Posted by Suzanne Frey – VP, Product, Trust & Growth for Android & Play
Knowing that you’re building on a safe, secure ecosystem is essential for any app developer. We continuously invest in protecting Android and Google Play, so millions of users around the world can trust the apps they download and you can build thriving businesses. And we’re dedicated to continually improving our developer tools to make world–class security even easier to implement.
Together, we’ve made Google Play one of the safest and most secure platforms for developers and users. Our partnership over the past few years includes helping you:
Today, we’re excited to share more about how we’re making it easier than ever for developers to build safe apps, while also continuing to strengthen our ecosystem’s protection in 2025 and beyond.
Making it easier for you to build safer apps from the start
Google Play’s policies are a critical component of ensuring a safe experience for our shared users. Play Console pre-review checks are a great way to resolve certain policy and compatibility issues before you submit your app for review. We recently added the ability to check privacy policy links and login credential requirements, and we’re launching even more pre-review checks this year to help you avoid common policy pitfalls.
To help you avoid policy complications before you submit apps for review, we’ve been notifying you earlier about certain policies relevant to your apps – starting right as you code in Android Studio. We currently notify developers through Android Studio about a few key policy areas, but this year we’ll expand to a much wider range of policies.
Providing more policy support
Acting on your feedback, we’ve improved our policy experience to give you clearer updates, more time for substantial changes, more flexible requirements while still maintaining safety standards, and more helpful information with live Q&A’s. Soon, we’ll be trying a new way of communicating with you in Play Console so you get information when you need it most. This year, we’re investing in even more ways to get your feedback, help you understand our policies, navigate our Policy Center, and help to fix issues before app submission through new features in Console and Android Studio.
We’re also expanding our popular Google Play Developer Help Community, which saw 2.7 million visits last year from developers looking to find answers to policy questions, share knowledge, and connect with fellow developers. This year, we’re planning to expand the community to include more languages, such as Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, and Portuguese.
Protecting your business and users from scams and attacks
The Play Integrity API is an essential tool to help protect your business from abuse such as fraud, bots, cheating, and data theft. Developers are already using our new app access risk feature in Play Integrity API to make over 500M daily checks for potentially fraudulent or risky behavior. In fact, apps that use Play Integrity features to detect suspicious activity are seeing an 80% drop in unauthorized usage on average compared to other apps.
This year, we’ll continue to enhance the Play Integrity API with stronger protection for even more users. We recently improved the technology that powers the API on all devices running Android 13 (API level 33) and above, making it faster, more reliable, and more private for users. We also launched enhanced security signals to help you decide how much you trust the environment your app is running in, which we’ll automatically roll out to all developers who use the API in May. You can opt in now to start using the improved verdicts today.
We’ll be adding new features later this year to help you deal with emerging threats, such as the ability to re-identify abusive and risky devices in a way that also preserves user privacy. We’re also buildingmoretools to help you guide users to fix issues, like if they need a security update or they’re using a tampered version of your app.
Providing additional validation for your app
For apps in select categories, we offer badges that provide an extra layer of validation and connect users with safe, high-quality, and useful experiences. Building on the work of last year’s “Government” badge, which helps users identify official government apps, this year we introduced a “Verified” badge to help users discover VPN apps that take extra steps to demonstrate their commitment to security. We’ll continue to expand on this and add badges to more app categories in the future.
Partnering to keep kids safe
Whether your app is specifically designed for kids or simply attracts their attention, there is an added responsibility to ensure a safe and trusted experience. We want to partner with you to keep kids and teens safe online, and protect their privacy, and empower families. In addition to Google Play’s Teacher Approved program, Families policies, and tools like Restrict Declared Minors setting within the Google Play Console, we’re building tools like Credential Manager API, now in Beta for Digital IDs.
Strengthening the Android ecosystem
In addition to helping developers build stronger, safer apps on Google Play, we remain committed to protecting the broader Android ecosystem. Last year, our investments in stronger privacy policies, AI-powered threat detection and other security measures prevented 2.36 million policy-violating apps from being published on Google Play. By contrast, our most recent analysis found over 50 times more Android malware from Internet-sideloaded sources (like browsers and messaging apps) than on Google Play. This year we’re working on ways to make it even harder for malicious actors to hide or trick users into harmful installs, which will not only protect your business from fraud but also help users download your apps with confidence.
Meanwhile, Google Play Protect is always evolving to combat new threats and protect users from harmful apps that can lead to scams and fraud. As this is a core part of user safety, we’re doing more to keep users from being socially-engineered by scammers to turn this off. First, Google Play Protect live threat detection is expanding its protection to target malicious applications that try to impersonate financial apps. And our enhanced financial fraud protection pilot has continued to expand after a successful launch in select countries where we saw malware based financial fraud coming from Internet-sideloaded sources. We are planning to expand the pilot throughout this year to additional countries where we have seen higher levels of malware-based financial fraud.
