Helping Families Find High-Quality Apps for Kids

Posted by Mindy Brooks, General Manager, Kids and FamilyApps play an increasingly important role in all of our lives and we’re proud that Google Play helps families find educational and delightful experiences for kids. Of course, this wouldn’t be possible without the continued ingenuity and commitment of our developer partners. From kid-friendly entertainment apps to educational games, you’ve helped make our platform a fantastic destination for high-quality content for families. Today, we’re sharing a few updates on how we’re building on this work to create a safe and positive experience on Play.

Expanding Play’s Teacher Approved Program

In 2020, we introduced the Teacher Approved program to highlight high-quality apps that are reviewed and rated by teachers and child development specialists. Through this program, all apps in the Play Store’s Kids tab are Teacher Approved, and families can now more easily discover quality apps and games.

As part of our continued investments in Teacher Approved, we’re excited to expand the program so that all apps that meet Play’s Families Policy will be eligible to be reviewed and shown on the Kids tab. We’re also streamlining the process for developers. Moving forward, the requirements for the Designed for Families program, which previously were a separate prerequisite from Teacher Approved eligibility, will be merged into the broader Families Policy. By combining our requirements into one policy and expanding eligibility for the Teacher Approved program, we look forward to providing families with even more Teacher Approved apps and to help you, our developer partners, reach more users.

If you’re new to the Teacher Approved program, you might wonder what we’re looking for. Beyond strict privacy and security requirements, great content for kids can take many forms, whether that’s sparking curiosity, helping kids learn, or just plain fun. Our team of teachers and experts across the world review and rate apps on factors like age-appropriateness, quality of experience, enrichment, and delight. For added transparency, we include information in the app listing about why the app was rated highly to help parents determine if the app is right for their child. Please visit Google Play Academy for more information about how to design high-quality apps for kids.

Building on our Ads Policies to Protect Children

When you're creating a great app experience for kids and families, it’s also important that any ads served to children are appropriate and compliant with our Families Policy. This includes using Families Self-Certified Ads SDKs to serve ads to children. We recently made changes to the Families Self-Certified Ads SDK Program to help better protect users and make life easier for Families developers. SDKs that participate in the program are now required to identify which versions of their SDKs are appropriate for use in Families apps and you can view the list of self-certified versions in our Help Center.

Next year, all Families developers will be required to use only those versions of a Families Self-Certified Ads SDK that the SDK has identified as appropriate for use in Families apps. We encourage you to begin preparing now before the policy takes full effect.


Building Transparency with New Data Safety Section Options

In the coming weeks, all apps which include children in their target audience will be able to showcase their compliance with Play’s Families Policy requirements with a special badge on the Data safety section. This is another great way that you can better help families find apps that meet their needs, while supporting Play’s commitment to provide users more transparency and control over their data. To display the badge, please visit the "Security practices" section of your Data safety form.

Screenshot of a cellphone screen showing the Data Safety form in Google Play with the 'Security practices'section highlighted

As always, we’re grateful for your partnership in helping to make Play a fantastic platform for delightful, high-quality content for kids and families. For more developer resources:

Helping Families Find High-Quality Apps for Kids

Posted by Mindy Brooks, General Manager, Kids and FamilyApps play an increasingly important role in all of our lives and we’re proud that Google Play helps families find educational and delightful experiences for kids. Of course, this wouldn’t be possible without the continued ingenuity and commitment of our developer partners. From kid-friendly entertainment apps to educational games, you’ve helped make our platform a fantastic destination for high-quality content for families. Today, we’re sharing a few updates on how we’re building on this work to create a safe and positive experience on Play.

Expanding Play’s Teacher Approved Program

In 2020, we introduced the Teacher Approved program to highlight high-quality apps that are reviewed and rated by teachers and child development specialists. Through this program, all apps in the Play Store’s Kids tab are Teacher Approved, and families can now more easily discover quality apps and games.

