New Marshmallow features part of Google Play Services 8.1

Google finished rolling out a Play Services 8.1 update and Android Developers are now being urged to start prepping their apps to take advantage of some new features available in Android 6.0 Marshmallow. The SDK is now available and developers can go ahead and start their work to incorporate the new features and APIs.

One of the big changes coming to Android 6.0 is a new permissions model that will let users select permissions at runtime. According to Google, developers will need to update to the new 8.1 SDK to incorporate this permissions model if they want their app to be fully compatible with Marshmallow.

To help developers generate potential sales leads for their apps, the new framework includes an App Invite feature. Using this, a user can invite people in their Google contacts to check out an app. The service enables this via email or SMS. Developers will be able to customize the invitation text, add a custom image and even include a call-to-action button.

For developers who are trying to support Android Wear and incorporate the Google Maps API into their app, they will find they can take advantage of the ambient mode. This mode provides a low-color version of a map by reducing power consumption through limitations on the number of pixels lit up. This provides a visual cue for users who can see the map, but can recognize it is not active for input.

A final batch of changes brings a new Google Nearby feature that developers can tap into. Apps can receive callbacks when a Nearby publish or subscribe expires. Google says this will enable apps to more accurately reflect the status of a Nearby. Google also added a new Player Stats API to Play Games so provides better information about the progress players are making through games and developers can better connect with their more valuable players.

Google also notes that they have made changes to the GoogleApiClient and PendingResult which could break changes in a developers code.

Check out the video Google produced explaining these changes to Google Play Services in the 8.1 update.

Click here to view the embedded video.

source: Android Developers

Come comment on this article: New Marshmallow features part of Google Play Services 8.1