We’re even working with other leaders across the industry to protect all users, no matter what device they use or where they download their apps. As a founding member of the App Defense Alliance, we’re working to establish and promote industry-wide security standards for mobile and web applications, as well as cloud configurations. Recently, the ADA launched Application Security Assessments (ASA) v1.0, which provides clear guidance to developers on protecting sensitive data and defending against cyber attacks to strengthen user trust.
What’s next
Please keep the feedback coming! We appreciate knowing what can make our developers’ experiences more efficient while ensuring we maintain the highest standards in app safety. Thank you for your continued partnership in making Android and Google Play a safe, thriving platform for everyone.
In the first full-length episode of this season, we go back to basics as Senior iOS Dev Mani Ramezan takes us through, step by step, how to come up to speed on a large code base. Whether you’re just starting a new role or beginning to contribute to a new open source project, listen along to learn some useful tips.
Interested in sponsoring a podcast episode? Check out our Advertise With Kodeco page to find out how!
Show Notes
Tune in as Mani, Suz, Jenn and Dru start off talking about how to read a code base and venture off into a bevy of advice for newer devs. Listen all the way to the end to learn what Mani thinks human developers, even brand new ones, can do that AI that cannot.
Some highlights:
Start with a bug, so you have a meaningful goal to guide your exploration.
Struggling at step one: setting up the build environment? Improve the process, then document for the next dev.
It’s OK to not know all the things. Start by treating each library as a black box. Wait to learn it until you need to.
Mentioned in This Episode
Look at Jenn’s Debugging Buddy!
Have fun with rubber duck debugging!
Have fun with rubber duck debugging!
Contact Mani and the Hosts
Follow Kodeco
Where to Go From Here?
We hope you enjoyed this episode of our podcast. Be sure to subscribe in Apple Podcasts or Spotify to get notified when the next episode comes out.
Hoping to learn more about a particular aspect of mobile development or life and work as a dev? Please write in and tell us and we’ll do our best to make that happen! Write in too if you yourself would like to be a guest or your have a particular guest request and we’ll see what we can do. Drop a comment here, or email us anytime at podcast@teamkodeco.com.
This release includes a host of bug fixes, performance improvements and new features. Read on to find out more, and as always please check out the full release notes for a comprehensive overview of changes in this release.
Playback, MediaSession and UI
ExoPlayer now supports HLS interstitials for ad insertion in HLS streams. To play these ads using ExoPlayer’s built-in playlist support, pass an HlsInterstitialsAdsLoader.AdsMediaSourceFactory as the media source factory when creating the player. For more information see the official documentation.
This release also includes experimental support for ‘pre-warming’ decoders. Without pre-warming, transitions from one playlist item to the next may not be seamless in some cases, for example, we may need to switch codecs, or decode some video frames to reach the start position of the new media item. With pre-warming enabled, a secondary video renderer can start decoding the new media item earlier, giving near-seamless transitions. You can try this feature out by enabling it on the DefaultRenderersFactory. We’re actively working on further improvements to the way we interact with decoders, including adding a ‘fast seeking mode’ so stay tuned for updates in this area.
Media3 1.6.0 introduces a new media3-ui-compose module that contains functionality for building Compose UIs for playback. You can find a reference implementation in the Media3 Compose demo and learn more in Getting started with Compose-based UI. At this point we’re providing a first set of foundational state classes that link to the Player, in addition to some basic composable building blocks. You can use these to build your own customized UI widgets. We plan to publish default Material-themed composables in a later release.
Some other improvements in this release include: moving system calls off the application’s main thread to the background (which should reduce ANRs), a new decoder module wrapping libmpegh (for bundling object-based audio decoding in your app), and a fix for the Cast extension for apps targeting API 34+. There are also fixes across MPEG-TS and WebVTT extraction, DRM, downloading/caching, MediaSession and more.
Media extraction and frame retrieval
The new MediaExtractorCompat is a drop-in replacement for the framework MediaExtractor but implemented using Media3’s extractors. If you’re using the Android framework MediaExtractor, consider migrating to get consistent behavior across devices and reduce crashes.
We’ve also added experimental support for retrieving video frames in a new class ExperimentalFrameExtractor, which can act as a replacement for the MediaMetadataRetriever getFrameAtTime methods. There are a few benefits over the framework implementation: HDR input is supported (by default tonemapping down to SDR, but with the option to produce HLG bitmaps from Android 14 onwards), Media3 effects can be applied (including Presentation to scale the output to a desired size) and it runs faster on some devices due to moving color space conversion to the GPU. Here’s an example of using the new API:
val bitmap =
withContext(Dispatchers.IO) {
val configuration =
ExperimentalFrameExtractor.Configuration
.Builder()
.setExtractHdrFrames(true)
.build()
val frameExtractor =
ExperimentalFrameExtractor(
context,
configuration,
)
frameExtractor.setMediaItem(mediaItem, /*effects*/ listOf())
val frame = frameExtractor.getFrame(timestamps).await()
frameExtractor.release()
frame.bitmap
}
Editing, transcoding and export
Media3 1.6.0 includes performance, stability and functional improvements in Transformer. Highlights include: support for transcoding/transmuxing Dolby Vision streams on devices that support this format and a new MediaProjectionAssetLoader for recording from the screen, which you can try out in the Transformer demo app.