As part of our continued investments in Teacher Approved, we’re excited to expand the program so that all apps that meet Play’s Families Policy will be eligible to be reviewed and shown on the Kids tab. We’re also streamlining the process for developers. Moving forward, the requirements for the Designed for Families program, which previously were a separate prerequisite from Teacher Approved eligibility, will be merged into the broader Families Policy. By combining our requirements into one policy and expanding eligibility for the Teacher Approved program, we look forward to providing families with even more Teacher Approved apps and to help you, our developer partners, reach more users.

If you’re new to the Teacher Approved program, you might wonder what we’re looking for. Beyond strict privacy and security requirements, great content for kids can take many forms, whether that’s sparking curiosity, helping kids learn, or just plain fun. Our team of teachers and experts across the world review and rate apps on factors like age-appropriateness, quality of experience, enrichment, and delight. For added transparency, we include information in the app listing about why the app was rated highly to help parents determine if the app is right for their child. Please visit Google Play Academy for more information about how to design high-quality apps for kids.

Building on our Ads Policies to Protect Children

When you're creating a great app experience for kids and families, it’s also important that any ads served to children are appropriate and compliant with our Families Policy. This includes using Families Self-Certified Ads SDKs to serve ads to children. We recently made changes to the Families Self-Certified Ads SDK Program to help better protect users and make life easier for Families developers. SDKs that participate in the program are now required to identify which versions of their SDKs are appropriate for use in Families apps and you can view the list of self-certified versions in our Help Center.

Next year, all Families developers will be required to use only those versions of a Families Self-Certified Ads SDK that the SDK has identified as appropriate for use in Families apps. We encourage you to begin preparing now before the policy takes full effect.


Building Transparency with New Data Safety Section Options

In the coming weeks, all apps which include children in their target audience will be able to showcase their compliance with Play’s Families Policy requirements with a special badge on the Data safety section. This is another great way that you can better help families find apps that meet their needs, while supporting Play’s commitment to provide users more transparency and control over their data. To display the badge, please visit the "Security practices" section of your Data safety form.

Screenshot of a cellphone screen showing the Data Safety form in Google Play with the 'Security practices'section highlighted

As always, we’re grateful for your partnership in helping to make Play a fantastic platform for delightful, high-quality content for kids and families. For more developer resources:

Cleveland: from industrial powerhouse to bustling arts city

While many people know that Cleveland has a long, storied history of manufacturing, many don’t realize that it was the tycoons of those industries — ranging from John D. Rockefeller to Jeptha Wade — who shared their fortunes with the city in the form of arts benefactions. And while manufacturing continued to ebb and flow over time — subsequently producing a defining grit for which Clevelanders have become known — the city’s arts & culture scene has continued to blossom.

Today, Cleveland is a destination for performing and fine arts; not only is the city the birthplace of rock ‘n’ roll, a history celebrated by theRock & Roll Hall of Fame, it’s also home to Karamu Performing Arts Theatre, the oldest producing Black theater in the United States, alongside other extraordinary institutions like The Cleveland Orchestra, one of the top five orchestras in the United States, and The Cleveland Museum of Art, a leading museum at the forefront of Open Access.

To inspire your next trip, Destination Cleveland is one of 18 partners launching a new online destination on Google Arts & Culture. The site is dedicated to all Cleveland has to offer, from its all-encompassing music scene and its rich history as a Federal Art Project recipient, to the city’s one-of-a-kind Cleveland character, seen and felt among its attractions, within its restaurants and throughout its bustling neighborhoods.

With a total of 18 partners, 80+ stories, 37,000+ artifacts, 90+ videos and 54+ sites captured in 360° Museum Street View, the project brings together Cleveland experts and world-renowned arts institutions to showcase the city’s cultural DNA as an industrial giant with cultural refinement.

Cleveland tells us all that pressure not only creates diamonds but also artists, innovators and visionaries. Here are four ways to get started learning about Cleveland:

  • A picture of downtown Cleveland at sunset, with roads and skyscrapers

    Downtown Cleveland by Wil Lindsey, Destination Cleveland collection on Google Arts & Culture

  • A painting of staples of Cleveland, from Lebron James and Drew Carey to the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame.

