Newsletter
Although Google’s I/O event is what is typically thought of as ‘Google day’, you can be sure that tomorrow will be a Google day too. The company is preparing to host an event in which they will unveil a number of hardware products and according to the reports, a number of more software based announcements. With some being specifically named to include the likes of Play Music, which will see a family plan being announced and Google Photos, which will see Chromecast support being added. Of course, the biggest software announcement that will come tomorrow will be the unveiling of the final and release version of Android 6.0 (Marshmallow). This will come shipping on the two Nexus devices and will bring with it a number of the features that we have seen already in the previous Developer Preview releases.
One of those features which was announced earlier in the year for Marshmallow is the ability to make use of the Direct Share API. In short, this API allows developers to make it so that users can share items much more quickly with the intended targets. Instead of having to hit the share button and then scroll through a list of apps and then through the next list to find the contact, person or otherwise, with the Direct Share API, those you contact most often will appear in the share menu automatically. Negating the need to search for them specifically. The more often you share with certain people, the longer they will remain as part of new Direct Share options.
Well, in the build up to the final release of Marshmallow tomorrow, it now looks like Google is readying a number of its apps as the Google Messenger app is about to receive an update which makes use of the Direct Share API. As such, if you are one of those who is already running the latest Developer Preview, then you can download the app and check out how the Direct Share API works, looks and runs already. For those that are interesting in doing so, hit the link below to download and sideload the APK to your device.