This release also includes a new Kotlin-based demo app showcasing Media3’s video effects framework. You can select from a variety of video effects and preview them via ExoPlayer.setVideoEffects.
Animation showing contrast adjustment and a confetti effect in the new demo app
Get started with Media3 1.6.0
Please get in touch via the Media3 issue Tracker if you run into any bugs, or if you have questions or feature requests. We look forward to hearing from you!
Microsoft released a 56-second ad for the Surface laptop on January 30, and no one realized that it was partially AI-generated until Microsoft disclosed it on Wednesday.
The ad shows different people typing away on a Surface laptop in various locations. It emphasizes the Surface laptop’s standout features, like its touchscreen and battery life.
In the close to three months since the ad’s release, no one has picked up on its AI-generated roots, per The Verge. The ad has over 46,000 views on YouTube, and none of the top comments suspect that the ad was partly AI-generated.
According to a Microsoft Design blog post released Wednesday, Microsoft employees used generative AI tools to cut down the time and expense required to create the ad, putting it together in just a month.
“With a small budget and a tiny amount of time, we were able to accomplish in a month what would have traditionally required exponentially more resources,” Brian Townsend, visual designer on Microsoft’s Windows + Devices Visual Design team, stated in the blog post. “We probably saved 90% of the time and cost it would typically take.”
The team started the process by using unspecified AI tools to create a script, storyboards, and a pitch deck. AI helped expedite the process, allowing the team to get the materials ready in a matter of days instead of weeks.
The team then told an unnamed AI chatbot what they were looking for in the ad. They went through “thousands” of additional prompts to refine the AI output.
Because AI still has trouble generating details like human motion, the team decided to use some human-created shots to fill in the weaknesses of AI-generated shots. They determined that humans had to manually capture shots with “intricate movement,” like closeups of hands typing on keyboards, while AI generated quick cuts or shots with limited motion.
AI allowed the team to display different backgrounds in the ad without having to travel to the location. However, the team acknowledged in the blog post that from time to time, AI tools would experience hallucinations or generate inaccurate responses. When hallucinations arose, the team would manually fix “any unnatural elements” that popped up.
“However, as with all things created using AI, the occasional AI hallucination would rear its head,” the blog post stated. “To combat this, the team employed a blend of AI and traditional video production tools to meticulously compose frames and correct any unnatural elements.”
Microsoft emphasized in the blog post that AI democratizes filmmaking and allows anyone to create their own ad or video.
“All it takes is imagination and the curiosity to explore the myriad of tools available,” the blog post reads.
Microsoft did not specify which AI tools they used to generate the ad, though the company’s own tool, Microsoft Copilot, is capable of creating a script, footage, and a video project from a single prompt.
Finding the right HR headhunter can be crucial for the success of your organization. With numerous firms specializing in different aspects of HR recruitment, it is essential to identify the most reputable and effective ones. The right HR headhunter will help you find the perfect match for your company’s culture and strategic goals.
In this article, you’ll discover a curated list of the top 10 HR headhunters, each with proven expertise and a strong track record. Whether you need an expert in talent acquisition or someone to drive your company’s HR policies, this guide provides valuable insights to meet your specific needs.
1. Yeeply
We offer top-tier headhunting services tailored to your needs. Whether you’re searching for high-level HR executives or specialized talent, we can help. Our team uses proven strategies to identify the best candidates who align with your company’s culture and values.
Our expertise extends across various industries, making us a reliable choice for diverse recruitment needs. With a focus on Spain, we are recognized among the best headhunters in the country, providing effective solutions for finding the right talent.
They use both qualitative and quantitative tools to assess candidates. Their services include building impactful job descriptions and success profiles tailored to your organization’s unique needs.
Heidrick & Struggles is known for their high-touch support during the onboarding and development phases. This ensures a smooth transition for new hires. They are also recognized for their commitment to fostering an inclusive and diverse workplace.
Korn Ferry is recognized as one of the top executive recruiting firms in the United States. In 2024, Forbes named them as America’s best executive recruiter. This accolade highlights their expertise and success in the field.
Korn Ferry’s human resources recruiters are known for helping companies attract, develop, and retain top talent. They aim to integrate HR strategies into broader business goals. Their approach ensures that HR becomes a vital part of your organizational strategy.
By partnering with Korn Ferry, you gain access to a network of professionals and industry insiders. Their reputation is built on consistent delivery of results and deep industry knowledge. You can learn more about their services and achievements here.
They excel in placing diverse candidates, with 60% of their placements over the past five years being diverse individuals. This firm regularly partners with multinational corporations, medium-sized businesses, and startups.
A significant portion of Spencer Stuart’s business comes from returning clients, demonstrating their strong reputation. They specialize in critical roles such as CHROs and chief learning officers.
Spencer Stuart combines deep industry knowledge with a proven assessment process, ensuring they find leaders who fit your organization’s unique needs. They cover top positions, including CEO, CFO, and other “CxO” roles, offering comprehensive finalist assessments.
