Tag Archives: developers

Answering your FAQs about Google Play billing

We are committed to providing powerful tools and services to help developers build and grow their businesses while ensuring a safe, secure and seamless experience for users. Today we are addressing some of the most common themes we hear in feedback from developers. Below are a few frequently asked developer questions that we thought would also be helpful to address.

Q: Can I distribute my app via other Android app stores or through my website?

A: Yes, you can distribute your app however you like! As an open ecosystem, most Android devices come preinstalled with more than one store - and users can install others. Android provides developers the freedom and flexibility to distribute apps through other Android app stores, directly via websites, or device preloads, all without using Google Play’s billing system.

Q: What apps need to use Google Play's billing system?

A: All apps distributed on Google Play that are offering in-app purchases of digital goods need to use Google Play’s billing system. Our payments policy has always required this. Less than 3% of developers with apps on Play sold digital goods over the last 12 months, and of this 3%, the vast majority (nearly 97%) already use Google Play's billing. For those few developers that need to update their apps, they will have until September 30, 2021 to make those changes. New apps submitted after January 20, 2021 will need to be in compliance.

Q: Many businesses have needed to move their previously physical services online (e.g. digital live events). Will these apps need to use Google Play’s billing?

A: We recognize that the global pandemic has resulted in many businesses having to navigate the challenges of moving their physical business to digital and engaging customers in a new way, for example, moving in-person experiences and classes online. For the next 12 months, these businesses will not need to comply with our payments policy, and we will continue to reassess the situation over the next year. For developers undergoing these changes, we're eager to hear from you and work with you to help you reach new users and grow your online businesses, while enabling a consistent and safe user experience online.

Q: Do Google’s apps have to follow this policy too?

A: Yes. Google Play’s developer policies - including the requirement that apps use Google Play’s billing system for in-app purchases of digital goods - apply to all apps on Play, including Google’s own apps.

Q: Can I communicate with my users about alternate ways to pay?

A: Yes. Outside of your app you are free to communicate with them about alternative purchase options. You can use email marketing and other channels outside of the app to provide subscription offers and even special pricing.

Q: Can I communicate with my users about promotions on other platforms?

A: Of course. We're an app developer too, and we know how important it is not to restrict your ability to communicate with your users. You can email them or otherwise communicate outside of the app information about your offerings, even if they are different on Google Play than in other places.

Q: Can I have different app features, prices and experience depending on the platform?

A: Yes. It is your service and business, it is up to you. We do not require parity across platforms. You can create different versions of your app to support different platforms, features and pricing models.

Q: Can I offer a consumption-only (reader) app on Play?

A: Yes. Google Play allows any app to be consumption-only, even if it is part of a paid service. For example, a user could login when the app opens and the user could access content paid for somewhere else.

Q: Does your billing policy change depending on what category my app is in?

A: No. Business or consumer apps, and verticals like music or email are all treated the same on Google Play.

Q: Can I offer my customers refunds directly?

A: Yes. We understand the importance of maintaining the relationship with your customers. You can continue to issue refunds to your customers and other customer support directly.

Q: Will Google Play allow cloud gaming apps?

A: Yes. Cloud game streaming apps that comply with Play’s policies from any developer are welcome on Google Play.

For more examples and best practices for in-app purchases, visit this Play Academy course and watch this video.

Posted by Mrinalini Loew, Group Product Manager

Answering your FAQs about Google Play billing

We are committed to providing powerful tools and services to help developers build and grow their businesses while ensuring a safe, secure and seamless experience for users. Today we are addressing some of the most common themes we hear in feedback from developers. Below are a few frequently asked developer questions that we thought would also be helpful to address.

Q: Can I distribute my app via other Android app stores or through my website?

A: Yes, you can distribute your app however you like! As an open ecosystem, most Android devices come preinstalled with more than one store - and users can install others. Android provides developers the freedom and flexibility to distribute apps through other Android app stores, directly via websites, or device preloads, all without using Google Play’s billing system.

Q: What apps need to use Google Play's billing system?

A: All apps distributed on Google Play that are offering in-app purchases of digital goods need to use Google Play’s billing system. Our payments policy has always required this. Less than 3% of developers with apps on Play sold digital goods over the last 12 months, and of this 3%, the vast majority (nearly 97%) already use Google Play's billing. For those few developers that need to update their apps, they will have until September 30, 2021 to make those changes. New apps submitted after January 20, 2021 will need to be in compliance.

Q: Many businesses have needed to move their previously physical services online (e.g. digital live events). Will these apps need to use Google Play’s billing?

