Associate Cloud Engineer certifications. The scholarship program will be delivered by our partners, Pluralsight and Andela, through an intensive learning curriculum designed to prepare motivated learners for entry-level and intermediate roles as software developers. Interested students in Africa can learn more about the Google Africa Certifications Scholarships and apply here
According to World Bank, Africa is on track to have the largest working-age population (1.1 billion) by 2034. Today’s announcement marks a transition from inspiring new developers to preparing them for the jobs of tomorrow. Google’s developer certifications are performance-based. They are developed around a job-task analysis which test learners for skills that employers expect developers to have.
As announced during Sundar Pichai - Google CEO’s visit to Nigeria in 2017, our continued initiatives focused on digital skills training, education and economic opportunity, and support for African developers and startups, demonstrate our commitment to help advance a healthy and vibrant ecosystem. By providing support for training and certifications we will help bridge the unemployment gap on the continent through increasing the number of employable software developers.
Although Google’s developer certifications are relatively new, we have already seen evidence that becoming certified can make a meaningful difference to developers and employers. Adaobi Frank - a graduate of the Associate Android Developer certification - got a better job that paid ten times more than her previous salary after completing her certification. Her interview was expedited as her employer was convinced that she was great for the role after she mentioned that she was certified. Now, she's got a job that helps provide for her family - see her video here. Through our efforts this year, we want to help many more developers like Ada and support the growth of startups and technology companies throughout Africa.
Follow this link to learn more about the scholarships and apply.
Posted by Peter Lubbers, Senior Program Manager, Google Developer Training
In January, as a part of Grow with Google’s ongoing commitment to create economic opportunities for Americans, the Google Developer Scholarship Challenge—hosted in partnership with Udacity—awarded nearly 50,000 scholarships to aspiring developers from a wide range of backgrounds and experience levels.
In April, the 5,000 top performers in the Scholarship Challenge earned scholarships for a full Udacity Nanodegree program. These scholars come from every part of the United States, range in age from the late teens to the late sixties, and vary in experience from beginning to advanced. Despite these differences, they share a desire to strengthen their web and Android development skills, and to grow professionally.
Together, they’ve created nearly 18,000 web and Android apps, and exchanged over 2 million messages on the support channels. Students all across the country have reported new jobs, career advancement, and engagement in community programs as a result of their scholarships.
We’d share every story if we could, as they’re all remarkable. But today, we introduce you to five scholars in particular. Because of their hard work, and what they’ve made of the scholarship opportunity, their lives and careers have changed in dramatic ways. Let’s meet them now.
Kansas City, MO
From Missouri Long-Haul Trucker to Web Developer
Tony Boswell was a long-haul truck driver for 14 years. He covered over 1.5 million miles, drove through almost every state in the US, and hauled everything from fresh produce to crude oil. It was steady work, but it required being away from home 320 days out of every year. Tony told us “My wife was home alone and we were living two entirely separate lives.”
Last year, at age 48, Tony decided he had to make a change. Despite not having any transferable skills or relevant work history, he believed he could become a developer. He applied to the Grow with Google Developer program, and earned the Nanodegree scholarship. It was the right move. Tony completed his Nanodegree program in September, and recently found a full-time position focused on front-end web development. Thanks to the career lessons included in his program, he was able to confidently negotiate a $10,000+ increase in his starting salary offer.
“I am happy to say, thanks to the education, training, and coaching that I received from this program, I have finally completed my transition from the open road and a steering wheel, to accepting the title of Technical Support Specialist — Web Developer. I can truly say that my whole life has changed because of coding.”
Virginia Beach, VA
From Virginia Homemaker to Technology Apprentice
Kimberly McCaffery applied for the Grow with Google scholarship to acquire new skills that would help her transition back to the workforce. She is a mother of four, and has been a military spouse and homemaker for over 20 years. She was motivated to apply because she recognized the need to contribute financially to her family:
“Since 1999, we’ve moved 10 times; in the US and overseas. When we got back to Virginia, I returned to the workforce as a substitute teacher. The W2 I received was my first one this century, but, my total pay was less than $500! As my husband approaches retirement, I knew it would help us all if I could shoulder more of the load.“
After completing her Front-End Nanodegree program earlier this fall, Kimberly got a job as a Technology Apprentice at MAXX Potential in Norfolk, Virginia. “I’m so pleased and proud! It's 10 minutes from the kid's school, very flexible, and full of challenges with IT as a service. And there is plenty of room within the company to grow as fast as I want!”
