Devfest Nyeri Keynote: What's New In Android

Slides for the What's New In Android Keynote at Devfest Nyeri where Brian Odhiambo and I shared the following announcements
- Android 15 focuses on user experience, technical quality, and privacy & security. It introduces Predictive Back, Edge-to-Edge display, and Jetpack Glance 1.1 for improved user experience and app development.
- The presentation also highlights the use of Credential Manager and passkeys for a unified and secure sign-in experience.
- Google Play SDK Console is now open to all SDK owners for better SDK management and insights.
- The presentation concludes with predictions for the future of Android, emphasizing more premium devices, battery restrictions, privacy and security measures, device connections, and AI integration

Transcript

1. What’s new in Android Harun Wangerka & Brian Odhiambo
2. Android 15 • User experience • Technical quality • Privacy & Security
3. Predictive Back system animations visible to users starting in Android 15 for apps that have migrated to Predictive Back • Back-to-home • Cross-activity • Cross-task Topic: Predictive Back
4. Edge-to-edge. targetSdk=35 on Android 15. Manually adjusted Status Bar icon colors and handled insets. Not edge-to-edge. targetSdk=34 on Android 15. Topic: Edge-to-Edge Target SDK 35+ apps draw edge-to-edge on Android 15+ devices
5. Jetpack Glance 1.1 is now stable across Phone, Tablet, Foldables Adaptive Supports users theming choice Customizable WIP Users can interact with your content outside your app Interactive Topic: Widgets
6. Add Generative AI to your Android app with the Gemini API Topic: AI
7. Improved multitasking For large screen devices • Saved app pairs • Taskbar pinning
8. Unified sign in with Credential Manager
9. New: Single-tap sign-in experience Before: 2 taps After: 1 tap
10. Wear OS support Authenticate using passkeys, passwords, or sign in with Google right from your watch. Available in a Wear OS 5 Quarterly Platform Release. Comes with support for 3rd party credentials providers like Dashlane.
13. SDK guidance in Android Studio
14. Get warnings about non-compliant versions
15. 120+ SDK providers integrated
16. Now open to all SDK owners
17. g.co/play/sdkconsole
18. Make sure apps work with as little access to user data as possible, while providing the most secure environment for apps. More privacy and security restrictions With longer support windows, more users are opting for premium devices than ever, with better displays, cameras, CPUs, and GPUs, so look into supporting new hardware sooner than later. More premium devices Users are demanding longer battery life, and Android is responding by making sure apps run in the background more intentionally and purposefully. More battery restrictions Including tablets, ChromeOS devices, and foldables. Make sure your apps can adapt. More large-screened devices Make sure that users benefit from owning more device form factors. More device connections Predictions for the future AI is going to change the way we use all of our computing devices, so it's time to experiment with ways your users can benefit. More AI
19. Thank you Harun Wangerka & Brian Odhiambo