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Automating your app releases with Google Play

Posted by Nicholas Lativy, Software Engineer

At Google I/O we shared how Google's own apps make use of Google Play for successful launches and updates and introduced the new Google Play Developer Publishing API Version 3.

The Publishing API enables you to integrate publishing operations into your existing release process or automated workflows by providing the ability to upload APKs and roll out releases. Here's an overview of some of the improvements you can now take advantage of in Version 3 of the API.

Releases in the API

The Publishing API now uses the release model you are familiar with from the Play Console.

{
  "track": "production",
  "releases": [
    {
      "name": "Release One", 
      "versionCodes": ["100"],
      "status": "completed"
    }
  ]
}

This gives you full control over releases via the API allowing a number of operations which were previously available only in the Play Console. For example, you can now control the name of releases created via the API, and we have now relaxed the constraints on what can be rolled out via the API to match the Play Console.

Additional testing tracks

The API now supports releasing to any of the testing tracks you have configured for your application as well as the production track. This makes it possible to configure your continuous integration system to push a new build to your internal test track as soon as it's ready for QA.

Staged rollout

Staged rollouts are the recommended way to deploy new versions of your app. They allow you to make your new release available to a small percentage of users and gradually increase this percentage as your confidence in the release grows.

Staged rollouts are now represented directly in the API as inProgress releases.

{
  "track": "production",
  "releases": [
    {
      "versionCodes": ["100"],
      "status": "completed"
    },
    {
      "versionCodes": ["200"],
      "status": "inProgress",
      "userFraction": 0.1
    }
  ]
}

You can now halt a staged rollout via the API by changing its status to halted. This makes it possible to automatically respond to any problems you detect while performing a rollout. If it turns out to be a false alarm, the API now also allows you to resume a halted release by changing its status back to inProgress.

Release notes

Release notes are a useful way to communicate to users new features you have added in a release. In V3 we have simplified how these are specified via the API by adding the releaseNotes field to release.

{
  "track": "production",
  "releases": [
    {
      "versionCodes": ["100"],
      "status": "completed",
      "releaseNotes": [
        {
          "language": "en-US",
          "text": "Now it's easier to specify release notes."
        },
        {
           "language": "it-IT",
           "text": "Ora è più semplice specificare le note sulla versione."
        }
    }
  ]
}

Draft releases

We know that while many developers are comfortable deploying test builds automatically, they like using the Play Console when rolling out to production.

So, in the V3 API we have added the ability to create and manage Draft Releases.

{
  "track": "production",
  "releases": [
    {
      "name": "Big Launch",
      "versionCodes": ["200"],
      "status": "draft"
    }
  ]
}

This allows you to upload APKs or App Bundles and create a draft release from your continuous integration system, and then have your product manager log in, check that everything looks good, and hit "Confirm and Rollout".

We hope you find these features useful and take advantage of them for successful launches and updates with Google Play. If you're interested in some of the other great tools for distributing your apps, check out the I/O sessions which have now been posted to the Android Developers YouTube Channel.

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Auphonic add-ons for Audition and Premiere Pro

Our friends at Auphonic recently unveiled new Auphonic Audio Post-Production Add-ons for Audition and Premiere Pro, on both Mac and Windows. These extension panels bring the power of Auphonic’s automated processing and encoding tools directly into the Adobe workspace, making it easier than ever to send your projects back and forth.

Audition Multitrack Editor with the Auphonic Audio Post Production Add-on. The Auphonic Add-on can be embedded directly inside the Adobe user interface.

It is possible to export tracks/projects from Audition/Premiere Pro and process them with the Auphonic audio post-production algorithms (loudness, leveling, noise reduction – see Audio Examples), use our Encoding/Tagging, Chapter Marks, Speech Recognition and trigger Publishing with one click.

Furthermore, you can import the result file of an Auphonic Production into Audition/Premiere Pro.

Download the Auphonic Audio Post Production Add-ons for Adobe:

Audition: https://exchange.adobe.com/addons/products/20433
Premiere: https://exchange.adobe.com/addons/products/20429

Auphonic Add-on for Adobe Audition

Audition Waveform Editor with the Auphonic Audio Post Production Add-on. Metadata, Marker times and titles will be exported to Auphonic as well.

Export from Audition to Auphonic

You can upload the audio of your current active document (a Multitrack Session or a Single Audio File) to our Web Service. In case of a Multitrack Session, a mixdown will be computed automatically to create a Singletrack Production in our Web Service. Unfortunately, it is not possible to export the individual tracks in Audition, which could be used to create Multitrack Productions.

