Google launched its latest Google Play Services 8.4 SDK, which promises to bring a host of notable updates for developers.
The latest version will allow developers to better understand the users who download an app. They can also find ways to enhance the functionality and features and be able to generate more sales, prompting more user to download their particular app.
One of the features brought by the update is the enhanced App Invites, which has been designed to allow apps sharing within users. Prior to the update, users would have to make a custom email which had a user prescribed text along with an image. With the latest version, users are now able to add content from the app and place it right in the message, making everything easier.
"If you have a favorite cooking app that you want to share with your friends, your invite to use the app can include a favorite recipe from the app," said Laurence Moroney, developer advocate, on a blog post.
This means that the app invite already allows users to access the desired content and then come up with a decision on whether they will install the app or not, depending on their needs.
Google also released an extended Player Stats API and added the churn and spend prediction methods that will help in understanding players' behavior better and eventually persuade them to stay in the game.
Moroney said that through churn prediction, player data can be returned if a probability shows that gameplay was stopped. Likewise, the spend prediction can come in handy when a low spending probability is detected.
Some of the things that developers can do as a response to the probabilities include creating content to entice players to stay in the game and providing in-app shopping with discounted rates, or they can choose to show ads.
The new version has also improved how the Fused Location Provider (FLP) detects location from cell towers by not only taking the primary tower but also including others that are nearby in order to be more accurate in detecting a location.
The tweaked FLP feature will now be able to enhance battery life as it prefers a Wi-Fi or a cellular data connection instead of using GPS. Non-GPS available areas such as indoors will also be easy to detect by using the area's Wi-Fi access points.
Google Play Services 8.4 SDK further added an onClickListener to the maps API. Users will now be able to add polygons as well as directly intercept the taps.
Other notable updates that developers can expect include Aztec bar codes' added support, background beacon scanning support in the Nearby Messages API, consistent step counts support across fitness apps and Android Wear watch faces, a new HistoryApi.updateData method, the addition of mobile autocomplete widget, and the addition of Autocomplete to the place picker widget.
