30 Jul 2025
TalkAndroid
Samsung Rolls Out the Fourth Beta for One UI 8 to the S25 Ultra
Whether this will be the final beta for S25 Ultra users is something yet to be seen.
30 Jul 2025 4:30pm GMT
Board Kings Free Rolls – Updated Every Day!
Run out of rolls for Board Kings? Find links for free rolls right here, updated daily!
30 Jul 2025 3:44pm GMT
Coin Tales Free Spins – Updated Every Day!
Tired of running out of Coin Tales Free Spins? We update our links daily, so you won't have that problem again!
30 Jul 2025 3:42pm GMT
Avatar World Codes – July 2025 – Updated Daily
Find all the latest Avatar World Codes right here in this article! Read on for more!
30 Jul 2025 3:39pm GMT
Coin Master Free Spins & Coins Links
Find all the latest Coin Master free spins right here! We update daily, so be sure to check in daily!
30 Jul 2025 3:38pm GMT
Monopoly Go – Free Dice Links Today (Updated Daily)
If you keep on running out of dice, we have just the solution! Find all the latest Monopoly Go free dice links right here!
30 Jul 2025 3:37pm GMT
Family Island Free Energy Links (Updated Daily)
Tired of running out of energy on Family Island? We have all the latest Family Island Free Energy links right here, and we update these daily!
30 Jul 2025 3:36pm GMT
Crazy Fox Free Spins & Coins (Updated Daily)
If you need free coins and spins in Crazy Fox, look no further! We update our links daily to bring you the newest working links!
30 Jul 2025 3:34pm GMT
Match Masters Free Gifts, Coins, And Boosters (Updated Daily)
Tired of running out of boosters for Match Masters? Find new Match Masters free gifts, coins, and booster links right here! Updated Daily!
30 Jul 2025 3:33pm GMT
Solitaire Grand Harvest – Free Coins (Updated Daily)
Get Solitaire Grand Harvest free coins now, new links added daily. Only tested and working links, complete with a guide on how to redeem the links.
30 Jul 2025 3:31pm GMT
Dice Dreams Free Rolls – Updated Daily
Get the latest Dice Dreams free rolls links, updated daily! Complete with a guide on how to redeem the links.
30 Jul 2025 3:30pm GMT
Samsung Set to Kill the Galaxy S26 Plus AND the Base Galaxy S26
Rumors said that the S26 Edge would replace the S26 Plus, but now it seems the base S26 will be replaced too.
30 Jul 2025 3:30pm GMT
Here’s how to connect your Nintendo Switch 2 to your iPhone or Android phone
If you've just got your hands on a shiny new Nintendo Switch 2, you might be wondering whether…
30 Jul 2025 3:30pm GMT
Facer Update Brings Power Saving And Watch Faces With Wear OS 6
There are new designs to download, and an added power feature indicates which ones are worth your time.
30 Jul 2025 3:28pm GMT
Monopoly Go Events Schedule Today – Updated Daily
Current active events are Main Event - Fortune Patrol, Tournament - Rock Catch, Partner Event - Next: Fantastic Partners
30 Jul 2025 3:28pm GMT
EE Announces Under-18 Smartphone Plans, Online Safety Resources
Online safety is more important than it has ever been these days, especially for younger smartphone users.
30 Jul 2025 2:06pm GMT
24 Jul 2025
Android Developers Blog
#WeArePlay: 10 million downloads and counting, meet app and game founders from across the U.S.
Posted by Robbie McLachlan, Developer Marketing
They saw a problem and built the answer. Meet 20 #WeArePlay founders from across the U.S. who started their entrepreneurial journey with a question like: what if reading was no longer a barrier for anyone? What if an app could connect neighbors to fight local hunger? What if fitness or self-care could feel as engaging as playing a game?
These new stories showcase how innovation often starts with finding the answer to a personal problem. Here are just a few of our favorites:
Cliff's app Speechify makes the written word accessible to all
Growing up with dyslexia, Cliff always wished he could enjoy books but found reading them challenging. After moving to the U.S., the then college student turned that personal challenge into a solution for millions. His app, Speechify, empowers people by turning any text-from PDFs to web pages-into audio. By making the written word accessible to all, Cliff's innovation gives students, professionals, and auditory learners a new kind of independence.
Jenny's game Run Legends turns everyday fitness into a social adventure
As a teen, Jenny funded her computer science studies by teaching herself to code and publishing over 100 games. A passionate cross-country runner, she wanted to combine her love for gaming and fitness to make exercise feel more like an adventure. The result is Run Legends, a multiplayer RPG where players battle monsters by moving in real life. Jenny's on a mission to blend all types of exercise with playful storytelling, turning everyday fitness into a fun, social, and heroic quest.
Nino and Stephanie's app Finch makes self-care a rewarding daily habit
As engineers, Nino and Stephanie knew the power of technology but found the world of self-care apps overwhelming. Inspired by their own mental health journeys and a gamified app Stephanie built in college, they created Finch. The app introduces a fresh take on the virtual pet: by completing small, positive actions for yourself, like journaling or practicing breathing exercises, you care for your digital companion. With over 10 million downloads, Finch has helped people around the world build healthier habits. With seasonal events every month and growing personalization, the app continues to evolve to make self-care more fun and rewarding.
John's app The HungreeApp connects communities to fight hunger
John began coding as a nine-year-old in Nigeria, sometimes with just a pen and paper. After moving to the U.S., he was struck by how much food from events was wasted while people nearby went hungry. That spark led him to create The HungreeApp, a platform that connects communities with free, surplus food from businesses and restaurants. John's ingenuity turns waste into opportunity, creating a more connected and resourceful nation, one meal at a time.
Anthony's game studio Tech Tree Games turns a passion for idle games into cosmic adventures for aspiring tycoons
While working as a chemical engineer, Anthony dreamed of creating an idle game like the ones he loved to play, leading him to teach himself how to code from scratch. This passion project turned into his studio Tech Tree Games and the hit title Idle Planet Miner, where players grow a space mining empire filled with mystical planets and alluring gems. After releasing a 2.0 update with enhanced visuals for the game, Anthony is back in prototyping mode with new titles in the pipeline.
Discover more #WeArePlay stories from the US and stories from across the globe.

24 Jul 2025 4:00pm GMT
17 Jul 2025
Android Developers Blog
#WeArePlay: With over 3 billion downloads, meet the people behind Amanotes
Posted by Robbie McLachlan - Developer Marketing
In our latest #WeArePlay film, which celebrates the people behind apps and games on Google Play, we meet Bill and Silver - the duo behind Amanotes. Their game company has reached over 3 billion downloads with their mission 'everyone can music'. Their titles, including the global hit Magic Tiles 3, turn playing musical instruments into a fun, easy, and interactive experience, with no musical background needed. Discover how Amanotes blends creativity and technology to bring joy and connection to billions of players around the world.
What inspired you to create Amanotes?
Bill: It all began with a question I'd pursued for over 20 years - how can technology make music even more beautiful? I grew up in a musical family, surrounded by instruments, but I also loved building things with tech. Amanotes became the space where I could bring those two passions together.
Silver: Honestly, I wasn't planning to start a company. I had just finished studying entrepreneurship and was looking to join a startup, not launch one. I dropped a message in an online group saying I wanted to find a team to work with, and Bill reached out. We met for coffee, talked for about an hour, and by the end, we just said, why not give it a shot? That one meeting turned into ten years of building Amanotes.
Do you remember the first time you realized your game was more than just a game and that it could change someone's life?
Silver: There's one moment I'll never forget. A woman in the U.S. left a review saying she used to be a pianist, but after an accident, she lost use of some of her fingers and couldn't play anymore. Then she found Magic Tiles. She said the game gave her that feeling of playing again-even without full movement. That's when it hit me. We weren't just building a game. We were helping people reconnect with something they thought they'd lost.