5. Russell Reynolds Associates
Russell Reynolds Associates is a top player in the HR headhunting field. With over 50 years of experience, they have built a solid reputation.
Their services cover the recruitment of CEOs, CxOs, and board members. They are known for their global reach and extensive network of candidates.
Russell Reynolds Associates focuses on finding leaders who can transform organizations. They emphasize workforce agility, stellar leadership, and inclusive cultures.
If you seek quality and expertise in executive search, consider exploring Russell Reynolds Associates. Their track record speaks for itself with many successful placements across different industries.
6. Egon Zehnder
Egon Zehnder is known for its expertise in executive search and HR recruitment. The firm focuses on providing businesses with expert consultation for HR leadership roles.
Since its founding in 1964, Egon Zehnder has completed over 3,600 placements in the past five years alone. The company’s process is thorough and tailored to meet the specific needs of each client.
Their approach involves a deep understanding of your company and situation, ensuring a perfect match for your leadership needs.
7. Boyden
Boyden has been recognized as a top executive recruiter by Forbes. They specialize in recruiting for positions with salaries over $100,000. Their reputation is built on feedback from recruiters, HR managers, and employees.
Boyden goes beyond assessing professional skills to understand personal values and attitudes. This approach helps them find candidates who align well with the client organization.
They also provide management services and work closely with HR departments to ensure exceptional leadership. Industry experts constantly praise Boyden for their ability to deliver top talent.
Odgers Berndtson excels in filling executive roles with top-tier talent. They cater to various sectors, offering expertise in Human Resources and People & Culture.
Their Minneapolis office is located at 333 South 7th Street, Suite 2950. For inquiries, you can contact them at +1 212 972 7287. Odgers Berndtson also invites CV submissions for those interested in new opportunities.
9. Proco Global
Proco Global is an international executive search firm, established in 2008. With offices in cities like London, New York, and Hong Kong, they specialize in finding top-tier talent for leadership roles.
Their team focuses on various sectors, including Human Resources, business services, and commodities. They aim to match your organization with the best candidates to elevate your team’s performance.
Their unified brand combines the strengths of Proco Global and Proco Commodities. This merger in 2016 has enhanced their services, making them a reliable partner for global talent acquisition. If you need top professionals for your team, Proco Global offers tailored recruitment solutions to meet your needs. For more information, visit Proco Global.
10. True Search
True Search is a rapidly growing firm in the world of HR headhunting. With a strong focus on top-tier executive roles, they have established a reputation for success.
They excel in finding HR leaders who can align organizational goals with human resource strategies. Their approach ensures that the right talent is placed in the right roles.
This firm has shown impressive growth, topping $100 million in recent years. It has become a trusted partner for many organizations looking to fill key HR positions. True Search is known for its dedication to matching the right candidates to the right companies. To learn more, visit True Search.
Importance and Role of HR Headhunters
HR headhunters play a crucial role in connecting qualified candidates with companies. They possess deep market insights and extensive networks, which are invaluable for finding the right talent.
Why Companies Utilize HR Headhunters
Companies often turn to HR headhunters to save time and access a broader talent pool. Headhunters have specialized skills to identify top candidates quickly.
Many companies find it beneficial to work with headhunters because they have access to passive candidates—those who aren’t actively looking for jobs but might be open to new opportunities. This increases the chances of finding highly skilled individuals who are the perfect fit.
Additionally, HR headhunters bring a wealth of industry knowledge. They understand market trends, salary benchmarks, and the skills needed for specific roles. This expertise helps companies make better decisions when hiring.
Key Responsibilities and Skills
HR headhunters have several key responsibilities. They search for potential candidates, screen them, and present the best options to their clients.
One of their main tasks is networking. Building and maintaining relationships with professionals in various industries is essential. They also need strong interviewing skills to assess candidates’ qualifications accurately.
It’s important for HR headhunters to stay updated on market trends. They should know what skills are in demand and what companies are looking for. This knowledge allows them to provide valuable advice to both clients and candidates.
Effective communication is another crucial skill. HR headhunters must clearly convey job expectations and negotiate terms between companies and candidates.
Choosing the Right HR Headhunter
Selecting the right HR headhunter can significantly impact your company’s hiring success. Focus on key criteria and ask the right questions to ensure a good match.
Criteria to Consider
Experience: Look for headhunters with extensive experience in your industry. They should understand the specific needs and challenges you face.
Reputation: Research the headhunter’s track record. Client testimonials and case studies are valuable indicators.
Methodology: Understand their recruitment process. A good headhunter will have a clear, transparent method for finding and vetting candidates.
Cultural Fit: Ensure they understand your company culture. They should be able to find candidates who not only meet your skill requirements but also fit well within your team dynamics.
Network: A well-connected headhunter has access to a broader talent pool. Connections in your industry can make a big difference in finding top talent.
Questions to Ask Potential Headhunters
Experience Questions:
How long have you been recruiting in this industry?