A: We recognize that the global pandemic has resulted in many businesses having to navigate the challenges of moving their physical business to digital and engaging customers in a new way, for example, moving in-person experiences and classes online. For the next 12 months, these businesses will not need to comply with our payments policy, and we will continue to reassess the situation over the next year. For developers undergoing these changes, we're eager to hear from you and work with you to help you reach new users and grow your online businesses, while enabling a consistent and safe user experience online.

Q: Do Google’s apps have to follow this policy too?

A: Yes. Google Play’s developer policies - including the requirement that apps use Google Play’s billing system for in-app purchases of digital goods - apply to all apps on Play, including Google’s own apps.

Q: Can I communicate with my users about alternate ways to pay?

A: Yes. Outside of your app you are free to communicate with them about alternative purchase options. You can use email marketing and other channels outside of the app to provide subscription offers and even special pricing.

Q: Can I communicate with my users about promotions on other platforms?

A: Of course. We're an app developer too, and we know how important it is not to restrict your ability to communicate with your users. You can email them or otherwise communicate outside of the app information about your offerings, even if they are different on Google Play than in other places.

Q: Can I have different app features, prices and experience depending on the platform?

A: Yes. It is your service and business, it is up to you. We do not require parity across platforms. You can create different versions of your app to support different platforms, features and pricing models.

Q: Can I offer a consumption-only (reader) app on Play?

A: Yes. Google Play allows any app to be consumption-only, even if it is part of a paid service. For example, a user could login when the app opens and the user could access content paid for somewhere else.

Q: Does your billing policy change depending on what category my app is in?

A: No. Business or consumer apps, and verticals like music or email are all treated the same on Google Play.

Q: Can I offer my customers refunds directly?

A: Yes. We understand the importance of maintaining the relationship with your customers. You can continue to issue refunds to your customers and other customer support directly.

Q: Will Google Play allow cloud gaming apps?

A: Yes. Cloud game streaming apps that comply with Play’s policies from any developer are welcome on Google Play.

For more examples and best practices for in-app purchases, visit this Play Academy course and watch this video.

Posted by Mrinalini Loew, Group Product Manager

Listening to developer feedback to improve Google Play

Developers are our partners and by pairing their creativity and innovation with our platforms and tools, together we create delightful experiences for billions of people around the world. Listening carefully to their feedback is an important part of how we continue to make Android better with each release and improve how mobile app stores work. In an April 2019 blog post we shared some updates we made to Android APIs and Play Policies based on developer feedback. And today, we wanted to share some additional insights we’ve gained from developer feedback and how we’re taking that input to improve Google Play and Android. Some of the key themes we’ve heard include:

  • Supporting developers’ ability to choose how they distribute their apps through multiple app stores on different platforms (mobile, PC, and console), each with their own business model competing in a healthy marketplace;

  • Clarifying our policies regarding who needs to use Google Play’s billing system and who does not;

  • Ensuring equal treatment for all apps, including first-party and third-party apps, on our platforms;

  • Allowing developers to connect and communicate directly with their customers;

  • Enabling innovation and ensuring our policies embrace new technologies that can help drive the consumer experience forward.

We’d like to share our perspective on each of these points.

Choice of stores

We believe that developers should have a choice in how they distribute their apps and that stores should compete for the consumer’s and the developer’s business. Choice has always been a core tenet of Android, and it’s why consumers have always had control over which apps they use, be it their keyboard, messaging app, phone dialer, or app store.

Android has always allowed people to get apps from multiple app stores. In fact, most Android devices ship with at least two app stores preinstalled, and consumers are able to install additional app stores. Each store is able to decide its own business model and consumer features. This openness means that even if a developer and Google do not agree on business terms the developer can still distribute on the Android platform. This is why Fortnite, for example, is available directly from Epic's store or from other app stores including Samsung's Galaxy App store.

That said, some developers have given us feedback on how we can make the user experience for installing another app store on their device even better. In response to that feedback, we will be making changes in Android 12 (next year’s Android release) to make it even easier for people to use other app stores on their devices while being careful not to compromise the safety measures Android has in place. We are designing all this now and look forward to sharing more in the future!

Clarity on billing policies

As we mentioned, each Android app store is able to decide its own business model and consumer features. For Google Play, users expect a safe, secure and seamless experience, and developers come to Play for powerful tools and services that help them build and grow their businesses. Our developer policies are designed to help us deliver on these expectations and Google Play's billing system is a cornerstone of our ongoing commitment. Consumers get the benefit of a trusted system that allows them to safely, securely, and seamlessly buy from developers worldwide. Google protects consumers’ payment info with multiple layers of security, using one of the world’s most advanced security infrastructures. For developers, Google Play’s billing system provides an easy way for billions of Android users to transact with them using their local, preferred method of payment.

