MobilePro #61: Android Dev Summit announcements, 2023 - the year of superapps, and compose functions video tutorial.
The _mobilepro is back with another edition and this time we are focusing on compose functions with a new video module! We've got news from Android's Dev Summit focusing on announcements and Jetpack compose, Apple's array of updates for ads with App store expert meetups and Ionic framework's new releases - Stencil, AppFlow and self-hosted live updates.
This week, we have curated articles that showcase:
5 Play Console updates to help you understand your app's delivery performance 🚚
Optimization techniques for Rive animations in React apps 🤸♀️
As always, check out our survey and tell us what you want us to cover - the _mobilepro only works thanks to its community, so we need the community to tell us what it wants! Please hit the button to share your inputs.
<< Test First Name >>, COMPLETE THE SURVEY TO LET US KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS
Cheers,
Apurva Kadam
Associate Editor-in-Chief, Packt
What’s happening in Tech?
Android
What’s new in Jetpack Compose 📰- if you're starting a new app, it's time to write it with Compose! With Material Design 3 support, new Bill Of Materials, Compose WearOS Stable and Android TV (alpha), Compose Camp, and many other pieces of news… It's an exciting release!
Android Dev Summit ‘22: What’s new in Jetpack 👩🚀- Most apps on Google Play use Jetpack as a key component of their app architecture, in fact over 90% of the top 1000 apps use Android Jetpack. At ADS this week we released updates to three major areas of Jetpack: Architecture Libraries and Guidance , Application Performance, and User Interface Libraries and Guidance.
Modern Android Development at Android Developer Summit ‘22 📱 - The Android Developer Summit is back and the first stop on the world tour just finished! It focused on the latest developments in Modern Android Development: set of libraries, tools and guidance that make it faster and easier to build amazing Android apps. Here is a recap of the top 3 announcements from the conference.
Material Design 3 for Compose hits stable 🚒 - Today marks the first stable release of Compose Material 3. The library allows you to build Jetpack Compose UIs with Material Design 3, the next evolution of Material Design. You can start using Material Design 3 in your apps today! Material 3 includes updated theming and components, exclusive features like dynamic color, and is designed to be aligned with the latest Android visual style and system UI.
Apple
App Store Review Guideline updates now available 🦮 - The App Store Review Guidelines have been updated to support new features in upcoming OS releases, better protect customers, and help your apps go through the review process as smoothly as possible.
SKAdNetwork 4.0 now available 📺 - The SKAdNetwork API lets advertisers measure the success of advertisements by attributing app installations to specific ad campaigns — all while maintaining user privacy. It supports multiple ad formats, including static images, videos, audio, and interactive ads.
Meet with App Store experts 👩🎤 - Get ready to connect with experts online to learn how to make the most of App Store features. Discover how to attract new customers, test marketing strategies, add subscriptions, and so much more. Live presentations with Q&A will be held this November and December in multiple time zones and languages. Register today if you’re a member of the Apple Developer Program.
New ad placements from Apple Search Ads now available on the App Store 📢 - Apple Search Ads makes it easy to promote your app on the App Store. And now with new Today tab and product page ad placements, you can drive discovery of your app in more moments across the App Store — when customers first arrive, search for something specific, and browse apps to download.
Get ready with the latest beta releases 🍎- The beta versions of iOS 16.2, iPadOS 16.2, macOS 13.1, tvOS 16.2, and watchOS 9.2 are now available. Get your apps ready by confirming they work as expected on these releases. And to take advantage of the advancements in the latest SDKs, make sure to build and test with Xcode 14.1 RC 2.
Ionic Framework
Announcing Stencil 2.19.0 🐾 - Stencil v2.19.0 is here! This is a minor release and should be a drop-in replacement for existing projects. There are a few bug fixes in this release as well as some new features that folks may be excited about.
Appflow, now for React Native 🌊 - Mobile development is complex, so we designed the Appflow mobile DevOps platform to rise to those unique challenges. Hundreds of organizations use Appflow daily to build, deploy, and update mission-critical iOS and Android applications on a platform designed specifically for mobile apps. Even more teams will benefit from these features with the release of Appflow for React Native!