Can you provide examples of successful placements?
Methodology Questions:
What is your process for identifying candidates?
How do you vet potential hires?
Culture Fit Questions:
How do you assess if a candidate fits into our company culture?
Do you involve clients in the interview process?
Network Questions:
Can you describe the extent of your network within our industry?
What strategies do you use to reach passive candidates who are not actively job hunting?
Asking these questions will help you gauge their capabilities and ensure you choose a headhunter that aligns with your goals.
Current Trends in HR Headhunting
In the ever-evolving field of HR headhunting, technology and AI play pivotal roles in streamlining talent acquisition. Candidate expectations have also shifted, emphasizing the importance of a personalized and transparent recruitment process.
Use of Technology and AI
Technology and AI have revolutionized HR headhunting. Tools like AI-driven analytics and machine learning algorithms help identify the best candidates more efficiently. These systems analyze vast amounts of data, from resumes to social media profiles, to highlight top prospects.
HR departments now use chatbots for initial candidate interactions. This speeds up the process and ensures consistent communication. Predictive analytics are also key, allowing headhunters to forecast future hiring needs and trends.
Virtual reality (VR) interviews and online assessment platforms offer candidates a seamless application experience. These innovations significantly reduce the time required to fill positions and improve the accuracy of the selection process.
Evolving Candidate Expectations
Modern candidates expect more from the recruitment process. They want transparency, regular updates, and a personalized experience. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all.
Tailored benefits and work-life balance options are highly valued. Candidates often prefer companies offering remote work or hybrid models. As the workforce becomes more diverse, inclusivity and corporate social responsibility (CSR) are critical factors in decision-making.
Headhunters must adapt by crafting more engaging job descriptions and offering flexible interview schedules. Moreover, building a strong employer brand online is essential. Candidates research potential employers thoroughly, and a positive digital presence can make or break their interest in a role.
Frequently Asked Questions
Choosing the right HR headhunter involves understanding their expertise and recognizing specific characteristics that make them effective. Key points include identifying top executive search firms and understanding their distinctions.
What are the top ranked executive search firms specializing in HR?
How do executive recruiters differ in services for job seekers and companies?
Recruiters work directly for employers, often as part of an internal HR team. Headhunters typically operate independently or within third-party agencies, focusing on top talent for multiple clients. For job seekers, recruiters can streamline the hiring process. For companies, they provide access to a broader talent pool.
What factors determine the best HR headhunting firm for a company’s needs?
Key considerations include industry expertise, network size, and success rate in filling senior roles. It’s crucial to assess their understanding of your company’s culture and strategic goals. Evaluate their consultation approach and read client reviews to ensure alignment with your needs.
Can you list some globally recognized names in the HR executive search industry?
What accolades or rankings should I look for when choosing an HR headhunter?
Look for firms accredited by industry associations, such as the Association of Executive Search and Leadership Consultants (AESC). Rankings like Forbes’ list of top executive search firms can provide guidance. Client testimonials and case studies are also valuable indicators of a firm’s credibility.
What are the qualities of the most effective human resources headhunters?
Effective headhunters possess strong industry knowledge, excellent communication skills, and a vast network of contacts. They demonstrate a deep understanding of both client needs and candidate capabilities. Look for firms showcasing transparency, reliability, and a proven track record in successful placements.
If you missed last week’s Black Friday sale, don’t worry: the sale is still on until the end of today, Cyber Monday. So you have one last chance to save big and make 2025 your best year ever!
If you’re serious about leveling up your mobile development skills, the clock is ticking. You have less than 24 hours left to seize the best deals we’ve offered all year:
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This is it—your last chance to take advantage of our Black Friday sale. Once it’s over, it’s over!
Don’t miss out on the ultimate collection of courses, books, and bootcamps for serious mobile developers. You deserve this opportunity—why not treat yourself?
“It’s great to have all books and videos available with just one subscription. I am learning a lot! Thanks!”
— Vicente Úbeda (@vicentube)
“It’s great to have all books and videos available with just one subscription. I am learning a lot! Thanks!”
Posted by André Labonté – Senior Product Manager, Android Widgets
On April 7th, Samsung will begin rolling out One UI 7 to more devices globally. Included in this bold new design is greater personalization with an optimized widget experience and updated set of One UI 7 widgets. Ushering in a new era where widgets are more prominent to users, and integral to the daily device experience.
This update presents a prime opportunity for Android developers to enhance their app experience with a widget
More Visibility: Widgets put your brand and key features front and center on the user’s device, so they’re more likely to see it.
Better User Engagement: By giving users quick access to important features, widgets encourage them to use your app more often.
Increased Conversions: You can use widgets to recommend personalized content or promote premium features, which could lead to more conversions.
Happier Users Who Stick Around: Easy access to app content and features through widgets can lead to overall better user experience, and contribute to retention.
More discoverable than ever with Google Play’s Widget Discovery features!
Dedicated Widgets Search Filter: Users can now directly search for apps with widgets using a dedicated filter on Google Play. This means your apps/games with widgets will be easily identified, helping drive targeted downloads and engagement.