We’ve always required developers who distribute their apps on Play to use Google Play’s billing system if they offer in-app purchases of digital goods, and pay a service fee from a percentage of the purchase. To be clear, this policy is only applicable to less than 3% of developers with apps on Google Play. We only collect a service fee if the developer charges users to download their app or they sell in-app digital items, and we think that is fair. Not only does this approach allow us to continuously reinvest in the platform, this business model aligns our success directly with the success of developers.

But we have heard feedback that our policy language could be more clear regarding which types of transactions require the use of Google Play’s billing system, and that the current language was causing confusion. We want to be sure our policies are clear and up to date so they can be applied consistently and fairly to all developers, and so we have clarified the language in our Payments Policy to be more explicit that all developers selling digital goods in their apps are required to use Google Play’s billing system.

Again, this isn’t new. This has always been the intention of this long standing policy and this clarification will not affect the vast majority of developers with apps on Google Play. Less than 3% of developers with apps on Play sold digital goods over the last 12 months, and of this 3%, the vast majority (nearly 97%) already use Google Play's billing. But for those who already have an app on Google Play that requires technical work to integrate our billing system, we do not want to unduly disrupt their roadmaps and are giving a year (until September 30, 2021) to complete any needed updates. And of course we will require Google’s apps that do not already use Google Play’s billing system to make the necessary updates as well.

Equal treatment

Our policies apply equally to all apps distributed on Google Play, including Google’s own apps. We use the same standards to decide which apps to promote on Google Play, whether they're third-party apps or our own apps. In fact, we regularly promote apps by Google’s competitors in our Editors Choice picks when they provide a great user experience. Similarly, our algorithms rank third-party apps and games using the same criteria as for ranking Google's own apps.

Communicating with customers

Developers have told us it is very important to be able to speak directly with their customers without significant restrictions. As app developers ourselves, we agree wholeheartedly and our policies have always allowed this.

That said, developers have asked whether they can communicate with their customers directly about pricing, offers, and alternative ways to pay beyond their app via email or other channels. To clarify, Google Play does not have any limitations here on this kind of communication outside of a developer’s app. For example, they might have an offering on another Android app store or through their website at a lower cost than on Google Play.

We understand the importance of maintaining the customer relationship. As such, we have also always allowed developers to issue refunds to their customers and provide other customer support directly.

Enabling innovation

Developers are coming up with cool things all the time. Using their feedback, we are always trying to adjust our approach to ensure that we continue to help enable new forms of innovation. For example, recent innovations in game streaming have generated new game experiences that are available on Google Play, including Microsoft’s recent launch of Xbox cloud gaming in the Xbox Game Pass Android app.

Keep the feedback coming

We really appreciate all the feedback we have received from our developer community and believe the Android ecosystem has never been a more exciting place to be.

It is exciting to see developers such as Duolingo, Truecaller, Hyperconnect, Any.do, and Viber be so successful and grow their business on Android and reach a diverse audience. These kinds of services delight consumers and we are thrilled to have built a platform that can support them.

We’ve also published some additional frequently asked developer questions here.

Posted by Sameer Samat, Vice President, Product Management

Listening to developer feedback to improve Google Play

Developers are our partners and by pairing their creativity and innovation with our platforms and tools, together we create delightful experiences for billions of people around the world. Listening carefully to their feedback is an important part of how we continue to make Android better with each release and improve how mobile app stores work. In an April 2019 blog post we shared some updates we made to Android APIs and Play Policies based on developer feedback. And today, we wanted to share some additional insights we’ve gained from developer feedback and how we’re taking that input to improve Google Play and Android. Some of the key themes we’ve heard include:

  • Supporting developers’ ability to choose how they distribute their apps through multiple app stores on different platforms (mobile, PC, and console), each with their own business model competing in a healthy marketplace;

  • Clarifying our policies regarding who needs to use Google Play’s billing system and who does not;

  • Ensuring equal treatment for all apps, including first-party and third-party apps, on our platforms;

  • Allowing developers to connect and communicate directly with their customers;

  • Enabling innovation and ensuring our policies embrace new technologies that can help drive the consumer experience forward.

We’d like to share our perspective on each of these points.

Choice of stores

We believe that developers should have a choice in how they distribute their apps and that stores should compete for the consumer’s and the developer’s business. Choice has always been a core tenet of Android, and it’s why consumers have always had control over which apps they use, be it their keyboard, messaging app, phone dialer, or app store.