Metadata and Markers: All metadata (see tab Metadata in Audition) and markers (see tab Marker in Audition and the Waveform Editor Screenshot) will be exported to Auphonic as well.
Marker times and titles are used to create Chapter Marks (Enhanced Podcasts) in your Auphonic output files.
Auphonic Presets: You can optionally choose an Auphonic Preset to use previously stored settings for your production.
Start Production and Upload & Edit Buttons: Click Upload & Edit to upload your audio and create a new Production for further editing. After the upload, a web browser will be started to edit/adjust the production and start it manually.
Click Start Production to upload your audio, create a new Production and start it directly without further editing. A web browser will be started to see the results of your production.
Audio Compression: Uncompressed Multitrack Sessions or audio files in Audition (WAV, AIFF, RAW, etc.) will be compressed automatically with lossless codecs to speed up the upload time without a loss in audio quality.
FLAC is used as lossless codec on Windows and Mac OS (>= 10.13), older Mac OS systems (< 10.13) do not support FLAC and use ALAC instead.

Import Auphonic productions in Audition

To import the result of an Auphonic Production into Audition, choose the corresponding production and click Import. The resulting file will be downloaded from the Auphonic servers and can be used within Audition. If the production contains multiple Output File Formats, the output file with the highest bitrate (or uncompressed/lossless if available) will be chosen.

Auphonic Add-On for Adobe Premiere Pro

Premiere Pro Video Editor with the Auphonic Audio Post-Production Add-on. The Auphonic Add-on can be embedded directly inside the Adobe Premiere Pro user interface.

Export from Premiere Pro to Auphonic

You can upload the audio of your current Active Sequence in Premiere Pro to our Web Service.

We will automatically create an audio-only mixdown of all enabled audio tracks in your current Active Sequence. Video/Image tracks are ignored: no video will be rendered or uploaded to Auphonic! If you want to export a specific audio track, please just mute the other tracks.

Start Production and Upload & Edit Buttons: Click Upload & Edit to upload your audio and create a new Production for further editing. After the upload, a web browser will be started to edit/adjust the production and start it manually.
Click Start Production to upload your audio, create a new Production and start it directly without further editing. A web browser will be started to see the results of your production.
Auphonic Presets: You can optionally choose an Auphonic Preset to use previously stored settings for your production.
Chapter Markers: Chapter Markers in Premiere Pro (not all the other marker types!) will be exported to Auphonic as well and are used to create Chapter Marks (Enhanced Podcasts) in your Auphonic output files.
Audio Compression: The mixdown of your Active Sequence in Premiere Pro will be compressed automatically with lossless codecs to speed up the upload time without a loss in audio quality.
FLAC is used as lossless codec on Windows and Mac OS (>= 10.13), older Mac OS systems (< 10.13) do not support FLAC and use ALAC instead.

Import Auphonic Productions in Premiere Pro

To import the result of an Auphonic Production into Premiere Pro, choose the corresponding production and click Import.
The resulting file will be downloaded from the Auphonic servers and can be used within Premiere Pro. If the production contains multiple Output File Formats, the output file with the highest bitrate (or uncompressed/lossless if available) will be chosen.

Installation

Install our Add-ons for Audition and Premiere Pro directly on the Adobe Add-ons website:

Auphonic Audio Post Production for Adobe Audition:
https://exchange.adobe.com/addons/products/20433

Auphonic Audio Post Production for Adobe Premiere Pro:
https://exchange.adobe.com/addons/products/20429

The installation requires the Adobe Creative Cloud desktop application and might take a few minutes. Please also also try to restart Audition/Premiere Pro if the installation does not work.

After the installation, you can start our Add-ons directly in Audition/Premiere Pro: navigate to Window -> Extensions and click Auphonic Post Production.

Please let Auphonic know if you have any questions or feedback!

A better way to track your promotions on Google Play Billing

Posted by Neto Marin, Developer Advocate

Promotions can be a valuable tool to increase user engagement or attract new users by offering content or features to a limited number of users free of charge.

We are happy to share an improvement in the Google Play Developer API that makes it easier to track your promotions from your own backend. Starting today, the API for Purchases.products will return "Promo" as a new value for the field purchaseType when the user redeems a promo code. Now, the possible values are:

0. Test (test purchases)
1. Promo (Promo code redemption purchase)

For purchases made using the standard in-app billing flow, the field will continue to not be set in the API response.

Please note: This state is only returned by the Purchases.products API. For subscriptions you may use Free Trials to offer free of charge subscription periods.

For more details about how to create and redeem promo codes, check the In-app Promotions documentation. For more details about the server-side API, check the Google Play Developer API documentation.

Introducing Android KTX: Even Sweeter Kotlin Development for Android

Posted by Jake Wharton (@JakeWharton), Florina Muntenescu (@FMuntenescu) & James Lau (@jmslau)

Today, we are announcing the preview of Android KTX - a set of extensions designed to make writing Kotlin code for Android more concise, idiomatic, and pleasant. Android KTX provides a nice API layer on top of both Android framework and Support Library to make writing your Kotlin code more natural.

The portion of Android KTX that covers the Android framework is now available in our GitHub repo. We invite you to try it out to give us your feedback and contributions. The other parts of Android KTX that cover the Android Support Library will be available in upcoming Support Library releases.

Let's take a look at some examples of how Android KTX can help you write more natural and concise Kotlin code.