Glendive, MT
From unemployed to Software Engineer
After being laid off from a job in Pennsylvania, Charles and his family moved back to his wife’s hometown in rural Montana, where he struggled to find work as a freelancer. It was a very difficult time, and his confidence suffered.
“I fell into major depression. When my phone rang, I had panic attacks because it was people asking for money. Job-wise, there was nothing in our small town.”
Charles had applied for, and earned, a Grow with Google Scholarship, but there didn’t seem to be a single place where he could apply his skills. He was desperate, but one interview changed everything for him:
“In June I applied for a job at the local cable company to do cable installation. In August I finally got called in for an interview. Immediately the CEO asked me why I didn’t apply for their programming position. I never actually saw it. Instead of an interview for an installer job it turned into the first of 2 interviews for a programming job. For the 2nd interview, I loaded up my phone with all the apps I had made during the Android Basics program. In the interview I answered all the standard questions but it was when I pulled my phone out and showed off the applications I made in the Nanodegree program, that I could tell that I nailed it.“
Two days later, they called and offered Charles the job.
“I never imagined I’d end up doing a job like this. My first day was on September 24.”
Tularosa, NM
Working with Students to Build an Apache Language App
Anna is a Special Education teacher and STEM program coordinator for a middle school in New Mexico. She has a passion for technology, and applied for the Google Developer Scholarship to gain new knowledge and be more helpful to her students and her community.
Anna lives and works near the Mescalero Apache Tribal lands and is now working with her students to develop an Apache language app.
“Students are collecting Apache words and phrases as raw data for the app, and have been working closely with our Apache Language teacher, who is a member of the tribe. Students are designing artwork for the app and are consulting their elders to make it meaningful for Apache people.”
Anna is also having a school-wide drawing contest for the launching icon. During the STEM meetings, students work with Android Studio—they learn how to change the look of their app with XML, and make it do things with Java. “My students are really motivated by this project!”
Castine, ME
Building A Website for African Widows and Orphans
Lourdes Wellington worked in the information technology field, but in the back of her mind, she harbored a desire to learn software development. She was gearing up to make that transition, when a serious health crisis put a hold on her plans—it was cancer, and survival meant having part of her right arm amputated. Despite the challenge, she was determined to move forward both physically and mentally:
“Losing my arm was a small price to pay considering I did not lose my life. My mental aptitude became stronger and I began to consider how I wanted to move forward in the future with my life.”
Lourdes successfully applied for the Grow with Google scholarship, and with the new skills she learned in her Front-End Nanodegree program, she went looking for a meaningful way to make an impact. She learned about an organization that benefits African widows and orphans, and decided to get involved. She created a website to help increase visibility for the organization, calling attention to their efforts to raise funds so a fish hatchery and fish ponds can be constructed to feed small villages.
“Taking programming classes with Udacity for website development has motivated me to create even more websites for charity.”
It has been an honor and a pleasure to play a small part in the remarkable journeys each of these scholarship students has undertaken since we first met them back in January. We look forward to seeing how each and every graduate puts their new skills to work to advance their lives, their careers, and the world around them!
Posted by Amit Chopra & Maggie Hohlfeld
2 years, 225+ agencies and 36 countries later, the Google Developers Agency Program has grown from a simple effort to connect with development agencies working on mobile apps to a global, exclusive program that recognizes and trains the best software agencies in the world.
The program's mission remains simple: identify, upskill, and promote top development agencies. It provides agencies with access to local events, hangouts, dedicated content, priority support from product and developer relations teams, and upcoming developer products.
As a way to identify top agencies who demonstrated excellence in Android development within the program and promote them, we first announced the "Certified Agency" Program at Google I/O in May 2015. Certification has now become the gold standard for Android development agencies, and has helped to push the agency ecosystem to improve as a whole.
Today we are pleased to share that we now have reached 50 Certified agencies from 15 different countries in the program.
