Google to Let Developers Update Apps As People Use Them

Google today announced a number of features that developers can put to use in their Android apps. First up, the new In-App Updates API lets developers push updates to their app while the app is in use. One one scenario, the user waits a moment while the update is applied immediately. In another scenario, the update is downloaded in the background even while the app is in use. Google believes this will make the updating process feel more seamless to end users, as they won't be forced to close apps or update via the Play Store. Google Slices, a concept introduced earlier this year, are now in public testing. Slices allow a snippet of an app to run without the app actually being installed on the device. Several apps, including Kayak and Doist, will have Slices up and running by the end of the month. Google expects to expand Slices to more apps in the near future. Google also released a new version of the Kotlin coding language, launched Android Studio 3.3 in beta, added support for uncompressed native libraries in Android App Bundles, and made improvements to Instant Apps. Developers can access and put these new tools to use through the Android developer portal.