Self-Hosted Live Updates are Here 🖐 - Long gone are the days of waiting for the app store to approve updates to your applications. With Live Updates from Appflow, Ionic’s mobile DevOps platform, developers can push live app updates directly to users and testers instantly.
Microsoft
Android 12L for developers on Surface Duo 🌏 – Dear Android developers, Android 12L is being rolled out to Surface Duo devices, and equally keen to see what the Android developer community builds to support it.
Weekly Picks
Better Device Compatibility with CameraX 📸- In this post, we’ll look at three ways CameraX makes developers’ lives easier when it comes to device compatibility. First, we’ll take a peek into our CameraX Test Lab where we test over 150 physical phones every day. Second, we’ll look at Quirks, the mechanism CameraX uses to automatically handle device inconsistencies. Third, we’ll discuss the ways CameraX makes it easier to develop apps for foldable phones.
2023 Will Be All About Superapps 🦸♀️ – Gartner recently published their 2023 trends report, which highlights major technology trends to look for in the next year. If you’re not using superapps yet, you might be missing out on a major avenue for adding business value and improving your mobile user experience.
5 Play Console updates to help you understand your app's delivery performance 🚚 – Delivery insights help you better understand and analyze your app’s delivery performance and what contributes to it and take action to optimize the experience for your users. Here are five recent Play Console updates you can use to get more insight into your delivery performance.
Optimization techniques for Rive animations in React apps 🤸♀️– In this blog, Alex Barashkov will teach you how to optimize the loading of Rive animations to achieve a better user experience.
Get Started with ReactJS: A Beginner's Guide 📚- ReactJS is a great tool for building user interfaces. It is fast, efficient, and easy to learn. If you are looking for a way to get started with ReactJS, this guide is a great place to start.
Watch Out for This!
This tutorial from Android highlights building blocks of Compose: composable functions.
Mobile Dev Motivation
“If your plans don't include mobile, your plans aren't finished.”
- Wendy Clark, Senior VP Integrated Marketing, Coca-Cola
Tutorial of the week
Adding a CalendarView
To get started, look in the Widgets category of the palette and find the CalendarView. Drag and drop the CalendarView near the top and horizontally central. As you drag the CalendarView around, notice that it jumps/snaps to some locations.
Also, notice the subtle visual cues that show when the view is aligned. I have highlighted the horizontally central visual cue in the following screenshot:
The horizontally central visual cue
Let go when it is horizontally central, as it is in the preceding screenshot. Now, we will resize it.
Resizing a view in a ConstraintLayout
Left-click and hold one of the corner squares that are revealed when you let go of the CalendarView, and drag inward to decrease the size of the CalendarView, as illustrated in the following screenshot:
Resizing a view in the ConstaintLayout
Reduce the size by about half and leave the CalendarView near the top and horizontally central. You might need to reposition the widget a little after you have resized it. The result should look like this:
Repositioning the widget
You do not need to place the CalendarView in exactly the same place, as the purpose of the exercise is to get familiar with the visual cues that inform you where you have placed it, not to create a replica of my layout...Read More
This how-to was curated from the book Android Programming for Beginners
👇 Hit the button to take a deeper dive into the world of Android! 👇
<< Test First Name >> , MASTER THIS TUTORIAL, READ THE BOOK NOW!
Events and Conferences
Webinar: “New UI for Your IDE: A Glimpse Into the Future”
In this webinar, join JetBrains Advocates as they share the New UI with you, giving you a glimpse at some of the visual improvements for IntelliJ Platform IDEs. Then, follow along as they code, run, and debug projects in the New UI while offering advice and answering your questions.
When: October 31st, 2022
Game Off 2022
Build a game this November with Game Off 2022. Save the date! Game Off returns on November 1 for its 10th year! Game Off is an annual game jam (or “hackathon for building games”) that’s a little different from most—it lasts for the entire month of November—not just a weekend, or a few days. It’s the perfect excuse to learn a new language, try out a new game engine, or even build your first game!
When: November 1st , 2022
Developer Productivity Engineering Summit 2022
Next practices for transforming the developer experience. This two-day, dual-track event features the leading minds on how to leverage Developer Productivity Engineering next practices and tools to achieve digital transformation and pursue an IT-driven competitive advantage.
When: November 2nd – 3rd , 2022
See you next week!