Code Samples Using Android KTX

String to Uri

Let's start with this simple example. Normally, you'd call Uri.parse(uriString). Android KTX adds an extension function to the String class that allows you to convert strings to URIs more naturally.

Kotlin	Kotlin with Android KTX
val uri = Uri.parse(myUriString)	val uri = myUriString.toUri()

Edit SharedPreferences

Editing SharedPreferences is a very common use case. The code using Android KTX is slightly shorter and more natural to read and write.

Kotlin	Kotlin with Android KTX
sharedPreferences.edit() .putBoolean(key, value) .apply()	sharedPreferences.edit { putBoolean(key, value) }

Translating path difference

In the code below, we translate the difference between two paths by 100px.

Kotlin

Kotlin with Android KTX

val pathDifference = Path(myPath1).apply {
   op(myPath2, Path.Op.DIFFERENCE)
}

val myPaint = Paint()

canvas.apply {
   val checkpoint = save()
   translate(0F, 100F)
   drawPath(pathDifference, myPaint)
   restoreToCount(checkpoint)
}

val pathDifference = myPath1 - myPath2

canvas.withTranslation(y = 100F) {
   drawPath(pathDifference, myPaint)
}

Action on View onPreDraw

This example triggers an action with a View's onPreDraw callback. Without Android KTX, there is quite a bit of code you need to write.

Kotlin

view.viewTreeObserver.addOnPreDrawListener(
       object : ViewTreeObserver.OnPreDrawListener {
           override fun onPreDraw(): Boolean {
               viewTreeObserver.removeOnPreDrawListener(this)
               actionToBeTriggered()
               return true
           }
       })

Kotlin with Android KTX

view.doOnPreDraw { actionToBeTriggered() }

There are many more places where Android KTX can simplify your code. You can read the full API reference documentation on GitHub.

Getting Started

To start using Android KTX in your Android Kotlin projects, add the following to your app module's build.gradle file:

repositories {
    google()
}

dependencies {
    // Android KTX for framework API
    implementation 'androidx.core:core-ktx:0.1'
    ...
}

Then, after you sync your project, the extensions appear automatically in the IDE's auto-complete list. Selecting an extension automatically adds the necessary import statement to your file.

Beware that the APIs are likely to change during the preview period. If you decide to use it in your projects, you should expect breaking changes before we reach the stable version.

androidx: Hello World!

You may notice that Android KTX uses package names that begin with androidx. This is a new package name prefix that we will be using in future versions of Android Support Library. We hope the division between android.* and androidx.* makes it more obvious which APIs are bundled with the platform, and which are static libraries for app developers that work across different versions of Android.

What's Next?

Today's preview launch is only the beginning. Over the next few months, we will iterate on the API as we incorporate your feedback and contributions. When the API has stabilized and we can commit to API compatibility, we plan to release Android KTX as part of the Android Support Library.

We look forward to building Android KTX together with you. Happy Kotlin-ing!

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SafetyNet Verify Apps API, Google Play Protect at your fingertips

Posted by William Luh, Software Engineer

Google Play Protect, which includes the Verify Apps security feature, helps keep users safe from harmful apps. Google Play Protect is available on all Android devices with Google Play installed and provides users with peace of mind and insights into the state of their device security.

App developers can get similar security insights into the installed apps landscape on user devices from the SafetyNet Verify Apps API. This new suite of APIs lets developers determine whether a user's device is protected by Google Play Protect, encourage users not already using Google Play Protect to enable it, and identify any known potentially harmful apps (PHAs) that are installed on the device.

These APIs are especially useful for developers of apps that may be impacted by installed PHAs on the same device as their app. Determining that Google Play Protect is enabled with isVerifyAppsEnabled() gives developers additional assurance that a device is more likely to be clean. If a device doesn't have Google Play Protect enabled, developers can request that the user enable Google Play Protect with enableVerifyApps(). With Google Play Protect enabled, developers can use the listHarmfulApps() method to determine whether there are any potentially harmful apps installed on a user's device. This easy-to-use suite of features does not require API keys and requesting quota.

Enterprise-focused apps in particular may benefit from using the Verify Apps API. Enterprise apps are designed to safeguard a company's data from the outside world. These apps often implement strict enforcements, such as ensuring the mobile device is approved by the enterprise and requiring a strong password for lockscreens. If any of the criteria are not satisfied, the enterprise may revoke credentials and remove sensitive data from the device. Having a mechanism to enforce Google Play Protect and scan for PHAs is another tool to help enterprise app developers keep enterprise data and devices safe.

For better protection, developers should use the attestation API along with the new Verify Apps API. Use the attestation API first to establish that the device has not been modified from a known state. Once the Android system can be trusted, the results from the Verify Apps API can be trusted. Existing attestation API users may find additional benefits in using the Verify Apps API as it may be able to detect on-device PHAs. In general, using multiple signals for anti-abuse detection is encouraged.

To learn how to use this API in your app, check out the developer docs.