How has Google Play helped your journey?
Silver: Google Play has been a huge part of our story. It was actually the first platform we ever published on. The audience was global from day one, which gave us the reach we needed to grow fast. We made great use of tools such as Firebase for A/B testing. We also relied on the Play Console for analytics and set custom pricing by country. Without Google Play, Amanotes wouldn't be where it is today.

What's next for Amanotes?
Silver: Music will always be the soul of what we do, but now we're building games with more depth. We want to go beyond just tapping to songs. We're adding stories, challenges, and richer gameplay on top of the music. We've got a whole lineup of new games in the works. Each one is a chance to push the boundaries of what music games can be.
Discover other inspiring app and game founders featured in #WeArePlay.

17 Jul 2025 4:00pm GMT
15 Jul 2025
Android Developers Blog
New tools to help drive success for one-time products
Posted by Laura Nechita - Product Manager, Google Play and Rejane França - Group Product Manager, Google Play
Starting today, Google Play is revamping the way developers can manage one time products, providing greater flexibility and new ways to sell. Play has continually enhanced the ways developers can reach buyers by helping you to diversify the way you can sell products.
Starting in 2022, we created more flexibility for subscriptions and a new Console interface. And now, we are bringing the same flexibility to one-time products, aligning the taxonomy for our one-time products. Previously known as in-app products, one-time product purchases are a vital way for developers to monetize on Google Play. As this business model continues to evolve, we've heard from many of you that you need more flexibility and less complexity in how you offer these digital products.
To address these needs, we're launching new capabilities and a new way of thinking about your products that can help you grow your business. At its core, we've separated what the product is from how you sell it. For each one-time product, you can now configure multiple purchase options and offers. This allows you to sell the same product in multiple ways, reducing operational costs by removing the need to create and manage an ever-increasing number of catalog items.
You might have already noticed some changes as we introduce this new model, which provides a more structured way to define and manage your one-time product offerings.
Introducing the new model

We're introducing a new three-level hierarchy for defining and managing one-time products. This new structure builds upon concepts already familiar from our subscription model and aligns the taxonomy for all of your in-app product offerings on Play.
- One-time product: This object defines what the user is buying. Think of it as the core item in your catalog, such as a "Diamond sword", "Coins" or "No ads".
- Purchase option: This defines how the entitlement is granted to the user, its price, and where the product will be available. A single one-time product can have multiple purchase options representing different ways to acquire it, such as buying it or renting it for a set period of time. Purchase options now have two distinct types: buy and rent.
- Offer: Offers further modify a purchase option and can be used to model discounts or pre-orders. A single purchase option can have multiple offers associated with it.
This allows for a more organized and efficient way to manage your catalog. For instance, you can have one "Diamond sword" product and offer it with a "Buy" purchase option in the US for $10 and a "Rent" purchase option in the UK for £5. This new taxonomy will also allow Play to better understand what the catalogue means, helping developers to further amplify their impact in Play surfaces.
More flexibility to reach more users
The new model unlocks significant flexibility to help you reach a wider audience and cater to different user preferences.
- Sell in multiple ways: Once you've migrated to PBL 8, you can set up different ways of selling the same product. This reduces the complexity of managing numerous individual products for slightly different scenarios.
- Introducing rentals: We're introducing the ability to configure items that are sold as rentals. Users have access to the item for a set duration of time. You can define the rental period, which is the amount of time a user has the entitlement after completing the purchase, and an optional expiration period, which is the time after starting consumption before the entitlement is revoked.
- Pre-order capabilities: You can now set up one-time products to be bought before their release through pre-order offers. You can configure the start date, end date, and the release date for these offers, and even include a discount. Users who pre-order agree to pay on the release date unless they cancel beforehand.
- No default price: we will remove the concept of default price for a product. Now you can set and manage the prices in bulk or individually for each region.
- Regional pricing and availability: Price changes can now be applied to purchase options and offers, allowing you to set different prices in different regions. Furthermore, you can also configure the regional availability for both purchase options and offers. This functionality is available for paid apps in addition to one-time products.
- Offers for promotions: Leverage offers to create various promotions, such as discounts on your base purchase price or special conditions for early access through pre-orders.
To use these new features you first need to upgrade to PBL 8.0. Then, you'll need to utilize the new monetization.onetimeproducts service of the Play Developer API or use the Play Developer Console. You'll also need to integrate with the queryProductDetailsAsync API to take advantage of these new capabilities. And while querySkuDetailsAsync and inappproducts service are not supported with the new model, they will continue to be supported as long as PBL 7 is supported.
Important considerations
- With this change, we will offer a backwards compatible way to port your existing SKUs into this new model. The migration will happen differently depending on how you decide to interact with your catalogue the first time you change the metadata for one or more products.
- New products created through Play Console UI are normalized. And products created or managed with the existing inappproducts service won't support these new features. To access them, you'll need to convert existing ones in the Play Developer Console UI. Once converted, a product can only be managed through the new Play Developer API or Play Developer Console. Products created through the new monetization.onetimeproducts service or through the Play Developer Console are already converted.
- Buy purchase options marked as 'Backwards compatible' will be returned as response for calls through querySkuDetailsAsync API. At launch, all existing products have a backwards compatible purchase option.
- At the time of this post, the pre-orders capability is available through the Early Access Program (EAP) only. If you are interested, please sign-up.
- One-time products will be reflected in the earnings reports at launch (Base plan ID and Offer ID columns will be populated for newly configured one-time products). To minimise the potential for breaking changes, we will be updating these column names in the earnings reports later this year.
We encourage you to explore the new Play Developer API and the updated Play Console interface to see how this enhanced flexibility can help you better manage your catalog and grow your business.
We're excited to see how you leverage these new tools to connect with your users in innovative ways.

15 Jul 2025 4:00pm GMT
10 Jul 2025
Android Developers Blog
Transition to using 16 KB page sizes for Android apps and games using Android Studio
Posted by Mayank Jain - Product Manager and Jomo Fisher - Software Engineer
Get ready to upgrade your app's performance as Android embraces 16 KB memory page sizes
Android's transition to 16 KB Page size
Traditionally, Android has operated with the 4 KB memory page size. However many ARM CPUs (the most common processors for Android phones) support the larger 16 KB page size, offering improved performance gains. With Android 15, the Android operating system is page-size-agnostic, allowing devices to run efficiently with either 4 KB or 16 KB page size.
Starting November 1st, 2025, all new apps and app updates that use native C/C++ code targeting Android 15+ devices submitted to Google Play must support 16 KB page sizes. This is a crucial step towards ensuring your app delivers the best possible performance on the latest Android hardware. Apps without native C/C++ code or dependencies, that just use the Kotlin and Java programming languages, are already compatible, but if you're using native code, now is the time to act.
This transition to larger 16 KB page sizes translates directly into a better user experience. Devices configured with 16 KB page size can see an overall performance boost of 5-10%. This means faster app launch times (up to 30% for some apps, 3.16% on average), improved battery usage (4.56% reduction in power draw), quicker camera starts (4.48-6.60% faster), and even speedier system boot-ups (around 0.8 seconds faster). While there is a marginal increase in memory use, a faster reclaim path is worth it.
The native code challenge - and how Android Studio equips you
If your app uses native C/C++ code from the Android NDK or relies on SDKs that do, you'll need to recompile and potentially adjust your code for 16 KB compatibility. The good news? Once your application is updated for the 16 KB page size, the same application binary can run seamlessly on both 4 KB and 16 KB devices.
This table describes who needs to transition and recompile their apps

We've created several Android Studio tools and guides that can help you prepare for migrating to using 16 KB page size.
Detect compatibility issues
APK Analyzer: Easily identify if your app contains native libraries by checking for .so files in the lib folder. The APK Analyzer can also visually indicate your app's 16 KB compatibility. You can then determine and update libraries as needed for 16 KB compliance.