Android has always allowed people to get apps from multiple app stores. In fact, most Android devices ship with at least two app stores preinstalled, and consumers are able to install additional app stores. Each store is able to decide its own business model and consumer features. This openness means that even if a developer and Google do not agree on business terms the developer can still distribute on the Android platform. This is why Fortnite, for example, is available directly from Epic's store or from other app stores including Samsung's Galaxy App store.

That said, some developers have given us feedback on how we can make the user experience for installing another app store on their device even better. In response to that feedback, we will be making changes in Android 12 (next year’s Android release) to make it even easier for people to use other app stores on their devices while being careful not to compromise the safety measures Android has in place. We are designing all this now and look forward to sharing more in the future!

Clarity on billing policies

As we mentioned, each Android app store is able to decide its own business model and consumer features. For Google Play, users expect a safe, secure and seamless experience, and developers come to Play for powerful tools and services that help them build and grow their businesses. Our developer policies are designed to help us deliver on these expectations and Google Play's billing system is a cornerstone of our ongoing commitment. Consumers get the benefit of a trusted system that allows them to safely, securely, and seamlessly buy from developers worldwide. Google protects consumers’ payment info with multiple layers of security, using one of the world’s most advanced security infrastructures. For developers, Google Play’s billing system provides an easy way for billions of Android users to transact with them using their local, preferred method of payment.

We’ve always required developers who distribute their apps on Play to use Google Play’s billing system if they offer in-app purchases of digital goods, and pay a service fee from a percentage of the purchase. To be clear, this policy is only applicable to less than 3% of developers with apps on Google Play. We only collect a service fee if the developer charges users to download their app or they sell in-app digital items, and we think that is fair. Not only does this approach allow us to continuously reinvest in the platform, this business model aligns our success directly with the success of developers.

But we have heard feedback that our policy language could be more clear regarding which types of transactions require the use of Google Play’s billing system, and that the current language was causing confusion. We want to be sure our policies are clear and up to date so they can be applied consistently and fairly to all developers, and so we have clarified the language in our Payments Policy to be more explicit that all developers selling digital goods in their apps are required to use Google Play’s billing system.

Again, this isn’t new. This has always been the intention of this long standing policy and this clarification will not affect the vast majority of developers with apps on Google Play. Less than 3% of developers with apps on Play sold digital goods over the last 12 months, and of this 3%, the vast majority (nearly 97%) already use Google Play's billing. But for those who already have an app on Google Play that requires technical work to integrate our billing system, we do not want to unduly disrupt their roadmaps and are giving a year (until September 30, 2021) to complete any needed updates. And of course we will require Google’s apps that do not already use Google Play’s billing system to make the necessary updates as well.

Equal treatment

Our policies apply equally to all apps distributed on Google Play, including Google’s own apps. We use the same standards to decide which apps to promote on Google Play, whether they're third-party apps or our own apps. In fact, we regularly promote apps by Google’s competitors in our Editors Choice picks when they provide a great user experience. Similarly, our algorithms rank third-party apps and games using the same criteria as for ranking Google's own apps.

Communicating with customers

Developers have told us it is very important to be able to speak directly with their customers without significant restrictions. As app developers ourselves, we agree wholeheartedly and our policies have always allowed this.

That said, developers have asked whether they can communicate with their customers directly about pricing, offers, and alternative ways to pay beyond their app via email or other channels. To clarify, Google Play does not have any limitations here on this kind of communication outside of a developer’s app. For example, they might have an offering on another Android app store or through their website at a lower cost than on Google Play.

We understand the importance of maintaining the customer relationship. As such, we have also always allowed developers to issue refunds to their customers and provide other customer support directly.

Enabling innovation

Developers are coming up with cool things all the time. Using their feedback, we are always trying to adjust our approach to ensure that we continue to help enable new forms of innovation. For example, recent innovations in game streaming have generated new game experiences that are available on Google Play, including Microsoft’s recent launch of Xbox cloud gaming in the Xbox Game Pass Android app.

Keep the feedback coming

We really appreciate all the feedback we have received from our developer community and believe the Android ecosystem has never been a more exciting place to be.

It is exciting to see developers such as Duolingo, Truecaller, Hyperconnect, Any.do, and Viber be so successful and grow their business on Android and reach a diverse audience. These kinds of services delight consumers and we are thrilled to have built a platform that can support them.

We’ve also published some additional frequently asked developer questions here.

Posted by Sameer Samat, Vice President, Product Management

Understanding our Play gambling policies in India

Google Play is designed to provide a safe and secure experience for our consumers while also giving developers the platform and tools they need to build sustainable businesses. Our global policies have always been designed with that goal in mind, considering the good of all our stakeholders. 