We celebrated our newest class of Certified agencies at Google I/O, where it all began, and can't wait to see how much the program will have grown by this time next year.
Learn more about the program by clicking on Google Developers Agency program.
Grow with Google in partnership with Udacity, is awarding 5,000 Nanodegree program scholarships to help aspiring developers in the US continue their digital skills training and prepare for jobs as Android or Mobile Web developers.
As part of the Grow with Google Developer Scholarship program, scholars completed an initial challenge course at Udacity - completing on average over 100 hours of coursework, building coding project portfolios and engaging with their local developer community. Today, Google and Udacity are excited to recognize the 5,000 top performers in the challenge course, and offer them a chance to continue their training through a Nanodegree program with a full scholarship.
By successfully completing a Nanodegree program, scholars earn an industry-recognized credential helping to create a path for increased job opportunities as well as prepare for one of Google's Developer Certifications: Associate Android Developer or Mobile Web Specialist. These developer training programs offer scholars the opportunity to build their skills and become job-ready, helping to close the gap in the more than 500,000 open computing jobs in the US.
We are incredibly inspired by the hard work and passion shown by all our Grow with Google developer scholars -- including these stellar scholars:
Bela from Tennessee, a mother of two working toward her goal of becoming a web developer. Bela recently shared her personal story of determination to complete her developer training.
Desmend from Illinois, who is taking what he learns in his Android developer course and sharing it with local high school students that he mentors -- teaching them about technology and the type of career opportunities offered to developers.
Sean from Alabama, a veteran using his course training to transition into the civilian workforce as an Android developer.
And Demetra from New York, who utilized the online training and forums to achieve her goal of advancing her skills in web development.
This scholarship effort is part of the Grow with Google initiative, which is aimed at helping create economic opportunities for Americans by offering free tools, training, and events. Udacity is excited to partner with Google on this powerful effort and together we look forward to seeing what these scholars will achieve in the coming year.
Hamilton and Posse, a design and development agency in New York, had three short months to develop and launch mobile apps for the hit Broadway show. How did they accomplish that? Using Flutter, Google's new mobile UI framework.
Reaching millions of users — with an outstanding half a million monthly active users and featured on both the App Store and Google Play— the apps let fans enter the ticket lottery, buy merchandise, play trivia, take selfies with a #HamCam, read frequently updated news and interviews, and more.
Watch this video case study to see how Flutter continues to help apps like Hamilton succeed on iOS and Android. You can read more details about the development of this app on Posse's blog post.
Flutter is free and open source. Get started today at flutter.io. We can't wait to see what you build!
Africa's digital journey is rapidly gaining speed. According to the recent data, over 73 million people came online in Africa for the first time in 2017- that's more than the population of the UK! This means there are now about 435 million people on the continent using the Web to engage, connect and access information online. That's a good thing! But with this growth comes with an increased need to scale efforts to make the Web more relevant and useful to African users. This will require more skilled hands working with individuals and local businesses to develop content and platforms that will support Africa's digital growth.
In July 2017, Google's CEO, Sundar Pichai, announced a pledge to provide digital skills training to ten million people in Africa, and also to provide mobile developer training to 100,000 Africans. Today, in line with that commitment, we're excited to announce the launch of our new Africa Web and Android Scholarship program aimed at providing 15,000 scholarships to developers resident in Africa countries.
Working in partnership with Udacity and Andela, we will be offering 15,000 2-month 'single course' scholarships and 500 6-month nanodegree scholarships to aspiring and professional developers across Africa. The training will be available online via the Udacity training website, and the Andela Learning Community will support the students (in Nigeria and Kenya) through mentorship, in-person meet-ups, and online communities.
In order to access the full nanodegree scholarships, learners will have to complete lessons and quizzes courses being offered under the Udacity single course scholarships (also known as challenge courses) in addition to their active participation and support of classmates in the student community. We will be offering 10,000 scholarships to beginners (with little or no programming experience) and 5,000 to professional developers (with +1 year of experience) spread across Android and mobile web development tracks. The 10,000 beginner scholarships will include Android beginner courses and basic introduction to HTML & CSS; while the 5,000 intermediate scholarships include Android fundamentals for intermediate and building offline web applications courses respectively. Both courses are taught in English through an online program on Udacity open to Africa residence. The top 500 students at the end of the challenge will earn a full Nanodegree scholarship to one of four Nanodegree programs in Android or web development.