Alignment Checks: Android Studio also provides warnings if your prebuilt libraries or APKs are not 16 KB compliant. You should then use the APK Analyzer tool to review which libraries need to be updated or if any code changes are required. If you want to detect the 16 KB page size compatibility checks in your CI (continuous integration) pipeline, you can leverage scripts and command line tools.

Lint in Android Studio now also highlights the native libraries which are not 16 KB aligned.

Build with 16 KB alignment
Tools Updates: Rebuild your native code with 16 KB alignment. Android Gradle Plugin (AGP) version 8.5.1 or higher automatically enables 16 KB alignment by default (during packaging) for uncompressed shared libraries. Similarly, Android NDK r28 and higher compile 16 KB-aligned by default. If you depend on other native SDK's, they also need to be 16 KB aligned. You might need to reach out to the SDK developer to request a 16 KB compliant SDK.
Fix code for page-size agnosticism
Eliminate Hardcoded Assumptions: Identify and remove any hardcoded dependencies on PAGE_SIZE or assumptions that the page size is 4 KB (e.g., 4096). Instead, use getpagesize() or sysconf(_SC_PAGESIZE) to query the actual page size at runtime.
Test in a 16 KB environment
Android Emulator Support: Android Studio offers a 16 KB emulator target (for both arm64 and x86_64) directly in the Android Studio SDK Manager, allowing you to test your applications before uploading to Google Play.

On-Device Testing: For compatible devices like Pixel 8 and 8 Pro onwards (starting with Android 15 QPR1), a new developer option allows you to switch between 4 KB and 16 KB page sizes for real-device testing. You can verify the page size using adb shell getconf PAGE_SIZE.

Don't wait - prepare your apps today
Leverage Android Studio's powerful tools to detect issues, build compatible binaries, fix your code, and thoroughly test your app for the new 16 KB memory page sizes. By doing so, you'll ensure an improved end user experience and contribute to a more performant Android ecosystem.
As always, your feedback is important to us - check known issues, report bugs, suggest improvements, and be part of our vibrant community on LinkedIn, Medium, YouTube, or X.
10 Jul 2025 9:00pm GMT
Evolving Android’s early-access programs: Introducing the Canary channel
Posted by Dan Galpin - Android Developer Relations
To better support you and provide earlier, more consistent access to in-development features, we are announcing a significant evolution in our pre-release program. Moving forward, the Android platform will have a Canary release channel, which will replace the previous developer preview program. This Canary release channel will function alongside the existing beta program.
This change is designed to provide a more streamlined and continuous opportunity for you to try out new platform capabilities and provide feedback throughout the entire year, not just in the early months of a new release cycle.
Limitations of the previous developer preview model
The Developer Preview program has been a critical part of our release cycle, but its structure had inherent limitations:
- Developer Previews were not tied to a release channel, and had to be manually flashed to devices every time the cycle would restart.
- Because previews were tied to the next designated Android release, they were only available during the earliest part of the cycle. Once a platform version reached the Beta stage, the preview track would end, creating a gap where features that were promising but not yet ready for Beta had no official channel for feedback.
A continuous flow of features with the Canary channel
The new Android platform Canary channel addresses these challenges directly. By flashing your supported Pixel device to the Canary release channel, you can now receive a continuous, rolling stream of the latest platform builds via over-the-air (OTA) updates.
- You can try out and provide input on new features and planned behavior changes in their earliest stages. These changes may not always make it into a stable Android release.
- The Canary release channel will run in parallel with the beta program. The beta program remains the way for you to try a more polished set of likely soon-to-be-released features.
- You can use the Canary builds with your CI to see if any of our in-development features cause unexpected problems with your app, maximizing the time we have to address your concerns.
Who should use the Canary channel?
The Canary channel is intended for developers that want to explore and test with the earliest pre-release Android APIs and potential behavior changes. Builds from the Canary channel will have passed our automated tests as well as experienced a short test cycle with internal users. You should expect bugs and breaking changes. These bleeding-edge builds will not be the best choice for someone to use as their primary or only device.
The existing beta channel will remain the primary way for you to make sure that your apps are both compatible with and take advantage of upcoming platform features.
Getting started and providing feedback
You can use the Android Flash Tool to get the most recent Canary build onto your supported Pixel device. Once flashed, you should expect OTA updates for the latest Canary builds as they become available. To exit the channel, flash a Beta or Public build to your device. This will require a data partition wipe.

Canary releases will be available on the Android Emulator through the Device Manager in Android Studio (currently, just in the Android Studio Canary channel), and Canary SDKs will be available for you to develop against through the SDK Manager.

Since most behavior changes require targeting a release, you can target Canary releases the way you can target any other platform SDK version, or use the Compatibility Framework with supported features to enable behavior changes in your apps.

Feedback is a critical component of this new program, so please file feature feedback and bug reports on your Canary experience through the Google Issue Tracker.
By transitioning to a true Canary channel, we aim to create a more transparent, collaborative, and efficient development process, giving you the seamless access you need to prepare for the future of Android.
10 Jul 2025 6:14pm GMT
Start building for the next generation of Samsung Galaxy devices
Posted by J. Eason - Director, Product Management
The next generation of foldable and wearable devices from Samsung has arrived. Yesterday at Galaxy Unpacked, Samsung introduced the new Galaxy Z Fold7, Galaxy Z Flip7, and Galaxy Watch8 series. For Android developers, these devices represent an exciting new opportunity to create engaging and adaptive experiences that reach even more users on their favorite screens.
With new advancements in adaptive development and the launch of Wear OS 6, it has never been a better time to build for the expanding Android device ecosystem. Learn more about what these new devices mean for you and how you can get started.

Unfold your app's adaptive potential on Samsung's newest Galaxy devices
The launch of the Galaxy Z Fold7 and Z Flip7 on Android 16 means users are about to experience your app in more dynamic and versatile ways than before. This creates an opportunity to captivate them with experiences that adaptively respond to every fold and flip. And preparing your app for these features is easier than you think. Building adaptive apps isn't just about rewriting your code, but about making strategic enhancements that ensure a seamless experience across screens.
Google and Samsung have collaborated to bring a more seamless and powerful desktop windowing experience to large screen devices and phones with connected displays in Android 16 across the Android ecosystem. These advancements will enhance Samsung DeX, starting with the new Galaxy Z Fold7 and Z Flip7, and also extend to the wider Android ecosystem.
To help you meet this moment, we've built a foundation of development tools to simplify creating compelling adaptive experiences. Create adaptive layouts that reflow automatically with the Compose Adaptive Layouts library and guide users seamlessly across panes with Jetpack Navigation 3. Make smarter top-level layout decisions using the newly expanded Window Size Classes. Then, iterate and validate your design in Android Studio, from visualizing your UI with Compose Previews to generating robust tests with natural language using Journeys with Gemini.