New Widget Badges on App Detail Pages: We’ve introduced a visual badge on your app’s detail pages to clearly indicate the presence of widgets. This eliminates guesswork for users and highlights your widget offerings, encouraging them to explore and utilize this capability.
Curated Widgets Editorial Page: We’re actively educating users on the value of widgets through a new editorial page. This curated space showcases collections of excellent widgets and promotes the apps that leverage them. This provides an additional channel for your widgets to gain visibility and reach a wider audience.
Getting started with Widgets
Whether you are planning a new widget, or investing in an update to an existing widget, we have tools to help!
Quality Tiers are a great starting point to understand what makes a great Android widget. Consider making your widget resizable to the recommended sizes, so users can customize the size just right for them.
Leverage widgets for increased app visibility, enhanced user engagement, and ultimately, higher conversions. By embracing widgets, you’re not just optimizing for a specific OS update; you’re aligning with a broader trend towards user-centric, glanceable experiences.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Most entrepreneurs are still using AI like a sidekick, just scratching the surface with basic tools that save a few minutes here and there. But what if AI could run your business for you while you sleep? This isn’t about chatbots or rewriting blog posts. This is about building a lean, one-person business powered by automation, speed and strategy.
Inside this video, I’m revealing seven powerful AI tools from the “Black Book”— hand-picked for solo entrepreneurs who want to scale without a team and unlock true freedom.
Website conversion and sales amplifier: Discover a free Google AI tool that audits your site like a conversion expert, spotting costly mistakes and giving you data-backed recommendations to boost leads and sales (no coding required).
Hidden market insights at your fingertips: Uncover the AI research engine that reveals untapped market gaps and competitor weaknesses in seconds, without spending $200 per month on bloated SEO software.
No-code agent creation made simple: Learn how to build your own AI agents to automate client onboarding, handle admin tasks, and even make smart decisions — freeing up your time for growth and strategy.
Instant presentation builder: Turn any blog, transcript, or outline into a polished, professional deck in minutes—perfect for selling ideas, landing clients or creating lead magnets on autopilot.
Social media intelligence extractor: Access a pre-trained AI bot that scrapes platforms for viral trends, top-performing posts, and competitor engagement data, giving you a content edge without guesswork.
Data reporting on autopilot: Use the same AI analysis tool trusted by universities to transform raw numbers into smart, visual insights — ideal for optimizing campaigns, funnels, and offers.
The ultimate solo founder AI toolkit: Explore the “app store of AI” where you can clone voices, analyze sentiment, and plug into hundreds of advanced tools that extend what one person can achieve.
I’ll walk you through each tool step-by-step, no tech background needed. If you’re ready to build a high-performance business that works while you sleep, this video is your blueprint.
To empower Android developers at work, we’re excited to announce a new offering of Gemini in Android Studio for businesses. This offering is specifically designed to meet the added privacy, security, and management needs of small and large organizations. We’ve heard that some people at businesses have additional needs that require more sensitive data protection, and this offering delivers the same Gemini in Android Studio that you’ve grown accustomed to, now with the additional privacy enhancements that your organization might require.
Developers and admins can unlock these features and benefits by subscribing to Gemini Code Assist Standard or Enterprise editions. A Google Cloud administrator can purchase a subscription and assign licenses to developers in their organization directly from the Google Cloud console.
Our data governance policy helps ensure customer code, customers’ inputs, as well as the recommendations generated will not be used to train any shared models. Customers control and own their data and IP. It also comes with security features like Private Google Access, VPC Service Controls, and Enterprise Access Controls with granular IAM permissions to help enterprises adopt AI assistance at scale without compromising on security and privacy. Using a Gemini Code Assist Standard or Enterprise license enables multiple industry certifications such as:
Organizations will benefit from generative AI IP indemnification, safeguarding their organizations against third parties claiming copyright infringement related to the AI-generated code. This added layer of protection is the same indemnification policy we provide to Google Cloud customers using our generative AI APIs, and allows developers to leverage the power of AI with greater confidence and reduced risk.
Code customization
Developers with a Code Assist Enterprise license can get tailored assistance customized to their organization’s codebases by connecting to their GitHub, GitLab or BitBucket repositories (including on-premise installations), giving Gemini in Android Studio awareness of the classes and methods their team is most likely to use. This allows Gemini to tailor code completion suggestions, code generations, and chat responses to their business’s best practices, and save developers time they would otherwise have to spend integrating with their company’s preferred frameworks.
Designed for Android development
As always, we’ve designed Gemini in Android Studio with the unique needs of Android developers in mind, offering tailored assistance at every stage of the software development lifecycle. From the initial phases of writing, refactoring, and documenting your code, Gemini acts as an intelligent coding companion to boost productivity. With features like:
Build & Sync error support: Get targeted insights to help solve build and sync errors
Gemini-powered App Quality Insights: Analyze crashes reported by Google Play Console and Firebase Crashlytics
Get help with Logcat crashes: Simply click on “Ask Gemini” to get a contextual response on how to resolve the crash.