The application period closes on April 24th. Interested or want to learn more, visit https://www.udacity.com/google-africa-scholarships?utm_source=devblog
The Grow with Google Developer Scholarship—a US-focused program offering learning opportunities to tens of thousands of aspiring developers—has given rise to a wealth of powerful stories from amazing individuals who are using their scholarships to pursue their goals and achieve their dreams. Some are creating new beginnings in new places. Others are reinventing their paths and transforming their futures. Still others are advancing their careers and growing their businesses.
Rei Blanco, Paul Koutroulakis, and Mary Weidner exemplify what the scholarship program is all about.
Rei Blanco immigrated to Lansing, Michigan from Cuba seven years ago. He began learning English, and found opportunities to practice his skills in jobs ranging from housekeeping to customer support. Today, as a Grow with Google Developer Sscholarship recipient, he is learning a whole new language—Javascript—as well as HTML and CSS. Rei earned himself a spot as a student in the Front-End Web Developer challenge course, and is now fully-immersed, and loving every part of his journey to becoming a developer.
"When I get home, I immediately go to the basement and start coding!"
Rei studies several hours every night. He credits his partner for the non-stop encouragement she gives him. He embraces a daily workout routine that keeps him focused and energized. He also praises the student community for helping him to advance successfully through the program.
"The live help channel in our Slack workspace is great. Once you get stuck, you get immediate help or you can help out others."
As his skills grow, so does his confidence. A year ago, when he first began taking online coding courses, he felt out of place attending a local developer meetup. These days, he's a busy member of a student group working on outside projects, and has plans to attend many more in-person events. Rei is taking his developer career step-by-step—he's bolstering his chances of earning freelance work by steadily adding new projects to his portfolio, and has his sights set on a full-time job in front-end web development.
Paul Koutroulakis was a 20-year restaurant industry success story. For 10 of those years, he even owned his own establishment. But like it was for so many others, 2008 was a terrible year. Sales dropped, and the burden became too great. Paul lost his restaurant, and ultimately, his home.
Despite the hardships, Paul retained the spirit that had made him a success in the first place, and he was determined to persevere. But he also saw the writing on the wall, and knew he needed to make a change.
"This was a wakeup call with my resume. I didn't want to be an old man managing a restaurant."
From his research, he learned that demand for web developers was growing rapidly, and he recognized the opportunity he was looking for. From that moment forward, Paul focused his energy on becoming a developer.
He worked daytime hours at a logistics company, and started taking computer programming classes at night at a local technical college. Paul earned his associates degree, but he wasn't done. He felt the pressure to go the extra mile, and made the commitment to do so by competing for, and ultimately earning, a Grow with Google Developer Sscholarship.
"I need to make myself more marketable. I would like to show that age doesn't matter and that anyone can make a great contribution to a company or field if they are passionate about learning."
Today, Paul is focused on building a project portfolio, and wants to land a job as an entry-level web developer. His long-term goal is to enter the field of cybersecurity. Despite the hard work and long hours, he's excited by the skills he's learning, and by the transformation he's undergone. Best of all, he knows it's all worth it.
"Even if it's a late night of studying, it's better than coming home at one or two in the morning after a long shift at the restaurant."
Mary Weidner's degree was in finance, and after graduating, she went right into the field, spending several years in a series of finance-related roles. Simultaneously, she was nurturing an interest in coding, even going so far as to take a few free online courses. Everything changed for her when a friend asked her to join him as co-founder for a fitness app he was developing. She was intrigued, and agreed to take the leap. As one-half of a two-person team, she found herself immediately supporting all aspects of the fledgling operation, from launching the database, to filming videos.
Mary's hobbyist-level interest in coding transformed into a primary focus, as she realized early on that building her tech skills would significantly enhance her ability to grow the business. But there was more than just operational necessity at work—Mary recognized she was facing an additional set of challenges.