Build for a more personal and expressive era with Wear OS 6
The next chapter for wearables begins with the new Samsung Galaxy Watch8 series becoming the first device to feature Wear OS 6, the most power-efficient version of our wearable platform yet. This update is focused on giving you the tools to create more personal experiences without compromising on battery life. With version 4 of the Watch Face Format, you can unlock new creative possibilities like letting users customize their watch faces by selecting their own photos or adding fluid transitions to the display. And, to give you more flexibility in distribution, the Watch Face Push API allows you to create and manage your own watch face marketplace.
Beyond the watch face, you can provide a streamlined experience to users by embracing an improved always-on display and adding passkey support to your app with the Credential Manager API, which is now available on Wear OS.
Check out the latest changes to get started and test your app for compatibility using the Wear OS 6 emulator.
Get started building across screens, from foldables to wearables
With these new devices from Samsung, there are more reasons than ever to build experiences that excite users on their favorite Android screens. From building fully adaptive apps for foldables to creating more personal experiences on Wear OS, the tools are in your hands to create for the future of Android.
Explore all the resources you'll need to build adaptive experiences at developer.android.com/adaptive-apps. And, start building for Wear OS today by checking out developer.android.com/wear and visiting the Wear OS gallery for inspiration.
10 Jul 2025 4:00pm GMT
01 Jul 2025
Android Developers Blog
Level up your game: Google Play's Indie Games Fund in Latin America returns for its 4th year
Posted by Daniel Trócoli - Google Play Partnerships
We're thrilled to announce the return of Google Play's Indie Games Fund (IGF) in Latin America for its fourth consecutive year! This year, we're once again committing $2 million to empower another 10 indie game studios across the region. With this latest round of funding, our total investment in Latin American indie games will reach an impressive $8 million USD.
Since its inception, the IGF has been a cornerstone of our commitment to fostering growth for developers of all sizes on Google Play. We've seen firsthand the transformative impact this support has had, enabling studios to expand their teams, refine their creations, and reach new audiences globally.
What's in store for the Indie Games Fund in 2025?
Just like in previous years, selected small game studios based in Latin America will receive a share of the $2 million fund, along with support from the Google Play team.
As Vish Game Studio, a previously selected studio, shared: "The IGF was a pivotal moment for our studio, boosting us to the next level and helping us form lasting connections." We believe in fostering these kinds of pivotal moments for all our selected studios.
The program is open to indie game developers who have already launched a game, whether it's on Google Play, another mobile platform, PC, or console. Each selected recipient will receive between $150,000 and $200,000 to help them elevate their game and realize their full potential.
Check out all eligibility criteria and apply now! Applications will close at 12:00 PM BRT on July 31, 2025. To give your application the best chance, remember that priority will be given to applications received by 12:00 PM BRT on July 15, 2025.

01 Jul 2025 2:00pm GMT
30 Jun 2025
Android Developers Blog
Top announcements to know from Google Play at I/O ‘25
Posted by Raghavendra Hareesh Pottamsetty - Google Play Developer and Monetization Lead
At Google Play, we're dedicated to helping people discover experiences they'll love, while empowering developers like you to bring your ideas to life and build successful businesses. This year, Google I/O was packed with exciting announcements designed to do just that. For a comprehensive overview of everything we shared, be sure to check out our blog post recapping What's new in Google Play.
Today, we'll dive specifically into the latest updates designed to help you streamline your subscriptions offerings and maximize your revenue on Play. Get a quick overview of these updates in our video below, or read on for more details.
#1: Subscriptions with add-ons: Streamlining subscriptions for you and your users
We're excited to announce multi-product checkout for subscriptions, a new feature designed to streamline your purchase flow and offer a more unified experience for both you and your users. This enhancement allows you to sell subscription add-ons right alongside your base subscriptions, all while maintaining a single, aligned payment schedule.
The result? A simplified user experience with just one price and one transaction, giving you more control over how your subscribers upgrade, downgrade, or manage their add-ons. Learn more about how to create add-ons.

#2: Showcasing benefits in more places across Play: Increasing visibility and value
We're also making it easier for you to retain more of your subscribers by showcasing subscription benefits in more key areas across Play. This includes the Subscriptions Center, within reminder emails, and even during the purchase and cancellation processes. This increased visibility has already proved effective, reducing voluntary churn by 2%. To take advantage of this powerful new capability, be sure to enter your subscription benefits details in Play Console.

#3: New grace period and account hold duration: Decreasing involuntary churn
Another way we're helping you maximize your revenue is by extending grace periods and account hold durations to tackle unintended subscription losses, which often occur when payment methods unexpectedly decline.
Now, you can customize both the grace period (when users retain access while renewal is attempted) and the account hold period (when access is suspended). You can set a grace period of up to 30 days and an account hold period of up to 60 days. However, the total combined recovery period (grace period + account hold) cannot exceed 60 days.
This means instead of an immediate cancellation, your users have a longer window to update their payment information. Developers who've already extended their decline recovery period-from 30 to 60 days-have seen impressive results, with an average 10% reduction in involuntary churn for renewals. Ready to see these results for yourself? Adjust your grace period and account hold durations in Play Console today.

But that's not all. We're constantly investing in ways to help you optimize conversion throughout the entire buyer lifecycle. This includes boosting purchase-readiness by prompting users to set up payment methods and verification right from device setup, and we've integrated these prompts into highly visible areas like the Play and Google account menus. Beyond that, we're continuously enabling payments in more markets and expanding payment options. Our AI models are even working to optimize in-app transactions by suggesting the right payment method at the right time, and we're bringing buyers back with effective cart abandonment reminders.
That's it for our top announcements from Google I/O 2025, but there's so many more updates to discover from this year's event. Check out What's new in Google Play to learn more, and to dive deeper into the session details, view the Google Play I/O playlist for all the announcements.

30 Jun 2025 4:00pm GMT
Get ready for the next generation of gameplay powered by Play Games Services
Posted by Chris Wilk - Group Product Manager, Games on Google Play
To captivate players and grow your game, you need tools that enhance discovery and retention. Play Games Services (PGS) is your key to unlocking a suite of services that connect you with over 2 billion monthly active players. PGS empowers you to drive engagement through features like achievements and increase retention with promotions tailored to each gameplay progress. These tools are designed to help you deliver relevant and compelling content that keeps players coming back.
We are continuously evolving gaming on Play, and this year, we're introducing more PGS-powered experiences to give you deeper player insights and greater visibility in the Play Store. To access these latest advancements and ensure continued functionality, you must migrate from PGS v1 to PGS v2 by May 2026. Let's take a closer look at what's new:
Drive discovery and engagement by rewarding gameplay progress
We're fundamentally transforming how achievements work in the Play Store, making them a key driver for a great gaming experience. Now deeply embedded across the store, achievements are easily discoverable via search filters and game detail pages, and further drive engagement when offered with Play Points.
At a minimum, you should have at least 15 achievements spread across the lifetime of the game, in the format of incremental achievements to show progress. Games that enable players to earn at least 5 achievements in the first 2 hours of gameplay are most successful in driving deeper engagement*.
The most engaging titles offer 40 or more achievements with diverse types of goals including leveling up characters, game progression, hidden surprises, or even failed attempts. To help you get the most out of achievements, we've made it easier to create achievements with bulk configuration in Play Console.
For eligible titles*, Play activates quests to reward players for completing achievements - for example with Play Points. Supercell activated quests for Hay Day, leading to an average 177% uplift in installs*. You can tailor your quests to achieve specific campaign objectives, whether it's attracting high-value players or driving spend through repeated engagement, all while making it easy to jump back into your game.

