Google I / O 2016: Test and Application Improvements
Hi, Habr! Our app store Google Play beats regular records. More than a billion users visit it monthly (1/7 of the world's population!). Over the past year, they downloaded and installed applications from the store more than 65 billion times.
We like this growth rate, so we are closely following your feedback and wishes, and we are doing everything to grow your business with us. At the last Google I / O 2016, we presented several new features that will affect all developers, from beginners to major companies.
Open beta testing is a great opportunity to catch something that, in conditions of limited use, a developer might simply not notice on their devices. Many authors of Android applications have appreciated the ability to launch a beta test directly from the Google Play Developer Console, collecting feedback and statistics from live users: it helps to cope with the whole “zoo” of devices and the various conditions in which your product can be used.
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We decided to facilitate participation in beta testing for both users and developers. Very soon, applications that have only a beta branch (that is, for the first time go on Google Play and have not yet got a release version) will be displayed in the search results and are available for installation like any other application. Reviews, bug reports and suggestions for the beta version can be left through the classic mechanism of commenting the application on Google Play with the only difference - no one will see them except the developer.
Well, since we allow beta versions to the app store - you can't leave them without charts. A new section “Early Access” will appear on Google Play, which will display the most interesting beta projects that have not yet entered the release stage selected by our editors.
A large selection of applications in our store is good. The user can find the right application for almost any life situation. The trouble is that there are so many applications that many users don’t know what to look for or how exactly to look for what will help them. Especially for such cases, we have developed a new tool - thematic collections of applications that will help developers to find their users, and users to get a product that is really relevant and important to them at the moment.
For example, you decide to buy a new home. You searched for something on this topic, and Google Play offered you the appropriate collection, which includes a mortgage calculator, a real estate bulletin board, an app for creating notes, apps for “everything for the home”, and, let's say, an application for moving. To participate in such collections from the developers do not need anything - everything happens automatically, at the level of contextual search. Well, users can get their actual applications easier and faster.
The success of your application to a certain extent depends on the quality of its work. Unfortunately, the flip side of the openness of the OS Android is a large number of devices that are very different in their capabilities, which creates certain problems for testing applications in the development process.
Our Pre-launch report tool should help you cope with testing: each version of your application can be automatically tested on a large number of different devices using the Firebase Test Lab.
The report contains a lot of useful information - starting with errors, crashes and possible problems that our automatic system will find, ending with screenshots of various screens on devices with different versions of Android, different resolutions and different system locales. The latter will help you identify potential underdevelopments in the UI area, make sure that the displayed text always fits into the fields set aside for it and looks decent.
We also took care of security and included in the reports warnings about known issues and vulnerabilities that could creep into your applications. Moreover, this analysis takes into account even external libraries connected to your application. You can enable the pre-launch report for your application in the developer console.
Reviews of your application are often a wealth of useful information. Today, we are expanding improvements to the rating and reviews mechanism on Google Play already added at the beginning of the year , so that you, as a developer, have more opportunities to interact with users.
We introduce a new tool - Review benchmarks, which allows you to compare the distribution of ratings on various criteria among similar applications. Criteria are relevant for all types of applications - design, stability, speed, usability, etc. You will be able to assess exactly which parameters affect the overall assessment of the application and in what direction should the application be developed to improve the situation.
Just as you collect feedback from your users, we carefully study our opinions - that is, you, the developers. Recently, many of you have noted that the “response to feedback” function is valuable to you, as it is directly related to the audience of your application. Today, to collect feedback and ideas you do not need to create a forum, force users to register or moderate comment spam - you have Google Play and reviews, and that's great. According to our statistics, applications of developers who actively interact with the audience, on average, grow by rating by 0.7 points. But who said you can't do better?
For the past few months, we have been busy testing the interaction APIs with Zendesk and Conversocial , so now you can respond to user comments directly from these support services. Well, if you have something else - open API to help you , write a simple plugin and use what you are used to!
Sometimes, to increase the user base, you need to seriously modify the application, introduce new features, or completely redesign the design. And sometimes it’s enough to know where those who are already using your application come from. The report from the Tributaries of Users in the developer console gives you a clear idea of ​​how many users came to the page of your application on Google Play, how many of them installed the application, what percentage used paid content. With the latest update you are waiting for new features, such as the separation of data by country or comparison with statistics from similar applications. With new information, you can concentrate on the most profitable regions and more effectively work with tools such as experimenting with the Google Play app page.