"Not only do I want to learn how to code in order to help my company, I also want to be more respected in the industry. Being a woman and a non-technical co-founder is not the easiest place to be in tech."
As a Grow with Google Developer Sscholarship recipient, Mary is now engaged in an intensive learning program, and her skills are accelerating accordingly.
Strongr Fastr officially launched in January 2018, and has already been downloaded by thousands of users, boasting a user rating of 4.7 stars. It's an impressive start, but neither Mary nor her partner are resting on their laurels. They're motivated to grow and improve, and are focused on "finding traction channels that work, and trying to find that scalable groove."
Despite her head-down determination and focus, Mary's approach to learning is a spirited one, and she's enjoying every minute of her big leap forward.
"I'm loving it. It's really cool to have apps on my phone that I've made, even if they're the most simple thing. It's very empowering and just ... cool!"
Grow with Google is a new initiative to help people get the skills they need to find a job. Udacity is excited to partner with Google on this powerful effort, and to offer the Ddeveloper Sscholarship program.
Grow with Google Developer scholars come from different backgrounds, live in different cities, and are pursuing different goals in the midst of different circumstances, but they are united by their efforts to advance their lives and careers through hard work, and a commitment to self-empowerment through learning. We're honored to support their efforts, and to share the stories of scholars like Rei, Paul, and Mary.
With ARCore and Google Lens, we're working to make smartphone cameras smarter. ARCore enables developers to build apps that can understand your environment and place objects and information in it. Google Lens uses your camera to help make sense of what you see, whether that's automatically creating contact information from a business card before you lose it, or soon being able to identify the breed of a cute dog you saw in the park. At Mobile World Congress, we're launching ARCore 1.0 along with new support for developers, and we're releasing updates for Lens and rolling it out to more people.
ARCore, Google's augmented reality SDK for Android, is out of preview and launching as version 1.0. Developers can now publish AR apps to the Play Store, and it's a great time to start building. ARCore works on 100 million Android smartphones, and advanced AR capabilities are available on all of these devices. It works on 13 different models right now (Google's Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL; Samsung's Galaxy S8, S8+, Note8, S7 and S7 edge; LGE's V30 and V30+ (Android O only); ASUS's Zenfone AR; and OnePlus's OnePlus 5). And beyond those available today, we're partnering with many manufacturers to enable their upcoming devices this year, including Samsung, Huawei, LGE, Motorola, ASUS, Xiaomi, HMD/Nokia, ZTE, Sony Mobile, and Vivo.
Making ARCore work on more devices is only part of the equation. We're bringing developers additional improvements and support to make their AR development process faster and easier. ARCore 1.0 features improved environmental understanding that enables users to place virtual assets on textured surfaces like posters, furniture, toy boxes, books, cans and more. Android Studio Beta now supports ARCore in the Emulator, so you can quickly test your app in a virtual environment right from your desktop.
Everyone should get to experience augmented reality, so we're working to bring it to people everywhere, including China. We'll be supporting ARCore in China on partner devices sold there— starting with Huawei, Xiaomi and Samsung—to enable them to distribute AR apps through their app stores.
We've partnered with a few great developers to showcase how they're planning to use AR in their apps. Snapchat has created an immersive experience that invites you into a "portal"—in this case, FC Barcelona's legendary Camp Nou stadium. Visualize different room interiors inside your home with Sotheby's International Realty. See Porsche's Mission E Concept vehicle right in your driveway, and explore how it works. With OTTO AR, choose pieces from an exclusive set of furniture and place them, true to scale, in a room. Ghostbusters World, based on the film franchise, is coming soon. In China, place furniture and over 100,000 other pieces with Easyhome Homestyler, see items and place them in your home when you shop on JD.com, or play games from NetEase, Wargaming and Game Insight.
With Google Lens, your phone's camera can help you understand the world around you, and, we're expanding availability of the Google Lens preview. With Lens in Google Photos, when you take a picture, you can get more information about what's in your photo. In the coming weeks, Lens will be available to all Google Photos English-language users who have the latest version of the app on Android and iOS. Also over the coming weeks, English-language users on compatible flagship devices will get the camera-based Lens experience within the Google Assistant. We'll add support for more devices over time.
