Google Play Services
Give your apps more features to attract users on a wider range of devices. With Google Play services, your app can take advantage of the latest, Google-powered features such as Maps, Google+, and more, with automatic platform updates distributed as an APK through the Google Play store. This makes it faster for your users to receive updates and easier for you to integrate the newest that Google has to offer.
Google Technology
Google Play services provides you with easy access to Google services and is tightly integrated with the Android OS. Easy-to-use client libraries are provided for each service that let you implement the functionality you want easier and faster.
Standard Authorization
All products in Google Play services share a common authorization API that leverages the existing Google accounts on the device. You and your users have a consistent and safe way to grant and receive OAuth2 access tokens to Google services.
Automatic Updates
Devices running Android 2.3 or higher that have the Google Play Store app will automatically receive updates to Google Play services. Enhance your app with the most recent version of Google Play services without worrying about your users’ Android version.
To start integrating Google Play services into your app, follow the Setup guide.
New Features
Google Play services, Version 7.3 (April 2015)
For a summary of the feature highlights in Google Play services 7.3, see the announcement blog post.
Google Play services, Version 7.0 (March 2015)
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
Google Play services, Version 6.5 (December 2014)
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.
Google Play services, Version 6.1 (October 2014)
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
Google Play services, Version 5.0 (July 2014)
For a summary of the feature highlights in Google Play services 5.0, see the announcement blog post.
Google Play services, Version 4.4 (May 2014)
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
Google Play services, Version 4.3 (March 2014)
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
How It Works
The Google Play services client library
The client library contains the interfaces to the individual Google services and allows you to obtain authorization from users to gain access to these services with their credentials. It also contains APIs that allow you to resolve any issues at runtime, such as a missing, disabled, or out-of-date Google Play services APK. The client library has a light footprint if you use ProGuard as part of your build process, so it won’t have an adverse impact on your app’s file size.
If you want to access added features or products, you can upgrade to a new version of the client library as they are released. However, upgrading is not necessary if you don’t care about new features or bug fixes. We anticipate more Google services to be continuously added, so be on the lookout for these updates.
The Google Play services APK
The Google Play services APK contains the individual Google services and runs as a background service in the Android OS. You interact with the background service through the client library and the service carries out the actions on your behalf. An easy-to-use authorization flow is also provided to gain access to the each Google service, which provides consistency for both you and your users.
The Google Play services APK is delivered through the Google Play Store, so updates to the services are not dependent on carrier or OEM system image updates. In general, devices running Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) or later and have the Google Play Store app installed receive updates within a few days. This allows you to use the newest APIs in Google Play services and reach most of the devices in the Android ecosystem (devices older than Android 2.3 or devices without the Google Play Store app are not supported).
The Google Play services APK on user devices receives regular updates for new APIs, features, and bug fixes.
The benefits for your app
Google Play services gives you the freedom to use the newest APIs for popular Google services without worrying about device support. Updates to Google Play services are distributed automatically by the Google Play Store and new versions of the client library are delivered through the Android SDK Manager. This makes it easy for you to focus on what’s important: your users’ experience.
To get started, set up the SDK and check out the various products in the Google Play services platform now!
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