Increase retention with tailored promotions
Promotional content is a vital tool for you to highlight new events, major content updates, and exciting offers within your game. It turns Play into a direct marketing channel to re-engage with your players. We've enhanced audience targeting capabilities so you can tailor your content to reach and convert the most relevant players.
By integrating PGS, you can use the Play Grouping API to create custom segments based on gameplay context*. Using this feature, Kabam launched promotional content to custom audiences for Marvel Contest of Champions, resulting in a 4x increase in lapsed user engagement*.

Start implementing PGS features today
PGS is designed to make the sign-in experience more seamless for players, automatically syncing their progress and identity across Android devices. With a single tap, they can pick up where they left off or start a new game from any screen. Whether you use your own sign-in solution, services from third parties, or a combination of both, we've made it easier to integrate Play Games Services with the Recall API.
To ensure a consistent sign-in experience for all players, we're phasing out PGS v1.
All games currently using PGS v1 must migrate to PGS v2 by May 2026. After this date, you will no longer be able to publish or update games that use the v1 SDK.
Below you'll find the timeline to plan your migration:
Migration guide |
|
May 2025 | As announced at I/O, new apps using PGS v1 can no longer be published. While existing apps can release updates with v1 and the APIs are still functional, you'll need to migrate by May 2026, and APIs will be fully shut down in 2028. |
May 2026 | APIs are still functional for users, but are no longer included in the SDK. New app versions compiled with the most recent SDK would fail in the build process if your code still uses the removed APIs. If your app still relies on any of these APIs, you should migrate to PGS v2 as soon as possible. |
Q3 2028 | APIs are no longer functional and will fail when a request is sent by an app. |
Looking ahead, more opportunities powered by PGS
Coming soon, players will be able to generate unique, AI-powered avatars within their profiles - creating fun, diverse representations of their gaming selves. With PGS integration, developers can allow players to carry over their avatar within the game. This enables players to showcase their gaming identity across the entire gameplay experience, creating an even stronger motivation to re-engage with your game.

PGS is the foundational tool for maximizing your business growth on Play, enabling you to tailor your content for each player and access the latest gameplay innovations on the platform. Stay tuned for more PGS features coming this year to provide an even richer player experience.

30 Jun 2025 3:45pm GMT
25 Jun 2025
Android Developers Blog
How Mecha BREAK is driving PC-only growth on Google Play Games
Posted by Kosuke Suzuki - Director, Games on Google Play
On July 1, Amazing Seasun Games is set to unveil its highly anticipated action shooting game - Mecha BREAK, with a multiplatform launch across PC and Console. A key to their PC growth strategy is Google Play Games on PC, enabling the team to build excitement with a pre-registration campaign, maximize revenue with PC earnback, and ensure a secure, top-tier experience on PC.
Building momentum with pre-registration
With a legacy of creating high-quality games since 1995, Amazing Seasun Games has already seen Mecha BREAK attract over 3.5 million players during the last beta test. To build on this momentum, the studio is bringing their game to Google Play Games on PC to open pre-registration and connect with its massive player audience.
"We were excited to launch on Google Play Games on PC. We want to make sure all players can enjoy the Mecha BREAK experience worldwide."
- Kris Kwok, Executive Producer of Mecha BREAK and CEO of Amazing Seasun Games

Accelerating growth with the Native PC program
Mecha BREAK's launch strategy includes leveraging the native PC earnback, a program that gives native PC developers the opportunity to unlock up to 15% in additional earnback.
Beyond earnback, the program offers comprehensive support for PC game development, distribution, and growth. Developers can manage PC builds in Play Console, simplifying the process of packaging PC versions, configuring releases, and managing store listings. Now, you can also view PC-specific sales reports, providing a more precise analysis of your game's financial performance.
Delivering a secure and high quality PC experience
Mecha BREAK is designed to deliver an intense and high-fidelity experience on PC. Built on a cutting-edge, proprietary 3D engine, the game offers players three unique modes of fast-paced combat on land and in the air.
- Diverse combat styles: Engage in six-on-six hero battles, three-on-three matches, or the unique PvPvE extraction mode "Mashmak".
- Free customization options: Create personalized characters with a vast array of colors, patterns and gameplay styles, from close-quarters brawlers to long-range tactical units.

The decision to integrate with Google Play Games on PC was driven by the platform's robust security infrastructure, including tools such as Play Integrity API, supporting large-scale global games like Mecha BREAK.
"Mecha BREAK's multiplayer setting made Google Play Games a strong choice, as we expect exceptional operational stability and performance. The platform also offers advanced malware protection and anti-cheat capabilities."
- Kris Kwok, Executive Producer of Mecha BREAK and CEO of Amazing Seasun Games
Bring your game to Google Play Games on PC
This year, the native PC program is open to all PC games, including PC-only titles. If you're ready to expand your game's reach and accelerate its growth, learn more about the eligibility requirements and how to join the program today.
25 Jun 2025 5:00pm GMT
23 Jun 2025
Android Developers Blog
Top 3 updates for Android developer productivity at Google I/O ‘25
Posted by Meghan Mehta - Android Developer Relations Engineer
#1 Agentic AI is available for Gemini in Android Studio
Gemini in Android Studio is the AI-powered coding companion that makes you more productive at every stage of the dev lifecycle. At Google I/O 2025 we previewed new agentic AI experiences: Journeys for Android Studio and Version Upgrade Agent. These innovations make it easier for you to build and test code. We also announced Agent Mode, which was designed to handle complex, multi-stage development tasks that go beyond typical AI assistant capabilities, invoking multiple tools to accomplish tasks on your behalf. We're excited to see how you leverage these agentic AI experiences which are now available in the latest preview version of Android Studio on the canary release channel.
You can also use Gemini to automatically generate Jetpack Compose previews, as well as transform UI code using natural language, saving you time and effort. Give Gemini more context by attaching images and project files to your prompts, so you can get more relevant responses. And if you're looking for enterprise-grade privacy and security features backed by Google Cloud, Gemini in Android Studio for businesses is now available. Developers and admins can unlock these features and benefits by subscribing to Gemini Code Assist Standard or Enterprise editions.
#2 Build better apps faster with the latest stable release of Jetpack Compose
Compose is our recommended UI toolkit for Android development, used by over 60% of the top 1K apps on Google Play. We released a new version of our Jetpack Navigation library: Navigation 3, which has been rebuilt from the ground up to give you more flexibility and control over your implementation. We unveiled the new Material 3 Expressive update which provides tools to enhance your product's appeal by harnessing emotional UX, making it more engaging, intuitive, and desirable for your users. The latest stable Bill of Materials (BOM) release for Compose adds new features such as autofill support, auto-sizing text, visibility tracking, animate bounds modifier, accessibility checks in tests, and more! This release also includes significant rewrites and improvements to multiple sub-systems including semantics, focus and text optimizations.
These optimizations are available to you with no code changes other than upgrading your Compose dependency. If you're looking to try out new Compose functionality, the alpha BOM offers new features that we're working on including pausable composition, updates to LazyLayout prefetch, context menus, and others. Finally, we've added Compose support to CameraX and Media3, making it easier to integrate camera capture and video playback into your UI with Compose idiomatic components.
#3 The new Kotlin Multiplatform (KMP) shared module template helps you share business logic
KMP enables teams to deliver quality Android and iOS apps with less development time. The KMP ecosystem continues to grow: last year alone, over 900 new KMP libraries were published. At Google I/O we released a new Android Studio KMP shared module template to help you craft and manage business logic, updated Jetpack libraries and new codelabs (Getting started with Kotlin Multiplatform and Migrating your Room database to KMP) to help you get started with KMP. We also shared additional announcements at KotlinConf.
Learn more about what we announced at Google I/O 2025 to help you build better apps, faster.
23 Jun 2025 5:01pm GMT
Agentic AI takes Gemini in Android Studio to the next level
Posted by Sandhya Mohan - Product Manager, and Jose Alcérreca - Developer Relations Engineer
Software development is undergoing a significant evolution, moving beyond reactive assistants to intelligent agents. These agents don't just offer suggestions; they can create execution plans, utilize external tools, and make complex, multi-file changes. This results in a more capable AI that can iteratively solve challenging problems, fundamentally changing how developers work.
At Google I/O 2025, we offered a glimpse into our work on agentic AI in Android Studio, the integrated development environment (IDE) focused on Android development. We showcased that by combining agentic AI with the built-in portfolio of tools inside of Android Studio, the IDE is able to assist you in developing Android apps in ways that were never possible before. We are now incredibly excited to announce the next frontier in Android development with the availability of 'Agent Mode' for Gemini in Android Studio.
These features are available in the latest Android Studio Narwhal Feature Drop Canary release, and will be rolled out to business tier subscribers in the coming days. As with all new Android Studio features, we invite developers to provide feedback to direct our development efforts and ensure we are creating the tools you need to build better apps, faster.
Agent Mode
Gemini in Android Studio's Agent Mode is a new experimental capability designed to handle complex development tasks that go beyond what you can experience by just chatting with Gemini.
With Agent Mode, you can describe a complex goal in natural language - from generating unit tests to complex refactors - and the agent formulates an execution plan that can span multiple files in your project and executes under your direction. Agent Mode uses a range of IDE tools for reading and modifying code, building the project, searching the codebase and more to help Gemini complete complex tasks from start to finish with minimal oversight from you.
To use Agent Mode, click Gemini in the sidebar, then select the Agent tab, and describe a task you'd like the agent to perform. Some examples of tasks you can try in Agent Mode include:
- Build my project and fix any errors
- Extract any hardcoded strings used across my project and migrate to strings.xml
- Add support for dark mode to my application
- Given an attached screenshot, implement a new screen in my application using Material 3
The agent then suggests edits and iteratively fixes bugs to complete tasks. You can review, accept, or reject the proposed changes along the way, and ask the agent to iterate on your feedback.