And while it's still a preview, we've continued to make improvements to Google Lens. Since launch, we've added text selection features, the ability to create contacts and events from a photo in one tap, and—in the coming weeks—improved support for recognizing common animals and plants, like different dog breeds and flowers.
Smarter cameras will enable our smartphones to do more. With ARCore 1.0, developers can start building delightful and helpful AR experiences for them right now. And Lens, powered by AI and computer vision, makes it easier to search and take action on what you see. As these technologies continue to grow, we'll see more ways that they can help people have fun and get more done on their phones.
Last month, we announced the 50,000 Grow with Google scholarship challenge in partnership with Udacity. And today, we want to remind you to apply for the programs before the application window closes on November 30th.
In case you missed the announcement details, the Google-Udacity curriculum was created to help developers get the training they need to enter the workforce as Android or mobile web developers. Whether you're an experienced programmer looking for a career-change or a novice looking for a start, the courses and the Nanodegree programs are built with your career-goals in mind and prepare you for Google's Associate Android Developer and Mobile Web Specialist developer certifications.
The scholarship challenge is an exciting chance to learn valuable skills to launch or advance your career as a mobile or web developer. The program leverages world-class curriculum, developed by experts from Google and Udacity. These courses are completely free, and as a reminder the top 5,000 students at the end of the challenge will earn a full Nanodegree scholarship to one of the four Nanodegree programs in Android or web development.
To learn more visit udacity.com/grow-with-google and submit your application before the scholarship window closes!
Posted by Jocelyn Becker, Senior Program Manager, Android Training
As one of our most popular Udacity courses, the Developing Android Apps course was recently updated to ensure developers have the resources to build high quality apps. This course, which has already helped more than half a million developers learn to build Android apps, has been through the car wash and come out sparkling clean and updated.
Google and Udacity have worked together to update the course to include the very latest changes in Android and Android Studio, including how to use the new Constraint Layout editor, and how to use Firebase Job Dispatcher. Learn best practices for building Android apps using Android 7.0 (Nougat) while keeping your apps backwards compatible in older versions, learning at your own pace in your own time.
You sent us feedback that some of the lessons were a little difficult to get through, so we've restructured the lessons and added smaller apps for you to build as you progress through the course. So not only will you build the Sunshine weather app as a complete, integrated application that spans the entire course, but you'll also create an app in each lesson to help you learn individual concepts.
Combined package for Developing Android Apps course and Associate Android Developer Certification
This updated course teaches the skills that are tested by the Associate Android Developer certification exam. Udacity is offering a package that combines the updated Developing Android Apps course with a voucher for the Associate Android Developer certification exam. If you pass this exam, you will earn the Associate Android Developer Certification and show that you are competent and skilled in tasks that an entry-level Android developer typically performs. Enroll in Udacity's Fast Track to get prepared and take the Associate Android developer exam at: https://www.udacity.com/course/nd818.
Posted by Matteo Vallone, Google Play Partner Development Manager
To build awareness of the awesome innovation and art that indie game developers are bringing to users on Google Play, we have invested heavily over the past year in programs like Indie Corner, as well as events like the Google Play Indie Games Festivals in North America and Korea.
As part of that sustained effort, we also want to celebrate the passion and innovation of indie game developers with the introduction of the first-ever Google Play Indie Games Contest in Europe. The contest will recognize the best indie talent in several countries and offer prizes that will help you get your game noticed by industry experts and gamers worldwide.
Prizes for the finalists and winners:
Entering the contest:
If you're based in Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France (coming soon), Germany, Iceland, Israel, Netherlands, Norway, Poland (coming soon), Romania, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, or UK (excl. Northern Ireland), have 15 or less full time employees, and published a new game on Google Play after 1 January 2016, you may now be eligible to enter the contest. If you're planning on publishing a new game soon, you can also enter by submitting a private beta. Check out all the details in the terms and conditions. Submissions close on 31 December 2016.
The process:
Up to 20 finalists will get to showcase their games at an open event at the Saatchi Gallery in London on the 16th February 2017. At the event, the top 10 will be selected by the event attendees and the Google Play team. The top 10 will then get the opportunity to pitch to a jury of industry experts, from which the final winner and runners up will be selected.