    Cleveland by Glen Infante on Google Arts & Culture

  • A painting of a pastoral landscape and a barn

    Landscape with Barn by Frank Daniel Fousek, Cleveland Public Library collection on Google Arts & Culture

  • gospel dances on stage during a performance

    Black Nativity Dancers Gospel by Will Lindsey, Karamu Performing Arts Theatre collection on Google Arts & Culture

Culture

  • Take a tour of the city through some of itstop eating destinations, from the West Side Market to Swenson’s Drive-In, with local food writer Lisa Sands.
  • There’s no talking about Cleveland without referencing its sports culture — past and present. From exploring the archives at theBaseball Heritage Museum to catching a Cavaliers basketball game, Clevelanders are famously passionate sports fans.
  • Check out theCleveland Asian Festival, an annual festival organized by the OCA Greater Cleveland-Asian Pacific American Advocates, featuring cultural performances, authentic Asian cuisine and unique public art celebrating the city’s rich Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage.

Innovators & Groundbreakers

  • Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: Cleveland is known as the city that coined the term “rock ‘n’ roll.” So, it is only fitting that the ultimate homage to rock music stands proudly on its Lake Erie shoreline. Beyond telling the full story of rock music through interactive exhibits, artifacts and archival material, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame features Ohio bands likeDevo andThe Waitresses, as well as Cleveland bands — including the recent inducteeNine Inch Nails.
  • Cleveland Museum of Natural History: Did you know that “Lucy,” one of the most significant fossil finds in the study of human evolution, was discovered by a former curator from this Cleveland museum? It’s also where you’ll find the Coelophysis bauri, which, at 225 million years old, is the museum’s oldest dinosaur.

Artists & Creatives

  • The Cleveland Museum of Art: Offering free admission to its permanent collection, this world-renowned institution brings one of the most comprehensive collections of art and artifacts of any GA&C U.S. city launch with over 35,000 items — an amazing showcase of their world-class Open Access collection, now also available on Google Arts & Culture.
  • FRONT International: A rising star of the contemporary art world, this free, public art exhibition takes place across the Greater Cleveland region every three years. The triennial attracts local and global audiences, while helping to tell Cleveland’s story as a destination for innovative, contemporary art.

Visionaries & Performers

  • Karamu Performing Arts Theatre: Explore the legacy of the nation's oldest producing Black American theater — from its start as a settlement house to its path to becoming an inclusive and important community and cultural institution.
  • The Cleveland Orchestra: Consistently rated as one of the top five orchestras in the United States, this internationally recognized ensemble with centenarian status, is a symbol of Cleveland’s incredible capacity to nurture and celebrate creativity.

Want to learn more? Visit goo.gle/explorecleveland, or download Google Arts & Culture’sAndroid oriOS app.

New Consolidated Controls Page for Google Takeout

What’s changing 

Beginning November 15, 2022, admins can manage Takeout settings from a new consolidated controls page, located at Admin console > Account > Google Takeout > User access to Takeout for Google services. We anticipate the new page to be fully rolled out within the next few weeks. Once the new page is fully available, the previous Takeout settings page—located at Admin Console > Apps > Additional Google Services > Google Takeout—will no longer be available. 


Once the rollout is complete, admins can modify Takeout settings from the new consolidated controls page, as well as from additional service setting pages for services with an individual Takeout control (see here for a list of those services: Allow or block Google Takeout for users). 



Who’s impacted 

Admins 


Why it matters 

Admins can now specify which services users are allowed or not allowed to export data from via Google Takeout all from one place in the Admin Console.


Getting started 



Rollout pace 



Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers 


Resources 

Unlocking the potential of technology to support health

This week kicked off the HLTH Conference in Las Vegas where thousands of healthcare leaders, care providers, patients and other people in the industry — like our teams at Google — are coming together to discuss how to create a healthier world.

