Google Play Services

For a summary of the feature highlights in Google Play services 7.0, see the announcement blog post.

• Places - Using the Google Places API for Android, you can build location-aware apps that respond contextually to the local businesses and other places near the device. Use the built-in place picker UI widget and API methods to find the device’s current place, autocomplete users’ queries, and more.
  • Places API developer guide
  • Places API reference
• Location settings - While the FusedLocationProviderApi combines multiple sensors to give you the optimal location, the accuracy of the location your app receives still depends greatly on the settings enabled on the device (GPS, wifi, airplane mode, and others). Using the new SettingsApi class, you can bring up a Location Settings dialog which displays a one-touch control for users to change their settings without leaving your app.
• Fit - The Google Fit API is now more efficient with modular calls to specific functionality within the API. You can now also access distance and granular sleep data.
  • Fit API developer guide
  • Fit API reference
• Google Mobile Ads - This release introduces the addCustomTargeting() and addCategoryExclusion() methods to the PublisherAdRequest.Builder class, enabling DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP) developers to target custom criteria and use ad exclusions to block ads.
  • DFP targeting developer guide
• Play Game services - The Nearby Connections API allows users to connect to each other and exchange messages over a local network. This API supports local multiplayer and second screen gaming.
  • Nearby Connections developer guide
  • Nearby Connection API reference
• Google API client - This release introduces the GoogleApiClient.Builder.requestServerAuthCode() method. This API makes it significantly easier to enable servers to be able to make Google API calls on behalf of users. This method reduces the lines of boilerplate code that you previously had to implement.
  • Server-side API access developer guide
• Drive - This release adds trash() and untrash() methods to the DriveResource class. These methods enable you to move user-visible files and folders to the trash or restore them from the trash. Trashing a folder recursively trashes its children. The isExplicitlyTrashed() method indicates whether a resource was trashed directly, or as the result of a trashed parent.
  • Trashing and untrashing developer guide
• SafetyNet API - The API lets you check if your app is running on a device that matches a device model that has passed Android compatibility testing. The API evaluates both software and hardware characteristics of a device to determine whether it matches a known-good configuration that has been previously determined to be compatible. You can use the SafetyNet API in conjunction with other tools to determine whether the device appears capable of handling specific features in your app.
  • SafetyNet API reference
  • SafetyNet developer guide

For a summary of the feature highlights in Google Play services 6.5, see the announcement blog post.

• Maps - The new lite mode lets your app display a bitmap image of a map, while still being able to control markers and shapes client-side. This is particularly useful when you're showing a number of small maps. You can enable or disable a new map toolbar that lets users open Google Maps and get directions and turn by turn navigation to the selected marker. The getMap() method in MapView and MapFragment is now deprecated in favor of the new getMapAsync() method. Similarly, the new getStreetViewPanoramaAsync() method in StreetViewPanoramaView and StreetViewPanoramaFragment enables you to get a ready-to-use Street View panorama.
  • Lite mode maps developer guide
  • Map toolbar developer guide
• Drive - This release introduces support for inserting or updating custom properties. You can now create empty files (for example, a user preference file that is empty until the user defines some application property).
  • CustomPropertyKey API reference
  • Creating empty files developer guide
• Fit - The Fit API now supports activity segments (DataType.TYPE_ACTIVITY_SEGMENT), which enable you to represent pauses within a workout session and to annotate time intervals inside a session with different fitness activities.
• Wallet - You can now enable donations from your Android app in the same way you enable purchases. To do so, create a WalletFragment and specify the BUY_BUTTON mode, then set the button text to DONATE_WITH_GOOGLE.

  Note: Use of the Donate with Google button is limited to 501(c)(3) organizations. For more information, see the Content policies.

  • Setting button text developer guide
• Granular dependency management - If the number of references in your app exceeds the 65K method reference limit, your app may fail to compile. To avoid this problem, you can include just the specific Google Play services APIs your app uses, instead of all of them, when compiling your app. For more details, see the Android Studio setup instructions in Setting Up Google Play Services.
• Deprecated clients - The ActivityRecognitionClient, LocationClient, and PlusClient classes are deprecated. If you used those APIs in your app and want to call Google Play services 6.5 or higher APIs, you must switch to the new programming model that utilizes GoogleApiClient. For more information about using GoogleApiClient, see Accessing Google APIs.

  Use these APIs instead of the deprecated APIs:

  • If you were previously using ActivityRecognitionClient, call ActivityRecognition instead.
  • If you were previously using LocationClient, call the APIs in the com.google.android.gms.location package instead.
  • If you were previously using PlusClient, call the APIs in the com.google.android.gms.plus package instead.

For a summary of the feature highlights in Google Play services 6.1, see the announcement blog post.