Even if someone is NOT entering the contest:
Even if you're not eligible to enter the contest, you can still register to attend the final showcase event in London on 16 February 2017, check out some great indie games, and have fun with various industry experts and indie developers. We will also be hosting a workshop for all indie games developers from across EMEA in the new Google office in Kings Cross the next day, so this will be a packed week.
Get started:
Enter the Indie Games Contest now and visit the contest site to find out more about the contest, the event, and the workshop.
Posted by Michael Winser, Product Lead, Google Apps and Wesley Chun, Developer Advocate, Google Apps
Last week, we clarified the expectations and responsibilities when accessing Google user data via OAuth 2.0. Today, we’re announcing that in order to better protect users, we are increasing account security for enterprise Gmail users effective October 5, 2016. At this time, a new policy will take effect whereby users in a Google Apps domain, while changing their passwords on or after this date, will result in the revocation of the OAuth 2.0 tokens of apps that access their mailboxes using Gmail-based authorization scopes. Please note that users will not notice any specific changes on this date and their applications will continue to work. It is only when a user changes their password from that point moving forward that their Gmail-related tokens become invalid.
Developers should modify their applications to handle HTTP 400 or 401 error codes resulting from revoked tokens and prompt their users to go through the OAuth flow again to re-authorize those apps, such that they can access the user’s mailbox again (additional details below). Late last year, we announced a similar, planned change to our security policy that impacted a broader set of authorization scopes. We later decided not to move forward with that change for Apps customers and began working on a less impactful update as described above.
What is a revoked token?
A revoked OAuth 2.0 token no longer provides access to a user’s resources. Any attempt to use a revoked token in API calls will result in an error. Any existing token strings will no longer have any value and should be discarded. Applications accessing Google APIs should be modified to handle failed API calls.
Token revocation itself is not a new feature. Users have always been able to revoke access to applications in Security Checkup, and Google Apps admins have the ability to do the same in the Admin console. In addition, tokens that were not used for extended periods of time have always been subject to expiration or revocation. This change in our security policy will likely increase the rate of revoked tokens that applications see, since in some cases the process will now take place automatically.
What APIs and scopes are impacted?
To achieve the security benefits of this policy change with minimal admin confusion and end-user disruption, we’ve decided to limit its application to mail scopes only and to exclude Apps Script tokens. Apps installed via the Google Apps Marketplace are also not subject to the token revocation. Once this change is in effect, third-party mail apps like Apple Mail and Thunderbird―as well as other applications that use multiple scopes that include at least one mail scope―will stop accessing data upon password reset until a new OAuth 2.0 token has been granted. Your application will need to detect this scenario, notify the user that your application has lost access to their account data, and prompt them to go through the OAuth 2.0 flow again.
Mobile mail applications are also included in this policy change. For example, users who use the native mail application on iOS will have to re-authorize with their Google account credentials when their password has been changed. This new behavior for third-party mail apps on mobile aligns with the current behavior of the Gmail apps on iOS and Android, which also require re-authorization upon password reset.
How can I determine if my token was revoked?
Both short-lived access tokens and long-lived refresh tokens will be revoked when a user changes their password. Using a revoked access token to access an API or to generate a new access token will result in either HTTP 400 or 401 errors. If your application uses a library to access the API or handle the OAuth flow, then these errors will likely be thrown as exceptions. Consult the library’s documentation for information on how to catch these exceptions. NOTE: because HTTP 400 errors may be caused by a variety of reasons, expect the payload from a 400 due to a revoked token to be similar to the following:
{ "error_description": "Token has been revoked.", "error": "invalid_grant" }
How should my application handle revoked tokens?
This change emphasizes that token revocation should be considered a normal condition, not an error scenario. Your application should expect and detect the condition, and your UI should be optimized for restoring tokens.
To ensure that your application works correctly, we recommend doing the following:
If your application uses incremental authorization to accrue multiple scopes in the same token, you should track which features and scopes a given user has enabled. The end result is that if your app requested and obtained authorization for multiple scopes, and at least one of them is a mail scope, that token will be revoked, meaning you will need to prompt your user to re-authorize for all scopes originally granted.