In Android Studio, Gemini is designed specifically for the Android ecosystem, making it an invaluable tool throughout the entire journey of creating and publishing an Android app.
Check out Gemini in Android Studio for business
This offering for businesses marks a significant step forward in empowering Android development teams with the power of AI. With this subscription-based offering, no code is stored, and crucially, your code is never used for model training. By providing generative AI indemnification and robust enterprise management tools, we’re enabling organizations to innovate faster and build high-quality Android applications with confidence.
We appreciate any feedback on things you like or features you would like to see. If you find a bug, please report the issue and also check out known issues. Remember to also follow us on X, LinkedIn, Blog, or YouTube for more Android development updates!
This book is for anyone completely new to Swift and iOS development — or for those that
just need a little brushing-up!
Working with Xcode
Coding in Swift
Building user interfaces
Modelling and persisting data
GPS and image data
Accessing remote APIs
iPad development
Publishing to the App Store
For Complete Beginners!
If you’re completely new to Swift and iOS development (or need a brush-up), this is the series for you.
The UIKit Apprentice is a series of epic-length tutorials for beginners where you’ll learn how to build four complete apps from scratch.
Each new app will be a…
If you’re completely new to Swift and iOS development (or need a brush-up), this is the series for you.
The UIKit Apprentice is a series of epic-length tutorials for beginners where you’ll learn how to build four complete apps from scratch.
Each new app will be a little more advanced than the one before, and together they cover everything you need to know to make your own apps. By the end of the series you’ll be experienced enough to turn your ideas into real apps that you can sell on the App Store.
These tutorials have easy to follow step-by-step instructions, and consist of more than 1,100 pages and 500 illustrations! You also get full source code, image files, and other resources you can re-use for your own projects.
If you’re new to iOS and Swift, or to programming in general, learning how to write an app can seem incredibly overwhelming.
That’s why you need a guide that:
Shows you how to write an app step-by-step
With tons of illustrations and screenshots to make everything clear
In a fun and easygoing manner!
We’ll start at the very beginning. The first tutorial assumes absolutely zero programming knowledge but still shows you how to build an entire game from scratch.
The UIKit Apprentice series doesn’t cover every single feature of iOS – it just focuses on the absolutely essential ones that you need to know.
Instead of just covering a list of features, the UIKit Apprentice series does something much more important: it explains how all the different building blocks fit together and what is involved in building real apps.
You’re not going to create quick example programs that demonstrate how to accomplish a single feature. Instead, you’ll develop complete, fully-formed apps that are good enough to submit to the App Store!
This section tells you a few things you need to know before you get started, such as what you’ll need for hardware and software, where to find the project files for this book and more.
This section introduces you to the first of the four apps you’ll build over the course of this book — Bull’s Eye.
As you progress through building the Bull’s Eye app, the section will teach you how to think like a programmer and how to plan your programming tasks. In addition, you’ll also learn how to use Xcode, Interface Builder, and even the basics of coding for iOS.
While some of the concepts in this section might seem a bit basic, please do not skip this section if you are new to iOS development – you will learn some fundamentals which act as the building blocks for what you learn later.
Welcome to The UIKit Apprentice! In this book, you’re about to deep dive into the latest and greatest Swift and iOS best practices. You will build four iOS projects using Swift and UIKit. Good luck!
In this chapter, you will start building the initial screen for the Bull’s Eye game.
Congratulations, you have a UIButton on the screen! It’s time to start adding the UISlider which will be fundamental to the game.
In this chapter you will deal with random numbers, starting a new round of the game, and calculating the points scored.
It’s time to calculate and display the score and the number of rounds played in this chapter.
Add some polish to the game so that it actually looks like a game. Also, allow the user to re-start the game so that two people can play the game.
Let’s spruce up the game UI with some fancy artwork and make your game stand out from the pack. Also, let’s add an About screen with information about the game.
Phew! You have successfully created Bull’s Eye. In the final chapter of this section you will learn about supporting different device sizes and add some beautiful animations.
This section builds upon what you learnt in the previous section by introducing you to your second app. Checklists takes you from a single-screen app to a multi-screen app where you learn the concepts of navigation flow, displaying data lists, and the idea of modeling and persisting your data.
If you want to build any sort of list-based iOS app, this section is a good starting point for learning the basics. Of course, even if you aren’t building a list-based app, this section has some basic concepts such as handling the navigation flow from one screen to another (and back again) that would be very useful to an apprentice iOS developer.
Add a table view to show a list of to-do items and in the process learn about how to code navigation controllers and table views for iOS.
In this chapter, we’ll set up a data model to represent our checklist items and then use the data model to display our to-do items.
All about navigation controllers — how to add them, configure them, and use them. Also learn how add a new screen to your to-do app and how to add the ability to delete to-do items.
Create the Add Item screen for your app and in the process, learn how to create custom table view cells, get user input, and add polish to data entry screens.
You’ll learn about delegates and protocols, and how to use them to complete the add items functionality for your Checklists app.