While powerful, you are firmly in control, with the ability to review, refine and guide the agent's output at every step. When the agent proposes code changes, you can choose to accept or reject them.

Additionally, you can enable "Auto-approve" if you are feeling lucky 😎 - especially useful when you want to iterate on ideas as rapidly as possible.
You can delegate routine, time-consuming work to the agent, freeing up your time for more creative, high-value work. Try out Agent Mode in the latest preview version of Android Studio - we look forward to seeing what you build! We are investing in building more agentic experiences for Gemini in Android Studio to make your development even more intuitive, so you can expect to see more agentic functionality over the next several releases.

Supercharge Agent Mode with your Gemini API key

The default Gemini model has a generous no-cost daily quota with a limited context window. However, you can now add your own Gemini API key to expand Agent Mode's context window to a massive 1 million tokens with Gemini 2.5 Pro.
A larger context window lets you send more instructions, code and attachments to Gemini, leading to even higher quality responses. This is especially useful when working with agents, as the larger context provides Gemini 2.5 Pro with the ability to reason about complex or long-running tasks.

To enable this feature, get a Gemini API key by navigating to Google AI Studio. Sign in and get a key by clicking on the "Get API key" button. Then, back in Android Studio, navigate to the settings by going to File (Android Studio on macOS) > Settings > Tools > Gemini to enter your Gemini API key. Relaunch Gemini in Android Studio and get even better responses from Agent Mode.
Be sure to safeguard your Gemini API key, as additional charges apply for Gemini API usage associated with a personal API key. You can monitor your Gemini API key usage by navigating to AI Studio and selecting Get API key > Usage & Billing.
Note that business tier subscribers already get access to Gemini 2.5 Pro and the expanded context window automatically with their Gemini Code Assist license, so these developers will not see an API key option.
Model Context Protocol (MCP)
Gemini in Android Studio's Agent Mode can now interact with external tools via the Model Context Protocol (MCP). This feature provides a standardized way for Agent Mode to use tools and extend knowledge and capabilities with the external environment.
There are many tools you can connect to the MCP Host in Android Studio. For example you could integrate with the Github MCP Server to create pull requests directly from Android Studio. Here are some additional use cases to consider.
In this initial release of MCP support in the IDE you will configure your MCP servers through a mcp.json file placed in the configuration directory of Studio, using the following format:
{ "mcpServers": { "memory": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-memory" ] }, "sequential-thinking": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-sequential-thinking" ] }, "github": { "command": "docker", "args": [ "run", "-i", "--rm", "-e", "GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN", "ghcr.io/github/github-mcp-server" ], "env": { "GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN": "<YOUR_TOKEN>" } } } }
For this initial release, we support interacting with external tools via the stdio transport as defined in the MCP specification. We plan to support the full suite of MCP features in upcoming Android Studio releases, including the Streamable HTTP transport, external context resources, and prompt templates.
For more information on how to use MCP in Studio, including the mcp.json configuration file format, please refer to the Android Studio MCP Host documentation.
By delegating routine tasks to Gemini through Agent Mode, you'll be able to focus on more innovative and enjoyable aspects of app development. Download the latest preview version of Android Studio on the canary release channel today to try it out, and let us know how much faster app development is for you!
As always, your feedback is important to us - check known issues, report bugs, suggest improvements, and be part of our vibrant community on LinkedIn, Medium, YouTube, or X. Let's build the future of Android apps together!
23 Jun 2025 5:00pm GMT
16 Jun 2025
Android Developers Blog
Top 3 things to know for AI on Android at Google I/O ‘25
Posted by Kateryna Semenova - Sr. Developer Relations Engineer
AI is reshaping how users interact with their favorite apps, opening new avenues for developers to create intelligent experiences. At Google I/O, we showcased how Android is making it easier than ever for you to build smart, personalized and creative apps. And we're committed to providing you with the tools needed to innovate across the full development stack in this evolving landscape.
This year, we focused on making AI accessible across the spectrum, from on-device processing to cloud-powered capabilities. Here are the top 3 announcements you need to know for building with AI on Android from Google I/O '25:
#1 Leverage the efficiency of Gemini Nano for on-device AI experiences
For on-device AI, we announced a new set of ML Kit GenAI APIs powered by Gemini Nano, our most efficient and compact model designed and optimized for running directly on mobile devices. These APIs provide high-level, easy integration for common tasks including text summarization, proofreading, rewriting content in different styles, and generating image description. Building on-device offers significant benefits such as local data processing and offline availability at no additional cost for inference. To start integrating these solutions explore the ML Kit GenAI documentation, the sample on GitHub and watch the "Gemini Nano on Android: Building with on-device GenAI" talk.
#2 Seamlessly integrate on-device ML/AI with your own custom models
The Google AI Edge platform enables building and deploying a wide range of pretrained and custom models on edge devices and supports various frameworks like TensorFlow, PyTorch, Keras, and Jax, allowing for more customization in apps. The platform now also offers improved support of on-device hardware accelerators and a new AI Edge Portal service for broad coverage of on-device benchmarking and evals. If you are looking for GenAI language models on devices where Gemini Nano is not available, you can use other open models via the MediaPipe LLM Inference API.
Serving your own custom models on-device can pose challenges related to handling large model downloads and updates, impacting the user experience. To improve this, we've launched Play for On-Device AI in beta. This service is designed to help developers manage custom model downloads efficiently, ensuring the right model size and speed are delivered to each Android device precisely when needed.
For more information watch "Small language models with Google AI Edge" talk.
#3 Power your Android apps with Gemini Flash, Pro and Imagen using Firebase AI Logic
For more advanced generative AI use cases, such as complex reasoning tasks, analyzing large amounts of data, processing audio or video, or generating images, you can use larger models from the Gemini Flash and Gemini Pro families, and Imagen running in the cloud. These models are well suited for scenarios requiring advanced capabilities or multimodal inputs and outputs. And since the AI inference runs in the cloud any Android device with an internet connection is supported. They are easy to integrate into your Android app by using Firebase AI Logic, which provides a simplified, secure way to access these capabilities without managing your own backend. Its SDK also includes support for conversational AI experiences using the Gemini Live API or generating custom contextual visual assets with Imagen. To learn more, check out our sample on GitHub and watch "Enhance your Android app with Gemini Pro and Flash, and Imagen" session.
These powerful AI capabilities can also be brought to life in immersive Android XR experiences. You can find corresponding documentation, samples and the technical session: "The future is now, with Compose and AI on Android XR".

