Posted by Diana Wong (Android Product Supervisor), Kseniia Shumelchyk (Developer Relations Engineer) and Sara Vickerman (Android Developer Advertising)
This week, Samsung launched the newest units to come back to the Android ecosystem at their Galaxy Unpacked occasion. When you haven’t already, try their two new foldables, the Galaxy Z Fold4 and Z Flip4, and their new lineup of watches operating on Put on OS, the Galaxy Watch5 sequence. You possibly can be taught extra about their bulletins right here.
With the thrill round these new units, there’s by no means been a greater time to spend money on ensuring your app has an incredible expertise for customers, on massive screens or Put on OS! Right here’s what you must know to get began:
Get your apps prepared for foldables, just like the Galaxy Z Fold4 and Z Flip4
With their distinctive foldable expertise, the Galaxy Z Flip4 and Z Fold4 are nice examples of how Android units are available in all sizes and shapes. The Z Fold4 is the newest in massive display screen units, a class that continues to see spectacular progress. Lively massive display screen customers are approaching 270 million, making it a good time to optimize your apps for tablets, foldables and Chrome OS.
Final 12 months, we launched Android 12L, a characteristic drop designed to make Android 12 even higher on tablets and foldable units, and Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold4 would be the first gadget to run 12L out of the field! Android 12L contains UI updates tailored for giant screens, enhancements to the multitasking expertise, and enhancements to compatibility mode so your app appears higher out of the field. Since 12L, we additionally launched Android 13, which incorporates all these massive display screen updates and extra.
Get began constructing for foldables by trying out the documentation. The Z Fold4 and Z Flip4 can be utilized in a number of completely different folded states, like Samsung’s “flex mode” the place you’ll be able to go hands-free when doing something from watching a present to taking a photograph. To get your app trying nice nevertheless it’s folded, you should utilize the Jetpack WindowManager library to make your app fold conscious and check your app on foldables. And at last, the massive display screen app high quality pointers is a complete set of checklists to assist make your app the most effective it may be throughout an ever increasing ecosystem of enormous display screen units.
Builders who put on this work are beginning to see outcomes; eBay elevated their app ranking to 4.7 stars on Google Play after optimizing for giant screens. Chrome‘s multitasking utilization elevated 18x for giant screens with 12L.
Construct distinctive Put on OS apps
The Put on OS platform expanded this week with the brand new and improved Galaxy Watch5 sequence. This lineup of units builds on Samsung’s dedication to the wearable platform, which we noticed final 12 months after they launched Put on OS Powered by Samsung on the Galaxy Watch4 sequence.
When you’re seeking to get began constructing for the newest Galaxy Watch 5 sequence, or some other Put on OS gadget, now is a good time to take a look at model 1.0 of Compose for Put on OS. That is the primary secure launch of our fashionable declarative UI toolkit designed to make constructing apps for Put on OS simpler, sooner, and extra intuitive. The toolkit brings the most effective of Jetpack Compose to Put on OS, accelerating the event course of so you’ll be able to create stunning apps with fewer traces of code.
The 1.0 launch streamlines UI growth by following the declarative method and providing highly effective Kotlin syntax. It additionally gives a wealthy set of UI parts optimized for the watch expertise and is accompanied by many highly effective instruments in Android Studio to streamline UI iteration. That’s why Compose for Put on OS is our beneficial method for constructing person interfaces for Put on OS apps.
We’ve constructed a set of supplies that will help you get began with Compose for Put on OS! Take a look at our curated studying pathway for a step-by-step journey, documentation together with a fast begin information, the Compose for Put on OS codelab for hands-on expertise, and samples obtainable on Github.
Equally to Compose for Put on OS, we’re constructing Put on OS Tile Parts to make it sooner and simpler to construct tiles. Tiles present Put on OS customers glanceable entry to the data and actions they want so as to get issues carried out rapidly and they’re one of the vital used options on Put on OS. This replace brings materials parts and layouts so you’ll be able to create Tiles that embrace the newest Materials design for Put on OS. Proper now that is in beta, however preserve a lookout for the launch announcement!
One other launch announcement to be careful for is Android Studio Dolphin, the newest launch from Android Studio. Take a look at these options designed to make wearable app growth simpler:
- Up to date Put on OS emulator toolbar which now contains buttons and gestures obtainable on Put on OS units, resembling palm and tilting and simulating two bodily buttons.
- Emulator pairing assistant to pair a number of Put on OS units with a single digital or bodily cellphone. Android Studio remembers pairings after being closed and means that you can see Put on units within the Gadget Supervisor.
- Direct floor launch that means that you can create run/debug configurations for Put on OS tiles, watch faces, and problems, and launch them instantly from Android Studio.
Between Jetpack Compose, Tile Parts and Android Studio Dolphin, we’re simplifying Put on OS app growth. And, with the addition of the Galaxy Watch5 sequence to the Put on OS ecosystem, there are much more causes to construct an distinctive Put on OS app.
There’s by no means been a greater time to begin optimizing!
Type components are having a significant second this 12 months and Google is dedicated to serving to you optimize and construct throughout type components with new content material and instruments, together with classes and workshops from this 12 months’s Google I/O and new Android Studio options. Plus, we now have Materials Design steering for massive screens and Put on OS that will help you in your optimization journey.
From the Watch5 sequence to the Z Fold4, Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked introduced us improvements throughout display screen sizes and kinds. Put together your app so it appears nice throughout the complete Android gadget ecosystem!