Many applications use tokens to perform background or server-to-server API calls. Users expect this background activity to continue reliably. Since this policy change also affects those apps, this makes prompt notification requesting re-authorization even more important.
What is the timeline for this change?
To summarize, properly configured applications should be expected to handle invalid tokens in general, whether they be from expiration, non-existence, and revocation as normal conditions. We encourage developers to make any necessary changes to give their users the best experience possible. The policy change is planned to take effect on October 5, 2016.
Please see this Help Center article and FAQ for more details and the full list of mail scopes. Moving forward, any additional scopes to be added to the policy will be communicated in advance. We will provide those details as they become available.
Sam Thorogood, Developer Programs Engineer
Today, we're announcing that the open source version of Google's Santa Tracker has been updated with the Android and web experiences that ran in December 2015. We extended, enhanced and upgraded our code, and you can see how we used our developer products - including Firebase and Polymer - to build a fun, educational and engaging experience.
To get started, you can check out the code on GitHub at google/santa-tracker-web and google/santa-tracker-android. Both repositories include instructions so you can build your own version.
Santa Tracker isn’t just about watching Santa’s progress as he delivers presents on December 24. Visitors can also have fun with the winter-inspired experiences, games and educational content by exploring Santa's Village while Santa prepares for his big journey throughout the holidays.
Below is a summary of what we’ve released as open source.
We hope that this update inspires you to make your own magical experiences based on all the interesting and exciting components that came together to make Santa Tracker!
Originally posted on Android Developers blog
Posted by Sam Dutton, Ankur Kotwal, Developer Advocates; Liz Yepsen, Program Manager
‘TOP-UP WARNING.’ ‘NO CONNECTION.’ ‘INSUFFICIENT BANDWIDTH TO PLAY THIS RESOURCE.’
These are common warnings for many smartphone users around the world.
To build products that work for billions of users, developers must address key challenges: limited or intermittent connectivity, device compatibility, varying screen sizes, high data costs, short-lived batteries. We first presented developers.google.com/billions and related Android and Web resources at Google I/O last month, and today you can watch the video presentations about Android or the Web.
These best practices can help developers reach billions by delivering exceptional performance across a range of connections, data plans, and devices. g.co/dev/billions will help you:
Seamlessly transition between slow, intermediate, and offline environments
Your users move from place to place, from speedy wireless to patchy or expensive data. Manage these transitions by storing data, queueing requests, optimizing image handling, and performing core functions entirely offline.
Provide the right content for the right context
Keep context in mind - how and where do your users consume your content? Selecting text and media that works well across different viewport sizes, keeping text short (for scrolling on the go), providing a simple UI that doesn’t distract from content, and removing redundant content can all increase perception of your app’s quality while giving real performance gains like reduced data transfer. Once these practices are in place, localization options can grow audience reach and increase engagement.
Optimize for mobile hardware
Ensure your app or Web content is served and runs well for your widest possible addressable market, covering all actively used OS versions, while still following best practices, by testing on virtual or actual devices in target markets. Native Android apps should set minimum and target SDKs. Also, remember low cost phones have smaller amounts of RAM; apps should therefore adjust usage accordingly and minimize background running. For in-depth information on minimizing APK size, check out this series of Medium posts. On the Web, optimize JavaScript CPU usage, avoid raster image rendering, and minimize resource requests. Find out more here.
Reduce battery consumption
Low cost phones usually have shorter battery life. Users are sensitive to battery consumption levels and excessive consumption can lead to a high uninstall rate or avoidance of your site. Benchmark your battery usage against sessions on other pages or apps, or using tools such as Battery Historian, and avoid long-running processes which drain batteries.
Conserve data usage
Whatever you’re building, conserve data usage in three simple steps: understand loading requirements, reduce the amount of data required for interaction, and streamline navigation so users get what they want quickly. Conserving data on behalf of your users (and with native apps, offering configurable network usage) helps retain data-sensitive users -- especially those on prepaid plans or contracts with limited data -- as even “unlimited” plans can become expensive when roaming or if unexpected fees are applied.
Have another insight, or a success launching in low-connectivity conditions or on low-cost devices? Let us know on our G+ post.