Our user base is constantly growing. Hundreds of millions of users go online and for many of them the first device is an Android device. Perhaps one of the first applications that new users download will be your application. In order to make it easier for you to create applications for new, growing markets, we have created the Building for Billions guidelines (note lane: “We develop for billions”) in which we collected the best techniques and the most modern application design patterns. To supplement this document, but the book Building for Billions Playbook is intended for marketing knowledge.
To improve price perception in different regions, the Google Play Developer Console will automatically round them up depending on the region. For example, if in dollars your application costs $ 1.99, then for Russia the price will be set at 130 (129) rubles, and not incomprehensible 132 rubles and 7 kopecks, which would have been the result of a direct conversion. You can also customize pricing templates yourself and change prices for all your applications in one click.
While you are working on improving your applications, we are doing so that billions of users can comfortably use Google Play, in which they are sold. For example, we have improved compression algorithms, with the result that updates require less traffic. We also focused on speeding up the application store itself, regardless of the type of connection used.
Some of the optimizations affect only local markets - for example, in India and Brazil, search results are different from the global ones - it takes into account local players in the market, the interests of local developers and the general specifics of the regions. In India and Indonesia, gift cards / certificates and payment from a mobile operator’s account are a popular payment method, so we added the appropriate tools and included support for similar payment arrangements.
Many times today we mentioned mobilization, new growing markets and a large number of mobile platform users - and why are developers worse than their users? For you, for people thanks to whom Android has in many ways become what it is now - the most popular OS in the world, we have prepared a pleasant surprise - two new applications.
The first, the Play Console app , gives you access to the most important information about your applications and informs you about critical changes through the notification panel. The number of installations, deletions, release of the new version of the application on Google Play, reviews and even the ability to respond to them are all from one convenient application on your device.
The second application, the Playbook by Google Play, is an online book, your ticket to the world of publishing apps on Google Play. It contains the most relevant tips, tutorials, articles and videos from Google experts and from the Internet - everything you need to build a successful business in the Google Play app store. Join beta testing and leave feedback - your opinion is especially valuable!
We like this growth rate, so we are closely following your feedback and wishes, and we are doing everything to grow your business with us. At the last Google I / O 2016, we presented several new features that will affect all developers, from beginners to major companies.
Improvements in Google Play: beta testing and search for new applications
Open beta testing is a great opportunity to catch something that, in conditions of limited use, a developer might simply not notice on their devices. Many authors of Android applications have appreciated the ability to launch a beta test directly from the Google Play Developer Console, collecting feedback and statistics from live users: it helps to cope with the whole “zoo” of devices and the various conditions in which your product can be used.')
We decided to facilitate participation in beta testing for both users and developers. Very soon, applications that have only a beta branch (that is, for the first time go on Google Play and have not yet got a release version) will be displayed in the search results and are available for installation like any other application. Reviews, bug reports and suggestions for the beta version can be left through the classic mechanism of commenting the application on Google Play with the only difference - no one will see them except the developer.
Well, since we allow beta versions to the app store - you can't leave them without charts. A new section “Early Access” will appear on Google Play, which will display the most interesting beta projects that have not yet entered the release stage selected by our editors.
A large selection of applications in our store is good. The user can find the right application for almost any life situation. The trouble is that there are so many applications that many users don’t know what to look for or how exactly to look for what will help them. Especially for such cases, we have developed a new tool - thematic collections of applications that will help developers to find their users, and users to get a product that is really relevant and important to them at the moment.
For example, you decide to buy a new home. You searched for something on this topic, and Google Play offered you the appropriate collection, which includes a mortgage calculator, a real estate bulletin board, an app for creating notes, apps for “everything for the home”, and, let's say, an application for moving. To participate in such collections from the developers do not need anything - everything happens automatically, at the level of contextual search. Well, users can get their actual applications easier and faster.
Play pre-launch report: learn about problems in the application before users tell about them
The success of your application to a certain extent depends on the quality of its work. Unfortunately, the flip side of the openness of the OS Android is a large number of devices that are very different in their capabilities, which creates certain problems for testing applications in the development process.
Our Pre-launch report tool should help you cope with testing: each version of your application can be automatically tested on a large number of different devices using the Firebase Test Lab.