We have the same goals for our gambling policy. We don’t allow online casinos or support any unregulated gambling apps that facilitate sports betting. This includes if an app leads consumers to an external website that allows them to participate in paid tournaments to win real money or cash prizes, it is a violation of our policies. 


We have these policies to protect users from potential harm. When an app violates these policies, we notify the developer of the violation and remove the app from Google Play until the developer brings the app into compliance. And in the case where there are repeated policy violations, we may take more serious action which may include terminating Google Play Developer accounts. Our policies are applied and enforced on all developers consistently.


We actively engage with our developer community for feedback while we define and refine our policies. Together, we will continue to create a safe and secure mobile app ecosystem for everyone. For more details on our policies, please take a look at our policy page which provides more details on the types of content in which regions are permitted.


Posted by Suzanne Frey, Vice President, Product, Android Security and Privacy

Kubernetes engineers keep your favorite software running

In Greek, the word "kubernetes" means "helmsman." In tech, it's a system created by Google that uses containers to help software work more efficiently with the server space it has. Just as someone helms a container ship, Kubernetes makes sure everything gets where it's supposed to be.

Containers are systems that have everything needed to run a piece of software: the code, the dependencies, and on and on. Companies build their products using containers so they’re standardized, whether it runs in the cloud or in a physical data center. Kubernetes manages the workloads and services associated with containers, so software efficiently uses server space. Kubernetes, which Google donated to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation, is now one of the most active open-source projects ever. Google remains the top contributor for the project, including leadership and committee positions. 

Aug. 26 marks the five-year anniversary of Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), our managed version of open-source Kubernetes, becoming available to everyone. GKE engineers contribute beyond Google Cloud to the Kubernetes community at large. Here, three of those engineers—Michelle Au, Janet Kuo and Purvi Desai—explain why Kubernetes is so important, and how it’s used in the real world. 

Google Kubernetes Engine turns five this year. How would you explain Kubernetes to a five-year-old?

Michelle Au:Kubernetes is a tool that helps many of your favorite games and websites run without problems, even when all your friends want to play at the same time. It makes sure that there are enough computers running to support everyone using them, they are restarted if they crash and that they update without problems.

Janet Kuo:Think of containers as plants. To grow a plant, you need to first find some pots, and then fill the pots with seeds and compost. Let’s say you have all the plants in one pot and there’s not enough compost in that pot. Then you need to move them to other pots. Kubernetes is like a gardener that helps you take care of your plants, check the compost levels of each pot, check the health of your plants, remove dead plants or transplant them when needed. Kubernetes can also grow more or less of certain kinds of plants (“I want at least two roses and at most 10 roses at all times”) based on your preferences. 

Purvi Desai:Imagine a child wants to build a huge city out of Legos. Deciding which Lego blocks needed would take significant time and hard work. Now imagine instead, the child vaguely describes the idea of the city, along with shapes and colors, to their mom. Mom buys Lego kits and builds them for the child. She also works with them every day to add more buildings, so the child can spend more time playing rather than working. Think of Kuberentes as the mom, applications that you use on your computer or tablet as the Legos and the child as the application developer.

And how would you describe your role in GKE to a five-year-old?

Michelle:As a software engineer on the storage team, I write computer programs that make sure your important information is safely stored in Kubernetes.

Janet:I’m the Kubernetes project maintainer. I review code, fix bugs and implement new features. I also build products and tools on top of Kubernetes. You can think of those products as equipment Kubernetes uses to do fancier work. 

Purvi: I’m a senior manager in GKE and Kubernetes development team. My teams build the plumbing or roadways, aka the networking, for Kubernetes. We do the heavy lifting for our customers. 

Why is Kubernetes so important?

Janet:In a world where customers need access to software—regardless of their location—Kubernetes allows applications to run at global scale. Another benefit of Kubernetes is that it runs anywhere, so you can move your applications around. Kubernetes also allows you to customize and manage any resources you want, even the ones that live outside of Kubernetes, using the Kubernetes APIs. 

Michelle:Kubernetes makes it easier for users to adopt good practices for running applications. It provides basic building blocks for scaling workloads, monitoring their health and updating them. This enables teams to develop, roll out and test their applications faster—making those applications more reliable and dynamically scalable. Kubernetes took off because it’s portable across any infrastructure provider and flexible to extend it with custom APIs. 