At Google, we believe that technology — especially AI and analytics — can unlock a better future for health globally. Our teams from Search, YouTube, Android, Google Cloud and more are using technology to provide health information and insights for consumers, caregivers and communities. Here’s a look at some of our latest updates.

Giving people information and insights to take action on their health

For many, the front door to healthcare is their smartphone. Millions of people turn to Google Search and YouTube for authoritative information or use apps and connected devices, like Fitbit, to help stay on top of health and wellness goals.

To give Android users a new way to get more from their health and wellness data, we introduced Health Connect earlier this year at Google I/O. Through our Early Access Program, more than 10 health, fitness and wellness apps including MyFitnessPal, Oura and Peloton have already integrated with the platform to help people manage everything from workouts to diet to sleep and more. We are now opening up to more developers with Health Connect (Beta) to give people a single place to manage access to data across their health and fitness apps. In the coming months, we will continue to create an even richer ecosystem of apps and features.

Image of app icons

We’ve also made strides on our other platforms, Search and YouTube. In 2021, health videos on YouTube were viewed more than 12 billion times in the U.S. YouTube’s authoritative health content and features are now available in 7 countries, and YouTube recently opened up its features to a wider group of health experts in the U.S. to encompass authoritative services that extend beyond educational institutions and health organizations.

On Search, there’s more ways for people to turn health information into action. After piloting a feature earlier this year that shows available healthcare appointments for primary care, we’re continuing to explore new ways to expand appointments to other specialities and verticals through new and existing partnerships.

This work is made possible by all our partners who provide the health information, insights and experiences that empower consumers in their health.

Equipping healthcare ecosystem with analytics and AI to improve health

Healthcare is one of the largest and most complex industries that is turning towards technology to help organizations run more effectively — which in turn helps people live healthier lives.

When organizations commit to digital transformation, it can be a long and overwhelming process, but that doesn’t mean it has to take years to see benefits for developers, clinicians and patients.

Google Cloud came together with several of our customers and partners — including Hackensack Meridian Health, Lifepoint Health and Mayo Clinic — to find a way to encourage rapid reinvention. As a result, we built Google Cloud’s new Healthcare Data Engine (HDE) accelerators to help organizations reinvent quickly and enable the data interoperability that saves lives. The first three HDE accelerators, available in early 2023, will address common use cases around health equity, patient flow, and value-based care.

The transformation of healthcare requires an open and collaborative approach to be successful. For example, Electronic Health Records (EHR) are a critical part of this ecosystem and we see many ways to work with EHR companies for the benefit of healthcare organizations. Today marks a critical development in this journey. At HLTH we announced an agreement that will allow healthcare organizations to run Epic — an EHR system — on Google Cloud. Hackensack Meridian Health plans to move its Epic workloads to Google Cloud, with the aim to drive greater innovation, efficiencies and security.

And with our solution Care Studio, we’ve been working with MEDITECH to bring our advanced search, summarization and sense-making capabilities to their EHR, MEDITECH Expanse. We are now extending this integrated solution to our first two partners, Mile Bluff Medical Center and DCH Health System, to give their health teams a more complete view of their patients and easily find salient information to provide better care. This includes organizing patient records from different sources into a longitudinal view, bringing our advanced search functionality to clinicians directly in their EHR so they can easily and quickly access critical information all in one place.

Video of Google Health and MEDITECH Expanse integrated solution
10:25

Fitbit Health Solutions is bringing our technology to healthcare partners, incorporating Fitbit devices, services and insights into programs focused on managing chronic conditions like diabetes. A study from the All of Us research program found that increasing your daily step count by 1000 steps could cut the risk of type 2 diabetes by more than 25%. This kind of insight is key to promoting lifestyle changes for people, and why we are partnering with Babylon Health to support their high-risk members managing chronic conditions.

Underpinning all our work is a deep commitment to make sure that we do not leave anyone behind. Technology has the power to eliminate health disparities and democratize access to healthcare. But we need to be intentional in our efforts to live up to our goal of improving the health of billions of people by building for everyone, everywhere.

