Edward Cunningham, who is Product Manager in the Android development department, betrayed a little bit about the company's plans for Google Play applications. These are the changes Google wants to make in the coming years.
Google takes away as an ecosystem of applications on Android
The goal of Google's team responsible for Android for the coming years is not only to refine the most popular mobile platform on the market, but also to improve the security and efficiency of applications available on it, as the team has informed on their blog.
Cunningham's foreword clearly shows that users install and update billions of applications from Google Play every year, which is a source of pride for the company. At the same time, however, he points out that Android is to introduce three major changes, which will affect the developers of applications and make them even more concerned about the positions they have prepared.
The changes Google wants to make in the near future will benefit all users. The effects of the former should be visible soon.
Google will take care of the "authenticity certificate".
The first novelty is planned to come into force at the beginning of 2018. However, Google does point out that the process itself will be automatic and will not be required to take any steps by developers or users. What exactly is it all about?
Android creators decided to add a small metadata file to each application - a small package with information that a particular item is officially distributed in Google Play. It will be added to each APK file, but it will not affect program operation in any way. This solution can therefore be treated as a digital certificate of authenticity.
Google points out that in the future, this solution will help developers to distribute and promote applications. Details are not known, but this solution seems to be the least significant addition in comparison with the other two novelties. This is because a relevant certificate should be obtained for every program that is available in the Google Play database.
No more outdated programmes?
Probably the most important change for application developers will come in August 2018. Google has already announced that it will then be required to base applications on the new level 26 APIs that are assigned to Android 8.0.
This means that applications using older APIs, which have been abandoned in new Android releases, will not be able to be included in Google Play database. Moreover, authors of already available titles will have time until November 2018 to modify/update their programs in an appropriate way.
This way, Google wants to eliminate a large number of archaic applications that use older APIs. These are not only less secure (different ways of accessing private data in different versions of the system), but also may not functionally fully on the new Android releases.
However, Google will not stop at level 26 of the API, and the company makes it clear that the requirements for application developers will grow every year. After the launch of Android 9.0, developers will have to adapt their programs to the new Google solutions. This means that systematic work must be done and novelties implemented more quickly.
One of the key aspects of the August change will be the need to take care of support for 64-bit processors. This is because the last of the announced changes, which are to come out to users, is good.
From 2019 only 64-bit applications
Google intends to follow Apple's path soon and require developers to switch to 64-bit positions. The giant from Mountain View shows that currently just over 40% of the programs available in his store are 64-bit solutions, but they can still be turned on 32-bit hardware.
Android creators believe that thanks to newer instructions 64-bit positions will almost always work better on new smartphones. Therefore, the company has to make sure that each program is available in a version that will be run natively. The first steps to this end will be taken with the introduction of the requirement to use new APIs, namely in August 2019.
It's just a great Google movement
The changes Google plans to make involve application developers and not users, but the latter will benefit most from them. Especially when a company from Mountain View is actually able to force companies to systematically work on their programs. The introduction of changes for new APIs once a year as a requirement should also accelerate the adaptation of new technologies in Android applications.
The cake hanging on the cake will be a switch to the native service of 64-bit programs. Even though 32-bit systems are still available on the cheapest smartphones, MediaTek, as well as other developers of mobile systems, are starting to use 64-bit ARM cores even in low shelf solutions.
There is nothing else left but to keep your fingers crossed for the team responsible for Android, because I can translate the planned changes into a better ecosystem.