Get inspired and start building with AI on Android today
We released a new open source app, Androidify, to help developers build AI-driven Android experiences using Gemini APIs, ML Kit, Jetpack Compose, CameraX, Navigation 3, and adaptive design. Users can create personalized Android bot with Gemini and Imagen via the Firebase AI Logic SDK. Additionally, it incorporates ML Kit pose detection to detect a person in the camera viewfinder. The full code sample is available on GitHub for exploration and inspiration. Discover additional AI examples in our Android AI Sample Catalog.

Choosing the right Gemini model depends on understanding your specific needs and the model's capabilities, including modality, complexity, context window, offline capability, cost, and device reach. To explore these considerations further and see all our announcements in action, check out the AI on Android at I/O '25 playlist on YouTube and check out our documentation.
We are excited to see what you will build with the power of Gemini!
16 Jun 2025 5:01pm GMT
12 Jun 2025
Android Developers Blog
Upcoming changes to Wear OS watch faces
Posted by François Deschênes Product Manager - Wear OS
Today, we are announcing important changes to Wear OS watch face development that will affect how developers publish and update watch faces on Google Play. As part of our ongoing effort to enhance Wear OS app quality, we are moving towards supporting only the Watch Face Format and removing support for AndroidX / Wearable Support Library (WSL) watch faces.
We introduced Watch Face Format at Google I/O in 2023 to make it easier to create watch faces that are customizable and power-efficient. The Watch Face Format is a declarative XML format, so there is no executable code involved in creating a watch face, and there is no code embedded in the watch face APK.
What's changing?
Developers will need to migrate published watch faces to the Watch Face Format by January 14, 2026. Developers using Watch Face Studio to build watch faces will need to resubmit their watch faces to the Play Store using Watch Face Studio version 1.8.7 or above - see below for more details.
When are these changes coming?
Starting January 27, 2025 (already in effect):
- No new AndroidX or Wearable Support Library (WSL) watch faces (legacy watch faces) can be published on the Play Store. Developers can still publish updates to existing watch faces.
Starting January 14, 2026:
- Availability: Users will not be able to install legacy watch faces on any Wear OS devices from the Play Store. Legacy watch faces already installed on a Wear OS device will continue to work.
- Updates: Developers will not be able to publish updates for legacy watch faces to the Play Store.
- Monetization: The following won't be possible for legacy watch faces: one-off watch face purchases, in-app purchases, and subscriptions. Existing purchases and subscriptions will continue to work, but they will not renew, including auto-renewals.
What should developers do next?
To prepare for these changes and to continue publishing watch faces to the Play Store, developers using AndroidX or WSL to build watch faces must migrate their watch faces to the Watch Face Format and resubmit to the Play Store by January 14, 2026.
Developers using Watch Face Studio to build watch faces will need to resubmit their watch faces to the Play Store using Watch Face Studio version 1.8.7 or above:
- Be sure to republish for all Play tracks, including all testing tracks as well as production.
- Remove any bundles from these tracks that were created using Watch Face Studio versions prior to 1.8.7.
Benefits of the Watch Face Format
Watch Face Format was developed to support developers in creating watch faces. This format provides numerous advantages to both developers and end users:
- Simplified development: Streamlined workflows and visual design tools make building watch faces easier.
- Enhanced performance: Optimized for battery efficiency and smooth interactions.
- Increased security: Robust security features protect user data and privacy.
- Forward-compatible: Access to the latest features and capabilities of Wear OS.
Resources to help with migration
To get started migrating your watch faces to the Watch Face Format, check out the following developer guidance:
We encourage developers to begin the migration process as soon as possible to ensure a seamless transition and continued availability of your watch faces on Google Play.
We understand that this change requires effort. If you have further questions, please refer to the Wear OS community announcement. Please report any issues using the issue tracker.
12 Jun 2025 4:00pm GMT
11 Jun 2025
Android Developers Blog
Smoother app reviews with Play Policy Insights beta in Android Studio
Posted by Naheed Vora - Senior Product Manager, Android App Safety
Making it easier for you to build safer apps from the start
We understand you want clear Play policy guidance early in your development, so you can focus on building amazing experiences and prevent unexpected delays from disrupting launch plans. That's why we're making it easier to have smoother app publishing experiences, from the moment you start coding.
With Play Policy Insights beta in Android Studio, you'll get richer, in-context guidance on policies that may impact your app through lint warnings. You'll see policy summaries, dos and don'ts to avoid common pitfalls, and direct links to details.
We hope you caught an early demo at I/O. And now, you can check out Play Policy Insights beta in the Android Studio Narwhal Feature Drop Canary release.

How to use Play Policy Insights beta in Android Studio
Lint warnings will pop up as you code, like when you add a permission. For example, if you add an Android API that uses Photos and requires READ_MEDIA_IMAGES permission, then the Photos & Video Insights lint warning will appear under the respective API call line item in Android Studio.
You can also get these insights by going to Code > Inspect for Play Policy Insights and selecting the project scope to analyze. The scope can be set to the whole project, the current module or file, or a custom scope.