• Drive - This release adds the CompletionEvent class to notify you when actions are committed to the server and respond to conflicts. Recent and starred views are now available in the file picker user interface provided by OpenFileActivityBuilder, and the user interface has been updated to use material design. A new DriveResource.setParents() method makes it possible to organize files and folders. In addition, the Contents class has been replaced with a DriveContents class that simplifies working with file contents.
  • Drive SDK release notes
  • Completion events developer guide and Google Developers video
  • Using the OpenFileActivity Builder
• Tag Manager - Google Tag Manager now supports Enhanced Ecommerce through the Universal Analytics tag.
  • Universal Analytics Upgrade Center
  • Enhanced Ecommerce developer guide
• Fit - The Google Fit developer preview, initially announced in August, has been refreshed to enable you to test your new fitness apps on any Android device.
  • Google Fit developer guide
  • Fit API reference

For a summary of the feature highlights in Google Play services 5.0, see the announcement blog post.

• Analytics - The Enhanced Ecommerce API allows your app to send product related information and actions to Google Analytics. Use this API to measure impressions of products seen by users, checkout steps, and products purchased. This information can be analyzed for the effectiveness of marketing and merchandising efforts, including the impact of internal promotions, coupons, and affiliate marketing programs.
  • Enhanced Ecommerce developer guide
  • Enhanced Ecommerce API reference
• App Indexing - The App Indexing API provides a way for developers to notify Google about deep links in their native apps and allows the Google Search App, version 3.6 and above, to drive re-engagement through Google Search query autocompletions, providing fast and easy access to inner pages in apps.
  • App Indexing developer guide
  • App Indexing API reference
• Drive - The Query APIs now allow your app to retrieve Drive files by sorted order, according to a developer-specified sorting criteria.
  • Queries developer guide
  • Sortable queries API reference
• Play Games - This release introduces the Quests and Saved Games services. The Quests service gives you the ability to issue time-bound in-game challenges based on Events data sent from your game, without republishing your game (for example: Your game sends an event each time a “gem” is found by a player, and you create a quest to “Find 20 gems”). Players can complete a quest to earn rewards. Saved Games offers improved functionality for saving game state information and visually displaying player game progression.
  • Events and Quests developer guide
  • Events API reference
  • Quests API reference
  • Saved Games developer guide
  • Saved Games API reference
• Security - The Security API allows you to easily install a dynamic security provider. New versions of Google Play Services will keep the security provider up-to-date with the latest security fixes as those become available.
  • Security API reference
• Wallet - The Save to Google API for Android lets users save Wallet Objects to their Google Wallet with the click of a button displayed in your Android app.
  • Save to Google API for Android tutorial
• Wearables - The Wearable Data Layer API provides a communication channel between your handheld and wearable apps. The API consists of a set of data objects that the system can send and synchronize and listeners that notify your apps of important events from the other device.
  • Building Wearable Apps training class
  • Wearables API reference

For a summary of the feature highlights in Google Play services 4.4, see the announcement blog post.

• Maps - New features for Street View and enhanced control of Indoor Maps.
  • Street View developer guide - Add Street View to your app and programmatically control the user’s experience.
  • Indoor Maps developer guide - Customize the level picker and specify the active level of a building.
• Activity recognition - The Location API has been updated with new activity detectors for running and walking.
  • DetectedActivity class reference
• Mobile Ads - The new in-app purchase APIs allow publishers to display in-app purchase ads, which enables users to purchase advertised items directly.
  • In-app purchase APIs developer guide - Enable in-app purchases via ads by using the in-app purchase APIs.
  • In-app purchase API reference
• Wallet Fragment - The new Wallet Fragment API allows you to easily integrate Google Wallet Instant Buy with an existing app.
  • About Wallet Fragment - Tutorial showing how to use wallet fragment to handle user events and to automate key parts of the purchase lifecycle.
  • Detailed API process flow

For a summary of the feature highlights in Google Play services 4.3, see the announcement blog post.

• Play Games - The new Game Gifts API enables games to send virtual in-game requests to anyone in a player’s circles or through player search.
  • Developing Game Gifts in Android
  • Game Gifts API reference
• Analytics - Google Analytics and Tag Manager are now part of Google Play services.
  • Getting Started with the Analytics API in Android
  • Analytics API reference
  • Getting Started with the Tag Manager API in Android
  • Tag Manager API reference
• Drive - Change notifications, offline content, and more.
  • Pinning Files - Make files available offline.
  • Listening for Change Events - Receive notifications for change events asynchronously.
  • Storing Application Data - Store application data in a special hidden folder.
• Address - Let your users provide complete addresses in a single click.
  • Address API reference