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LUCY HUGHES: Hi.
I'm Lucy Hughes, UX lead at Google Play.
Today, I'm going to walk you through all the new features
our teams have built to help you power your growth on Play,
as well as highlighting some important dates and deadlines
for you to be aware of.
We'll talk about improvements for trust and safety,
tools to boost your app quality and improve monetization,
some updates for games, and a new store listing certificate
course.
So let's get started.
Google Play is committed to providing
a safe and secure platform that protects both you, app
and games businesses, and the billions of people
who trust Google Play to discover the latest
Android content.
Earlier this year, we shared details about the upcoming data
safety section in the Play Store,
which will let users know the type of data
your app collects and stores, and how that data is used.
By giving you a way to showcase your approach to privacy
and security, we're not only building user trust,
we're helping people make informed decisions
about the apps they install and use.
Users will see the new data safety section
in Play Store starting in February.
We know that some of you will need more time
to assess your apps and coordinate with multiple teams.
So we're giving you until April before your apps
must have this section completed and approved.
You can start filling out the required data safety
form in Play Console now.
We encourage you to get started early
and submit your information for review
as soon as possible before the April deadline.
For more information, including guidance
on how to fill out the form, you can read our Help Center
article, or watch our session, Get Prepared
for the Data Safety Section.
You can find the link for the session
in the video description below.
The new Play Integrity API helps protect your apps and games
from abuse and attacks.
It helps you detect risky or untrustworthy interactions
with your app so your backend server can
decide whether or not to trust the interaction.
At launch, the API will send you three signals.
Is this your unmodified binary?
Is this a genuine Play install?
And is this a genuine Android device
running Google Play services?
If any of those signals are not what you expect,
your server can decide what your app should do next
to reduce the risk, such as asking
the user for verification or reducing access
to functionality.
We've been working closely with developers
to test the API, which is already
being used in production to protect apps and games.
The Play Integrity API will be rolling out to everyone
over the next few months.
We'll be publishing a preview of the integration guide
very soon at the URL shown on the screen,
along with information about migrating
to the new API from SafetyNet device attestation
and Play licensing.
To learn more, watch our session,
Play Integrity API, which is linked
in the video description.
Another major contributor to your app's success
in Google Play is quality.
In fact, nearly 3/4 of five-star reviews on Google Play
mention the quality of the app experience
in terms of performance, design, and usability.
Because quality is so important, we
are constantly making changes to surface the higher-quality apps
in the Play Store.
To make the most of Google Play, you
need to invest in the quality of your app,
but what does that quality really mean?
App quality includes the overall experience
of the app, its technical quality, and the quality
of your listing on Google Play.
So to help you maximize your success,
we've released several updates to help you improve
the performance of your app.
Let's start with your technical quality.
First, we're making it easier for you
to spot new issues with improvements to Android vitals.
Your most recent data is now more
visible to help you spot issues faster.
And we've added trends, filters, and app version information
to help you quickly identify the source of the issue.
These improvements were made possible
by some new capabilities available in Android 10,
so look out for new features soon.
We're also making some changes to ratings and reviews
to make them more indicative of the experience
that each user can expect.
Starting in November, users on phones
will start to see ratings specific to their registered
country.
Then, in early 2022, users will see rating specific
to the device that they're on, including
form factors such as tablets, chromebooks, and wearables.
You can preview your location-specific and
device-specific ratings in Play Console today.
We encourage you to check them out now
so you have time to make any app quality
improvements before the new ratings are
shown to Play Store users.
When we look at quality, we also consider
the reach of your high-quality experience.
That's why we recently launched a new tooling console called
Reach and Devices to help you understand which
features or fixes would help you reach the most users on Google
Play.
By understanding your user and issue distribution,
you can make more informed decisions
about which specs to build for, where to launch,
and what to test to make the biggest impact.
Stay tuned for more in this space in the next year.
Of course, one of the biggest aspects
of growing your business on Google Play
is earning money from your app or game.
This year, we've made changes to help
you monetize your apps and reinvest in your business,
offering you more options and flexibility.
Earlier this year, we announced that the service
fee for the first $1 million in earnings is now 15%.
Today, more than 99% of all developers
are eligible for a service fee of 15% or less.
If you haven't already enrolled, please
do so at the link shown on the screen.
The 15% rate is effective from the day that you enroll.
We're also constantly adding new features
to the Billing Library, including new ways for users
to pay, subscription promotion capabilities,
purchase attribution for games, and improvements to purchase
reliability and security.
Today, I'm excited to announce one
of those new features coming in Billing Library version
4, in-app messaging.
Today, subscription users that go into payment decline
often aren't aware of it or experience too much friction
to fix their payment.
The best place for users to learn about their payment
decline and fix it is in the app itself.
But too often, we hear from developers
that it's a lot of work to determine the user's payment
state and show the right messaging.
That's why we're announcing a new API that
can detect whether a user is in payment decline
and show a helpful message right in your app.
This allows users to immediately fix the payment
without leaving the app to go to the Play Store.
Best of all, the integration is super easy.
It's just a few lines of code.
We've already seen positive results
from our early access partners.
On average, developers saw a 99% improvement
in subscription recovery for users who saw the message.
In-app messaging will be available
in the next Billing Library release,
so stay tuned for more information.
In order to help you benefit from these features
and keep your infrastructure modern and up to date,
we've established a yearly cadence
for updating to the minimum Billing Library version.
As a reminder, all updates to existing apps
must use Billing Library version 3 or newer by November the 1st.
After November 1, you won't be able to publish
apps that use older integrations, AIDL,
Billing Library version 1, or Billing Library version 2.
Apps already in the Play Store can
continue to be downloaded and process in-app purchases.
However, any subsequent app releases
will require Billing Library version 3 or newer.
Updating to Billing Library version 3 or newer
is simple and requires just a few updates to your code.
More information about the changes
can be found in the release notes in our developer
documentation.
We've also made improvements for our game developers.
Now in early access, the updated sign-in API
for Play Game Services drastically
simplifies the sign-in implementation.
In fact, it's now just a single line of code.
It gives you a convenient way to sign in your players
and save their game progression.
You can then retrieve player game data
to allow returning players to continue
playing from their last save point from any device.
You can integrate popular gaming features such as achievements
and leaderboards.
We've also simplified the setup for users,
combining the Google Play games install and profile creation
into one step.
This allows users to get back to their game
more quickly, even if they don't have Play Games installed.
We're streamlining the process of opting in to auto sign-in
for an even smoother experience for returning users.
But that's not all.
Needing to have the Google Play Games app installed
is creating friction for some users.
So starting in 2022, Play Game Services
will no longer require installation.
This change will allow 2 billion users
to sign in to your Play Game Services-enabled games
with a zero-touch experience.
Stay tuned for more details.
In the meantime, you can express your interest
in the Play Game Services early access
program on our developer site.
And last but not least, I'm pleased to announce
the launch of the Google Play Store Listing Certificate.
This new program is designed to help app marketers demonstrate
their proficiency and skills in Play Store listing
best practices.
To get certified, you can take our online training
at Google Play Academy and learn best practices to help you best
tell your app or game story.
You'll learn key skills that will help you drive growth
through high-quality and policy-compliant store
listings.
After the training, take the exam
to get an industry-recognized certificate.
You can use your certificate to promote yourself
to the communities, projects, and employers
that are important to you.
Make yourself stand out, whether it's in your own organization
or in the industry.
We hope you take advantage of all these tools, features,
and programs to grow your businesses on Google Play.
Please continue sharing your feedback
so we can continue to build the tools you need
to power your growth on Play.
Thanks for being part of the Google Play community.
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