In addition to seeing these insights in Android Studio, you can also generate them as part of your Continuous Integration process by adding the following dependency to your project.
Kotlin
lintChecks("com.google.play.policy.insights:insights-lint:<version>")
Groovy
lintChecks 'com.google.play.policy.insights:insights-lint:<version>'
Share your feedback on Play Policy Insights beta
We're actively working on this feature and want your feedback to refine it before releasing it in the Stable channel of Android Studio later this year. Try it out, report issues, and stop by the Google Play Developer Help Community to share your questions and thoughts directly with our team.
Join us on June 16 when we answer your questions. We'd love to hear about:
- How will this change your current Android app development and Google Play Store submission workflow?
- Which was more helpful in addressing issues: lint warnings in the IDE or lint warnings from CI build?
- What was most helpful in the policy guidance, and what could be improved?
Developers have told us they like:
- Catching potential Google Play policy issues early, right in their code, so they can build more efficiently.
- Seeing potential Google Play policy issues and guidance all in one-place, reducing the need to dig through policy announcements and issue emails.
- Easily discussing potential issues with their team, now that everyone has shared information.
- Continuously checking for potential policy issues as they add new features, gaining confidence in a smoother launch.
For more, see our Google Play Help Center article or Android Studio preview release notes.
We hope features like this will help give you a better policy experience and more streamlined development.
11 Jun 2025 4:00pm GMT
10 Jun 2025
Android Developers Blog
Developer preview: Enhanced Android desktop experiences with connected displays
Posted by Francesco Romano - Developer Relations Engineer on Android, and Fahd Imtiaz - Product Manager, Android Developer
Today, Android is launching a few updates across the platform! This includes the start of Android 16's rollout, with details for both developers and users, a Developer Preview for enhanced Android desktop experiences with connected displays, and updates for Android users across Google apps and more, plus the June Pixel Drop. We're also recapping all the Google I/O updates for Android developers focused on building excellent, adaptive Android apps.
Android has continued to evolve to enable users to be more productive on large screens.
Today, we're excited to share that connected displays support on compatible Android devices is now in developer preview with the Android 16 QPR1 Beta 2 release. As shown at Google I/O 2025, connected displays enable users to attach an external display to their Android device and transform a small screen device into a powerful tool with a large screen. This evolution gives users the ability to move apps beyond a single screen to unlock Android's full productivity potential on external displays.
The connected display update builds on our desktop windowing experience, a capability we previewed last year. Desktop windowing is set to launch later this year for users on compatible tablets running Android 16. Desktop windowing enables users to run multiple apps simultaneously and resize windows for optimal multitasking. This new windowing capability works seamlessly with split screen and other multitasking features users already love on Android and doesn't require switching to a special mode.
Google and Samsung have collaborated to bring a more seamless and powerful desktop windowing experience to large screen devices and phones with connected displays in Android 16 across the Android ecosystem. These advancements will enhance Samsung DeX, and also extend to other Android devices.
For developers, connected displays and desktop windowing present new opportunities for building more engaging and more productive app experiences that seamlessly adapt across form factors. You can try out these features today on your connected display with the Android 16 QPR1 Beta 2 on select Pixel devices.
What's new in connected displays support?
When a supported Android phone or foldable is connected to an external display through a DisplayPort connection, a new desktop session starts on the connected display. The phone and the external display operate independently, and apps are specific to the display on which they're running.
The experience on the connected display is similar to the experience on a desktop, including a task bar that shows running apps and lets users pin apps for quick access. Users are able to run multiple apps side by side simultaneously in freely resizable windows on the connected display.

When a desktop windowing enabled device (like a tablet) is connected to an external display, the desktop session is extended across both displays, unlocking an even more expansive workspace. The two displays then function as one continuous system, allowing app windows, content, and the cursor to move freely between the displays.

A cornerstone of this effort is the evolution of desktop windowing, which is stable in Android 16 and is packed with improvements and new capabilities.
Desktop windowing stable release
We've made substantial improvements in the stability and performance of desktop windowing in Android 16. This means users will encounter a smoother, more reliable experience when managing app windows on connected displays. Beyond general stability improvements, we're introducing several new features:
- Flexible window tiling: Multitasking gets a boost with more intuitive window tiling options. Users can more easily arrange multiple app windows side by side or in various configurations, making it simpler to work across different applications simultaneously on a large screen.
- Multiple desktops: Users can set up multiple desktop sessions to match their distinct productivity requirements and switch between the desktops using keyboard shortcuts, trackpad gestures, and Overview.
- Enhanced app compatibility treatments: New compatibility treatments ensure that even legacy apps behave more predictably and look better on external displays by default. This reduces the burden on developers while providing a better out-of-the-box experience for users.
- Multi-instance management: Users can manage multiple instances of supporting applications (for example, Chrome or, Keep) through the app header button or taskbar context menu. This allows for quick switching between different instances of the same app.
- Desktop persistence: Android can now better maintain window sizes, positions, and states across different desktops. This means users can set up their preferred workspace and have it restored across sessions, offering a more consistent and efficient workflow.
Best practices for optimal app experiences on connected displays
With the introduction of connected display support in Android, it's important to ensure your apps take full advantage of the new display capabilities. To help you build apps that shine in this enhanced environment, here are some key development practices to follow:
Build apps optimized for desktop
- Design for any window size: With phones now connecting to external displays, your mobile app can run in a window of almost any size and aspect ratio. This means the app window can be as big as the screen of the connected display but also flex to fit a smaller window. In desktop windowing, the minimum window size is 386 x 352 dp, which is smaller than most phones. This fundamentally changes how you need to think about UI. With orientation and resizability changes in Android 16, it becomes even more critical for you to update your apps to support resizability and portrait and landscape orientations for an optimal experience with desktop windowing and connected displays. Make sure your app supports any window size by following the best practices on adaptive development.
- Implement features for top productivity: You now have all the tools necessary to build mobile apps that match desktop, so start adding features to boost users productivity! Allow users to open multiple instances of the same app, which is invaluable for tasks like comparing documents, managing different conversations, or viewing multiple files simultaneously. Support data sharing with drag and drop, and maintain user flow across configuration changes by implementing a robust state management system.
Handle dynamic display changes
- Don't assume a constant Display object: The Display object associated with your app's context can change when an app window is moved to an external display or if the display configuration changes. Your app should gracefully handle configuration change events and query display metrics dynamically rather than caching them.
- Account for density configuration changes: External displays can have vastly different pixel densities than the primary device screen. Ensure your layouts and resources adapt correctly to these changes to maintain UI clarity and usability. Use density-independent pixels (dp) for layouts, provide density-specific resources, and ensure your UI scales appropriately.
Go beyond just the screen
- Correctly support external peripherals: When users connect to an external monitor, they often create a more desktop-like environment. This frequently involves using external keyboards, mice, trackpads, webcams, microphones, and speakers. If your app uses camera or microphone input, the app should be able to detect and utilize peripherals connected through the external display or a docking station.
- Handle keyboard actions: Desktop users rely heavily on keyboard shortcuts for efficiency. Implement standard shortcuts (for example, Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+Z) and consider app-specific shortcuts that make sense in a windowed environment. Make sure your app supports keyboard navigation.
- Support mouse interactions: Beyond simple clicks, ensure your app responds correctly to mouse hover events (for example, for tooltips or visual feedback), right-clicks (for contextual menus), and precise scrolling. Consider implementing custom pointers to indicate different actions.
Getting started
Explore the connected displays and enhanced desktop windowing features in the latest Android Beta. Get Android 16 QPR1 Beta 2 on a supported Pixel device (Pixel 8 and Pixel 9 series) to start testing your app today. Then enable desktop experience features in the developer settings.
Support for connected displays in the Android Emulator is coming soon, so stay tuned for updates!
Dive into the updated documentation on multi-display support and window management to learn more about implementing these best practices.
Feedback
Your feedback is crucial as we continue to refine these experiences. Please share your thoughts and report any issues through our official feedback channels.
We're committed to making Android a versatile platform that adapts to the many ways users want to interact with their apps and devices. The improvements to connected display support are another step in that direction, and we can't wait to see the amazing experiences you'll build!
10 Jun 2025 6:02pm GMT