The report contains a lot of useful information - starting with errors, crashes and possible problems that our automatic system will find, ending with screenshots of various screens on devices with different versions of Android, different resolutions and different system locales. The latter will help you identify potential underdevelopments in the UI area, make sure that the displayed text always fits into the fields set aside for it and looks decent.
We also took care of security and included in the reports warnings about known issues and vulnerabilities that could creep into your applications. Moreover, this analysis takes into account even external libraries connected to your application. You can enable the pre-launch report for your application in the developer console.
Work with users and reviews
Reviews of your application are often a wealth of useful information. Today, we are expanding improvements to the rating and reviews mechanism on Google Play already added at the beginning of the year , so that you, as a developer, have more opportunities to interact with users.
We introduce a new tool - Review benchmarks, which allows you to compare the distribution of ratings on various criteria among similar applications. Criteria are relevant for all types of applications - design, stability, speed, usability, etc. You will be able to assess exactly which parameters affect the overall assessment of the application and in what direction should the application be developed to improve the situation.
Just as you collect feedback from your users, we carefully study our opinions - that is, you, the developers. Recently, many of you have noted that the “response to feedback” function is valuable to you, as it is directly related to the audience of your application. Today, to collect feedback and ideas you do not need to create a forum, force users to register or moderate comment spam - you have Google Play and reviews, and that's great. According to our statistics, applications of developers who actively interact with the audience, on average, grow by rating by 0.7 points. But who said you can't do better?
For the past few months, we have been busy testing the interaction APIs with Zendesk and Conversocial , so now you can respond to user comments directly from these support services. Well, if you have something else - open API to help you , write a simple plugin and use what you are used to!
Where users, conversion mechanisms and comparison with competitors come from
Sometimes, to increase the user base, you need to seriously modify the application, introduce new features, or completely redesign the design. And sometimes it’s enough to know where those who are already using your application come from. The report from the Tributaries of Users in the developer console gives you a clear idea of ​​how many users came to the page of your application on Google Play, how many of them installed the application, what percentage used paid content. With the latest update you are waiting for new features, such as the separation of data by country or comparison with statistics from similar applications. With new information, you can concentrate on the most profitable regions and more effectively work with tools such as experimenting with the Google Play app page.
Applications and games for billions of users
Our user base is constantly growing. Hundreds of millions of users go online and for many of them the first device is an Android device. Perhaps one of the first applications that new users download will be your application. In order to make it easier for you to create applications for new, growing markets, we have created the Building for Billions guidelines (note lane: “We develop for billions”) in which we collected the best techniques and the most modern application design patterns. To supplement this document, but the book Building for Billions Playbook is intended for marketing knowledge.
To improve price perception in different regions, the Google Play Developer Console will automatically round them up depending on the region. For example, if in dollars your application costs $ 1.99, then for Russia the price will be set at 130 (129) rubles, and not incomprehensible 132 rubles and 7 kopecks, which would have been the result of a direct conversion. You can also customize pricing templates yourself and change prices for all your applications in one click.
While you are working on improving your applications, we are doing so that billions of users can comfortably use Google Play, in which they are sold. For example, we have improved compression algorithms, with the result that updates require less traffic. We also focused on speeding up the application store itself, regardless of the type of connection used.
Some of the optimizations affect only local markets - for example, in India and Brazil, search results are different from the global ones - it takes into account local players in the market, the interests of local developers and the general specifics of the regions. In India and Indonesia, gift cards / certificates and payment from a mobile operator’s account are a popular payment method, so we added the appropriate tools and included support for similar payment arrangements.
Developer Applications
Many times today we mentioned mobilization, new growing markets and a large number of mobile platform users - and why are developers worse than their users? For you, for people thanks to whom Android has in many ways become what it is now - the most popular OS in the world, we have prepared a pleasant surprise - two new applications.
The first, the Play Console app , gives you access to the most important information about your applications and informs you about critical changes through the notification panel. The number of installations, deletions, release of the new version of the application on Google Play, reviews and even the ability to respond to them are all from one convenient application on your device.
The second application, the Playbook by Google Play, is an online book, your ticket to the world of publishing apps on Google Play. It contains the most relevant tips, tutorials, articles and videos from Google experts and from the Internet - everything you need to build a successful business in the Google Play app store. Join beta testing and leave feedback - your opinion is especially valuable!
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/302202/
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