Google I/O 2019 Conference is making the headlines. But, if you don’t have time to read all the tech blogs, we’ve summed up everything we think you need to know as a mobile app developer.

Google I/O 2019 Conference – Highlights for App Developers

Google has just announced a whole load of exciting stuff they’ve been working on during 2018. Everything from new phones, Google Home becoming Nest brand, to the next generation version of its voice-powered Assistant. It’s this voice technology that has caught our attention and of course the way Google approaches privacy.

Google makes privacy a natural part of technology

Android has built many industry-first security and privacy protections. Just think about file-based encryption, SSL by default and work profile. In fact, compared to Facebook, Google make privacy a very natural part of building user-first technology.

Android Q – height of consumer privacy & security

Android is reaching version 10 and is now operating on over 2.5 billion active devices. Android Q takes things to a new level with almost 50 new features and changes focused on privacy and security.

There is a new Location section that gives you more transparency and granular control over the location data you share with apps. You can now choose to share location data with apps only while they’re in use. Plus, you’ll receive reminders when an app has your location in the background. This means you can then decide whether or not to continue sharing. What else is new in Android Q? Android Q also provides protections for other sensitive device information, like serial numbers.

The Kumulos team particularly like this focus on privacy. This is great when it comes to marketing and means mobile marketers can use the data wisely to geotarget push notifications and enhance the experience of mobile app users.

Adding to this, Google have ensured that much less information leaves the mobile device to deliver its state of the art machine learning features. This is great for performance and security.

Google’s Assistant

Firstly, it’s pretty impressive how Google has managed to shrink its voice recognition models to fit right on the actual mobile device. This local storage means they’re able to eliminate the latency involved and it makes conversations with the Assistant appear instantaneous. It even works in airplane mode! The next-gen Assistant will be available on new Pixel phones later in 2019.

We also loved hearing about the contextual awareness of the Assistant which will make life a lot easier in many ways. Google’s example of the car rental booking was pretty slick! This would certainly make our car rentals much easier when we’re attending events like TNW Conference, Mobile World Congress and App Promotion Summit!

Google Lens Upgrades

What can we say about Google Lens? With new tricks such as being able to point Google Lens at a restaurant’s menu so it can highlight the most popular items, to being able to point it at your receipts to automatically calculate tips and other totals. We particularly like the ability of the phone being able to caption video that hasn’t already been captioned. Just think of the benefits here for accessibility!

Duplex on the web

It was at I/O 2018 that Google first launched Duplex. This is an AI-powered customer service tool intended to help small businesses (like restaurants and hairdressers) field more phone calls, answering frequently asked questions and making reservations or booking appointments. For 2019, this is expanding to open up Duplex to the web.

Focus mode

With the advantages of mobile, also comes problems. Quite often, health professionals talk about the amount of time people spend using their mobile and how this is harming productivity, causing “text neck”, and adding micro-stress moments to people’s lives. So, the Focus Mode, which hits Android later this year, is a great solution. With Focus Mode, you’ll make a list of the mobile apps you find most distracting — switch to Focus Mode, and they’ll disappear until you turn off the mode.

AR in search

Some search results, for example, a search for a specific shoe, or a type of animal etc, will now include 3D models. Tap the model and you’ll be able to place it in a view of the real world via augmented reality. If you’ve yet to embrace augmented reality and would like to know how to incorporate AR into your clients’ apps, contact us today.

Kotlin is the preferred language

With Google announcing that the Kotlin programming language is now their preferred language for Android app developers, Kumulos is pleased to remind mobile app developers that we’re Kotlin compatible. Google say that if you’re starting a new project, you should try to write it in Kotlin which is much less code for you to type, test, and maintain. The Kumulos SDKs are fully compatible with Kotlin so why not give it a go today!

About Kumulos

Kumulos Mobile App Performance Management platform comes with a comprehensive range of services covering the entire life cycle of the app. Its 5 integrated services include app store optimization, analytics & reporting, backend hosting, crash reporting & endpoint monitoring and its award winning push notifications service, which received awards from Business of Apps, Mobile App Daily and The Tool.

It provides a management console that delivers comprehensive visibility on how the app is performing technically and commercially. It’s easy to setup and there’s no SDK required.

Start monitoring now by signing up for a free trial or book a demo!