Google released a new cross-device software development kit (SDK). According to the business, the development kit includes the resources developers need to create Android-compatible apps to bring android apps to non-android devices. With the help of this kit, the apps will test to ensure they run smoothly on various Android devices and, eventually, on non-Android smartphones, tablets, TVs, vehicles, etc. Three essential things should be possible for android app developers to accomplish with the cross-device SDK. Discover nearby devices, creating safe connections between devices, and hosting the app’s experience across several devices are the three things.
The cross-device software is available via a developer preview for Android smartphones and tablets. Up to version 8 of Android are compatible. The app will eventually be accessible for operating systems other than Android and for Android phones. The cross-device SDK software, according to Google, would give developers more alternatives for their apps and help them bring android apps to non-android devices. These apps will be able to locate nearby devices first. Additionally, they will be able to connect secure devices together. The SDK software, according to Google, enables multi-device communication across WiFi, Bluetooth, and ultra-wideband.
Google’s cross-device SDK is with various use cases on its documentation page, and it appears that it is helpful in a variety of circumstances. If it allowed many users on separate devices to choose products from a menu while placing a group dinner order, you wouldn’t have to pass your phone around the room. It can also enable you to pick up where you left off reading an article while moving from your phone to a tablet, and it may even allow passengers in a car to share a specific map location with the navigation system.
By using this new feature, consumers can pick up an article where they left off even while switching between phones and tablets. Additionally, this toolkit may enable the car’s occupants to communicate a specific map point with the navigation system.
All of this seems like a significant expansion of Android’s AirDrop-but-slightly-worse Nearby Share technology, The Verge notes. If Google is successful in bringing the cross-device capabilities to iOS as planned, that might make Nearby Share a far more valuable tool. Google stated that it wanted to add iOS and Windows to its cross-device capabilities, but it didn’t say when this would happen.
The SDK is undoubtedly still in its infancy but seems quite promising. What Google and app developers do with the SDK will be intriguing to see. We can only hope that something positive comes of it and that it isn’t yet another feature that only works with Android smartphones made by Google.