Use Access Approvals to control data access during support or maintenance

What’s changing 

Today, we’re introducing Access Approvals, which builds on Access Transparency and Access Management. Access Approvals allows customers to explicitly approve or deny Google employees access to data during support and general maintenance. Access approvals will be rolling out over the course of the next several weeks.


We’ve designed our systems to limit the number of employees that have access to customer data and to actively monitor the activities of those employees. Access Approvals allows our customers to set up granular controls—at an organizational unit or admin group level—to require explicit permission for Google to access covered content for a limited time period.




Who’s impacted 

Admins 


Why it’s important 

Access Approvals provides admins granular control over how Google accesses that data when support requests are initiated or maintenance is being performed. Critically, this gives customers the ability to approve or decline access on individual requests. 


We know it’s essential that our customers have visibility and control over their systems and how they’re accessed by Google. This update, along with Sovereign Controls for Google Workspace, Client-side encryption, data regions, and Access Management capabilities, provide solutions for our customers to reach their digital sovereignty goals. 


Getting started 


Rollout pace 


Availability 

  • Access Approvals is part of Google Workspace Assured Controls, which is available as an add-on for Google Workspace Enterprise Plus customers only. For more information, contact your Google account representative. 

Resources 

Concentrate or disconnect with scheduled Do Not Disturb on Google Chat

What’s changing

In addition to setting a custom duration for “Do Not Disturb” in Google Chat, you can now set a recurring schedule so you are not disturbed by Chat notifications on web, Android, and iOS. 

This is useful when you want to mute notifications during your regular lunch break, or have “Do Not Disturb” set automatically over the weekend while away from your desk. We hope this feature enables you to better concentrate without Chat distractions or help you disconnect entirely from work when needed. 


Getting started 


Rollout pace 

Web: 
Android & iOS: 


Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers
  • Available to users with personal Google Accounts 


Resources 

Preparing for the Android Privacy Sandbox Beta

Posted by Anthony Chavez, VP Product ManagementIn February we announced the Privacy Sandbox on Android, with the goal of bringing new, more private advertising solutions to mobile.

Over the course of 2022, we've published design proposals and released a number of Developer Previews. We appreciate all of the feedback we've received which has helped us refine and improve these proposals.

Beginning early next year we plan to rollout the initial Privacy Sandbox Beta to Android 13 mobile devices, so that developers can take the next steps in testing these new solutions. We'll start with a small percentage of devices and increase over time. Note that Developer Previews will continue to be released and this is where we’ll first deliver the latest features for early feedback before being released on production devices.

Today, we're sharing more details about the Privacy Sandbox Beta so that developers can get prepared.


Enroll to access the Privacy-Preserving APIs

Starting with the Beta release, as well as future Developer Previews, developers will need to complete an enrollment process in order to utilize the ads-related APIs (including Topics, FLEDGE, and Attribution Reporting). The enrollment process will verify developer identity and gather developer-specific data needed by the APIs. You can learn more about how to enroll here.


How to participate

The Privacy Sandbox Beta will be available for ad tech and app developers who wish to test the ads-related APIs as part of their solutions.

During the initial rollout stages, enrolled developers will also need to join the early testers program. This program will allow developers to test the APIs on a limited number of their own Android 13 devices for internal apps and requested published apps.

For the SDK Runtime, we’ll have a closed beta for developers to test Runtime-enabled SDK distribution to select apps. Because of the coordination required to test the SDK Runtime on production devices, we expect this beta to involve a limited number of partners who can dedicate resources to support this testing. If you’re interested in participating, please register your interest.

To utilize the Beta release, developers will need to compile their solutions with an API level 33 SDK extension update that is coming soon.


Advice For Advertisers & Publishers

We’ve heard from many advertisers and publishers about the role they can play in testing these new technologies. For companies that rely on third party solutions for ad serving or ad measurement, we recommend working with your providers to understand their testing roadmaps and how you can participate in early testing of Privacy Sandbox.

We want to thank everyone who has engaged on the Android Privacy Sandbox, and look forward to continued feedback as we enter this next phase of testing."