Purvi: Kubenetes enables you to run cloud native applications anywhere consistently on various platforms. It’s become massively popular not only with developers of modern cloud native microservices applications but also with developers looking to move their traditional applications to a platform that isn’t dependent on the underlying infrastructure. It’s enabled developers and operators alike to run their test and production workloads in environments of their choice without needing to rewire the application. This will continue as more businesses become digital. 

What are some real-life applications of GKE? Tell us a story of a favorite customer use case.

Janet:One of my favorite customer use cases is Shopify. Shopify runs entirely on GKE. They chose GKE and Kubernetes because it allows Shopify to cope with huge spikes in traffic, such as Cyber Monday, Black Friday shopping events or when a celebrity shares a new product on their Shopify store. 

Michelle: I love hearing how GKE enables customers to push the limits of computing. My favorite customer story is this Kubecon keynote by CERN that included a live demo on GKE processing 70TB of data in five minutes to rediscover the Higgs boson. This was impressive not only because of the scientific achievement and processing power demonstrated, but also because they highlighted the portability of Kubernetes and the reproducible environment of containers. 

Purvi: My favorite use cases are when customers have successful massive-hyper growth in a matter of minutes and GKE helps them scale to those demands. We see amazing graphs during launch of new online games, Black Fridays, flash sales, during live events like the Super Bowl, when customers migrate traffic and during customers’ new product launches. It’s so satisfying to see our customers’ business growth and our platform’s role in seamlessly enabling it.

What has your experience been like as a woman in software development? What do you think the future will be like for women in the field?

Janet:A few years ago, I went to a developer meetup with a woman friend of mine who had never been to one before. She was surprised that we were the only two women there, but I didn’t even notice because I was so used to being outnumbered. Luckily, our industry is becoming increasingly diverse over time. 

Michelle: In college, I was part of a women’s engineering community where I established many long-lasting friendships. On the GKE team, I’ve been able to work with many great women leaders, and the leadership in general has been very supportive and accommodating to make sure everyone feels safe and comfortable on the team. I know that my experience is unfortunately not the norm for a lot of women in the field. I hope that with more women role models and leaders, we can help build inclusive communities and encourage more women to take up a career in software. 

Purvi: When I joined a startup straight out of college, I was the only woman in the engineering and product group. But thanks to my upbringing and deep focus on my work, I never felt out of place in the field. I did, however, feel the pinch later at a different startup job when I had my kid and I was the first mother on the team. The company didn’t have support systems like paid leave or a mother’s room. Overall, things are getting better with more women in the field. I think the future for women in software development is bright.  

What’s your advice for aspiring developers who want to get started?

Michelle:It’s important to spend time learning about computer science concepts rather than deep-diving into specific technologies. The latest frameworks and programming languages will come and go, so it will be easier to adapt and learn if you have a good conceptual background.

Janet: Be hands on. Build something from what you’ve learned, and don’t worry if it’s “good enough.” Write articles about what you’re building or learning. This helps you grow and deepens your understanding of a new technology. 

Purvi: Find your passion or interest and explore how computer science can help you realize it. You have to lay the groundwork by learning programming languages, algorithms, data structures and such. This might get boring and tough, but these are fundamental skills just like reading or math. Once the groundwork is laid, the ability to turn your passion into reality will be exhilarating. 

Learn more about how to develop using Kubernetes. 


Helping the Haitian economy, one line of code at a time

Posted by Jennifer Kohl, Program Manager, Developer Community Programs

Picture

Eustache Luckens Yadley at a GDG Port-au-Prince meetup

Meet Eustache Luckens Yadley, or “Yadley” for short. As a web developer from Port-au-Prince, Yadley has spent his career building web applications that benefit the local Haitian economy. Whether it’s ecommerce platforms that bring local sellers to market or software tools that help local businesses operate more effectively, Yadley has always been there with a technical hand to lend.

However, Yadley has also spent his career watching Haiti’s unemployment numbers rise to among the highest in the Caribbean. As he describes it,


“Every day, several thousand young people have no job to get by.”


So with code in mind and mouse in hand, Yadley got right to work. His first step was to identify a need in the economy. He soon figured out that Haiti had a shortage of delivery methods for consumers, making home delivery purchases of any kind extremely unreliable. With this observation, Yadley also noticed that there was a surplus of workers willing to deliver the goods, but no infrastructure to align their needs with that of the market’s.

picture

Yadley watching a demo at a GDG Port-au-Prince meetup

In this moment, Yadley did what many good developers would do: build an app. He created the framework for what is now called “Livrezonpam,” an application that allows companies to post where and when they need a particular product delivered and workers to find the corresponding delivery jobs closest to them.