Now that you can add items, learn how to edit added items. Also, refactor your code to optimize it.
Checklists works great but we can’t persist our data — our to-do items are reset each time the app is re-launched. Let’s learn how to persist our data between app sessions.
From one list to many – Checklists manages a single list of items at the moment. That’s not very useful. Let’s add the ability to have multiple lists of items.
Let’s improve our data model so that we can have different to-do items for each checklist. We’ll also implement a new saving strategy in the process.
Learn how to save application settings and other useful information between app sessions. Also, how to guard against possible crashes and to improve the first-run experience of the app so that your app looks more polished and user-friendly.
With the basic functionality for your Checklists app done, it’s time to add some polish and functionality that makes your app stand out from the herd.
Learn how to add local notifications to Checklists so that you can be notified when a to-do item is due and how to manage notifications through the lifecycle of a to-do item.
With this third section and the MyLocations app, you get into Swift programming in earnest.
Sure, you’ve already coded apps in the previous two sections, but this section starts off with a good review of all the Swift coding principles you’ve learned so far and adds to it by introducing some new concepts too.
In addition to that, you learn about using GPS coordinates, displaying data on maps, and using the iOS image picker to take photos using your camera or to pick existing images from your photo album. There’s a lot of valuable general information on Swift development as well as specific information about building location-aware apps.
This section also introduces you to building apps for Dark mode – a subject that you’ll do a deep-dive into in the next section.
You have made great progress! You’ve learnt the basics of Swift programming and created two applications from scratch. Now let’s add some more Swift theory to strengthen the foundations we’ve built while creting those two apps.
This is the first chapter in this section which teaches you how to create a “location album” app. Take the first steps for creating this new app by learning how to use the Core Location framework to get your location and to display it.
You were able to access location data and display it in the last chapter. In this chapter, you will improve upon that code by handling GPS errors and improving the GPS accuracy. You’ll also set up the app to handle different screen sizes.
Time for some more theory! You’ll learn all about objects, classes, inheritance, and a few other object oriented principles from Swift that you need to be familiar with.
Time to get back to coding again. You’ll learn how to build the Tag Location screen and how to set up another data entry screen for an iOS app.
The MyLocations app functionality is slowly taking shape now. So it’s time to polish things up a bit by improving the user experience and adding some UI flourishes.
Learn all about how to save your locations on the device using Core Data, the object persistence framework for iOS.
Let’s show the data that you’re now able to save via Core Data as a list of locations. Learn about TableView sections, NSFetchedResults and deleting tagged locations.
Let’s get visual! Show your tagged location on a map view using MapKit so that you can see where in the world each location is.
Learn how to use the built-in image picker in iOS to add images from either the camera or the photo album to your tagged locations.
It’s time to give MyLocations a complete visual makeover! You’ll change the styling for the app, add buttons for action items, add sounds, icons, and launch images.
The final section of the book covers building an app which supports both Light and Dark appearances from scratch via the StoreSearch app. StoreSearch shows you how to have separate custom assets and colors for each type of iOS appearance.
But that’s not all! The app also shows you how to do custom screens both for specific orientations (landscape vs. portrait) as well as for specific platforms (iPhone vs. iPad). This section covers networking, working with remote API endpoints to fetch data needed by your app, and how to parse the fetched data, how to work with Stack Views, and how to add iPad support to your app.
If that wasn’t enough, this section also takes you through the full application life cycle – from developing the code, testing it, and all the way to submitting to Apple. So don’t skip this section thinking that you know all about iOS development after the last few sections!
Most iOS job listings say that you need to have worked with a REST API. Well, this chapter starts you on a new app which will teach you all about how to fetch data from a remote server and get you on the path to REST API mastery.
Learn how to display your data in a table view using custom table cells. Also change the appearnace of the app and do a bit of debugging.
Learn the ins and outs of making network requests to remote servers. Then, when you get a response to your request, learn how to parse the JSON response.
Learn why synchronous networking is bad and how to make things better by switching to asynchronous networking.
Learn about the powerful networking features provided by URLSession to make network requests that can be cancelled and how to download the image assets for your search results.
Learn how to add a detail pop-up to show more information about selected search results.
The detail pop-up works well but it can do with some more spit and polish to make it really shine. Learn all about adding dynamic type support, gradient backgrounds and more animations.
You’ve only dealt with a single orientation up to now. But your apps need to support both portrait and landscape orientations. Learn how to add landscape support to StoreSearch and by adding a custom interface.
You’ve made great progress with StoreSearch, but now it’s time to refactor the code to smooth out a few of the rough edges. Knowing how to improve your code by refactoring it is an important skill to learn.
StoreSearch works great when the display language is English. But what if you wanted to support other languages? Learn all about internationalization and how to update your app to suppport multiple languages.
Learn how to optimize StoreSearch for iPad and to add iPad specific UI features such as split view conrollers and menu popovers.
After all that work, your app is finally ready. You just have one more gauntlet to run – the App Store submission process. Learn about the Apple Developer program, beta testing via TestFlight and how to submit your app for Apple approval.
