Newsletter
On Friday, Google released version 8.4 of the Google Play Services framework. For those unaware, Google Play Services is a framework that is installed on every Android device that has been Google certified. It’s sole purpose is to bring new features to everyone faster than pushing out a new version of Android. Since that can take months if not years to happen. This way Google can update the billions of devices within a week or two. And today, version 8.4 of the Google Play Services was announced and the roll out began.
In the new version of Google Play Services, Google has added some new toys for developers. One of those is more analytical data for developers. So now game developers can see the churn rate for their gamers and also see how much gamers are spending in the in-app purchase space. This is a great tool for developers to be able to improve their games and make more money. Additionally, the Maps API got some improvements. There’s plenty more improvements in this version of Google Play Services, but the big thing is Custom Email App Invites.
With this version, Google is enhancing custom email app invites. They’ve made it easier for app invites to be sent to other users. Essentially, app invites are a way for users to share the app with another person. And thus bringing more users to the app. Before Google allowed you to create a “custom email that contained user defined text and an image”. However with today’s update, Google is now allowing developers to add content from the app into the message directly. This means developers will be able to full define the email body using HTML and also set the subject line for the email.
Google is always looking for ways to help developers make more cash (especially since they take a cut of it) as well as get more users using each app. As that keeps the developer around and making more apps. These improvements and additions brought to you in version 8.4 of Google Play Services should definitely help out. The new version is beginning its rollout now and should hit everyone in the next week or so.