With a brilliant solution, Yadley’s last step was to find the right technical tools to build the concept out and make it a viable platform that users could work with to their benefit.

It was at this crucial step when Yadley found the Port-au-Prince Google Developer Group. With GDG Port-au-Prince, Yadley was able to bring his young app right into the developer community, run different demos of his product to experienced users, and get feedback from a wide array of developers with an intimate knowledge of the Haitian tech scene. The takeaways from working in the community translated directly to his work. Yadley learned how to build with the Google Cloud Platform Essentials, which proved key in managing all the data his app now collects. He also learned how to get the Google Maps Platform API working for his app, creating a streamlined user experience that helped workers and companies in Haiti locate one another with precision and ease.

picture

This wide array of community technical resources, from trainings, to mentors, to helpful friends, allowed Yadley to grow his knowledge of several Google technologies, which in turn allowed him to grow his app for the Haitian community.

Today, Yadley is still an active member of the GDG community, growing his skills and those of the many friends around him. And at the same time, he is still growing Librezonpam on the Google Play App Store to help local businesses reach their customers and bring more jobs directly to the people of Haiti.


Ready to start building with a Google Developer Group near you? Find the closest community to you, here.

How Nikiya Simpson brought meaning to her work

In 2009, Nikiya Simpson was dealing with burnout. She’d been working in data processing at a tech company for six years but recently found herself wanting “something more meaningful.” “I felt like the long nights and weekends, the overtime and stress, didn’t contribute to making anyone’s life better,” Nikiya says. “Especially my own.” 

Nikiya decided to leave her job in tech and pivot toward a career in academic research, beginning work at the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences College of Public Health. “I built a web-based application that disseminated county-level health data for the state of Arkansas,” she says. That led to more work creating systems for public health and institutional research. Today, she still supports that very first project, as well as works on creating new web and mobile applications focused on digital health and access for people in underserved areas. 

Nikiya is also a Women Techmakers Ambassador in her town of Little Rock, Arkansas. Women Techmakers is a Google-created community that works to promote the visibility and opportunities for women in tech. I recently caught up with Nikiya to learn more about her career in making public-facing tech applications, as well as how Women Techmakers has helped her find community. 


What do you get out of the Women Techmakers community?

I feel so empowered, included and supported as part of Women Techmakers. Everyone deserves to be valued and heard and to have access to opportunities that help us grow as developers or any industry. The group gives us amazing tools to be able to uplift women and support them in their careers. There’s something about being part of a community that helps you when you feel like giving up; that encourages you to keep going.

Community organizing takes a lot of effort. It means reaching out to people who tell you “no” sometimes. Starting a community like this is an incredible experience in teaching, leadership, perseverance and organization. I learn a lot. Not just about tech, but also about people and how to figure out what the community needs. 

What inspired you to enter the public health space?

I want to be a technologist for social good. I get to work with students, epidemiologists, data scientists, researchers and clinicians with different areas of expertise and different areas of research and be a part of their amazing work. I believe the pandemic has shown us the importance of looking out for others. I’m hopeful that by combining my love for education, science and technology, I can be a part of making our community better.

What is the tech industry in Little Rock like?

There’s a lot of opportunity for tech here, although many may not realize this at first. Major employers like Walmart, Sam's Club and Tyson Foods are located here. There’s also a small tech community in the central area around Little Rock, as well as a few startups.

There are a lot of misconceptions about the tech industry. What do you wish more people knew?

Sometimes when we think about tech, we think about “big tech.” I’m challenging myself and others to think about how we can use tech in traditionally non-tech spaces. I ask myself, how can we use tech to improve education, fair housing, healthcare? To reduce poverty, prejudice and racial injustice? 

Do you have any advice for other women in tech?

As a woman, it has been a lot to juggle a career, raise a family, pursue more education and take care of myself. My call to action is to show yourself some grace. Be kind to yourself, too. There are days when it’s not all going to get done. You will probably drop a ball or two. It’s OK. 


It’s Music Week on Inside Guide

This summer is a weird one. The season known for long days, beaches and cross-country road trips has moved indoors, where a lot of us are spending more time hanging out at home with our families. In this alt-version of summer, people are searching for new ways to spend their time—and we’d like to help.

Since 2009, we’ve been building a series of small applications that test the limits of what’s possible using new web and mobile technologies. We call them “Experiments,” and we built them to challenge ourselves, inspire the broader developer community and help everyone have the chance to learn, investigate their universe and have a little fun.

