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Google Play Services version 4.3 has begun rolling out worldwide today, and it brings many improvements to the existing APIs, as well as introducing fresh new APIs: Google Analytics, Tag Manager, and Address APIs. At the same time, Google also announced that cross-platform Play Games feature will be available on iOS coming soon.
Upon rollout completion, developers could download the Google Play Services SDK using the existing SDK Manager to get started with the new programming interfaces.
Google Analytics and Tag Manager APIs
Both Google Analytics API and Tag Manager has been around for a while now, but have always existed as standalone technologies. With the new Play Services, it has been incorporated to the main fold.
Google Analytics allows developers to see detailed statistics on how their apps are being used, which feature are used the most, or even which element triggers a user to convert from a free, ad-supported version, to a paid, or pro version.
Tag Manager is a nifty way for developers to quickly change the characteristics (like the color) of the app without having to push a new version to Google Play Store.
Drive API
Released since 4.1 was the Drive API, and on Google Play Services 4.3, it has been improved further. There are three things to look forward to: Pinning allows files or folders to be pinned, so that it is up-to-date when connected to the internet and accessible locally when offline; App Folders allows creation of folders for temporary access by apps, which can potentially be used to store app data that is synced across devices; Change Notifications adopts a push notification-like callback when a file or folder is changed, so that users no longer need to manually check for changes continuously.
Address API
Address API is also one of the new APIs released as part of version 4.3. It works a bit like the web browser’s autofill, where instead of pulling for location data that could be taxing to the battery life, the new API lets users choose between preset addresses to fill in the form in any app, within Android.
Google Play Games
The biggest news of this release is an update to Google Play Games’ API to now allow ‘game gifts’ between players. This allows a player to send a virtual in-game request to anyone in her Google+ circles, or through a player search. These ‘wishes’ can be then granted by other players, who will send in-game items or other ‘gifts’. Multiplayer capabilities have been already present since version 4.1.
Cross-platform Google Play Games between Android and iOS
Over at Game Developers Conference held today, Google announced that its Google Play Games service on iOS will have cross-platform multiplayer mode soon. This new update will enable game developers to incorporate multiplayer features such as leaderboards or turn-based gaming elements across Android and iOS.
This is a significant update to the Google Play Games service that was introduced last year. It has already been on the iOS platform, but the new cross-platform multiplayer support will encourage developers to go the Google route, instead of iOS’ Game Center or other third party implementations like Scoreloop.
It is clear that the most interesting part of the Google Play Services release is the multiplayer gaming aspect, not only between Androids, but with iOS devices as well. However, as always, Google Play Games, the app, is still not available for download in Malaysia. What gives?
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