We’ve decided to bring together some of our favorite experiments, games and activities in the newly-launched Inside Guide—which is organized by themes like Art, Nature, Culture and this week’s focus, Music. You can explore how music works with the Chrome Music Lab. Then take it to the next level and make music just by moving your body with Body Synth, or invite your friends to play live music with you on the web with the Shared Piano—one of our favorites.

Shared Piano is a new tool for remote music teaching and collaboration that lets you play together live. You can play on MIDI or computer keyboards with up to 10 people at once. You don’t need to login or install anything. Just send a link and start playing together. We’ve gotten great feedback from music teachers and friends using it to play music together, and we hope to continue evolving it based on feedback.

In the coming weeks we’ll be highlighting more experiments as well as a few ideas on how to use them.

Play word guessing games with the machine

Quick Draw is an experiment where you are given a word like “snowflake,” “swan” or “bear” and asked to sketch it. A neural network powered by machine learning will then try to guess what you’re drawing. Think Pictionary on game night if one of your friends was a computer. Of course, it doesn’t always work. But the more you play with it, the more it will learn.

Text like an (ancient) Egyptian

For centuries, from epigraphy pioneer Georg Fabricius to The Bangles, hieroglyphics have prodded our curiosity. We thought we’d take a swing at decoding them. Check out Fabricius, a new Lab Experiment from Google Arts & Culture that uses machine learning to help experts decode the stories of ancient Egypt. Today, you can use this technology to send your friends coded messages in hieroglyphs, the emojis of ancient Egypt.

Take a virtual vacation to Mars

The Curiosity rover landed on Mars on August 5, 2012, and today you can take that trip through an immersive web experience called Access Mars. Access Mars features some of the most important locations from the mission, key points of interest, and narration from NASA JPL Mission Scientist Katie Stack. Start exploring Mars today.

These are just a few of the experiments, activities and games you’ll find in the Inside Guide. Since the pandemic started, we’ve noticed a major uptick in traffic from people looking for ways to learn about the world and have a little fun while they’re staying home. They’re learning more about 100 historic American women through Notable Women (and seeing them on U.S. currency), and joining friends at Puzzle Party, an experiment which lets you reconstruct some of the world’s greatest works, from Japanese master Hokusai’s The Great Wave off Kanagawa to Andy Warhol’s portrait of Gracy Kelly.

Check out these experiments at g.co/insideguide.

The Indie Game Festival announces its nine winners

The talent of independent and small game developers shines this year at Google Play’s Indie Games Festival,a celebration of the creativity of game developers. We received hundreds of submissions for the three competitions in Europe, Japan and South Korea. This year’s winning games have something for everyone, from a food-themed puzzle game with cats to a Mars Survival Project. Join us in congratulating the developers and trying out their games!

Europe

Indie Games Festival winners - Europe

Cookies Must Die by Rebel Twins, Poland: This husband and wife duo knocked it out of the park with this fun, frenzied and humorous game. It has lovely animations and engaging mechanics that will entertain whether you want to play for five minutes or five hours. 

inbento by Afterburn, Poland: Eating lunch at the office inspired the concept for this family-friendly game, which is available in 17 languages. Preparing a bento lunch is serious business, and these adorable cats are here to teach you the ropes with charming yet challenging puzzles. 

The White Door by Rusty Lake, Netherlands: The latest game from this two-man team is inspired by a real-life story. They impressed the jury with this  unique comic strip point-and-click adventure, set in the world of the phenomenal Cube Escape and Rusty Lake series.

Japan

Indie Games Festival winners - Japan

GIGAFALL by Shiki Game Studio: Great game for lovers of b-bit graphics and retro style where you can control the satellite lasers that orbit the Earth and destroy meteorites,

METBOY!  by REBUILD GAMES: This action game has a retro style with a catchy soundtrack for those who miss old game consoles.

Wasurenaide, otona ni natte mo by GAGEX Co.,Ltd: This cinematic adventure game in Minecraft style follows a boy who is looking for his father.

Korea

Indie Games Festival winners - Korea

Heroes Restaurant by Team Tapas: If you ever dreamed of running a restaurant and fighting with a big squid at the same time, then this game is  for you. It’s an interesting mix of catchy RPG mechanics and anime style art.

Magic Survival by LEME: A casual game where you can survive by defeating spirits in a 21st century magical civilization.

Project Mars by Moontm: An unusual game for those who aspire to colonize Mars, become a part of the space expedition and help to make the red planet a place where people can live. 

Check out the remaining Top 10 for Europe, Japan and South Korea. Winning developers receive prize packages designed to help them grow their business on Android and Google Play. Prizes include promotions on the Google Play Store, consultations with members of the Google Play team, Google hardware, and extra promotion campaigns.