Google Tweaks Play Store Policy To Promote Standalone Android Wear Apps

Google Tweaks Play Store Policy to Promote Standalone Android Wear Apps

BY Rajesh Pandey

Rajesh Pandey

Rajesh is a 26-year old freelance writer from Kolkata, India. He loves to tinker around with his Android devices and flash custom ROMs on them....

All Articles by Rajesh Pandey

Published 1 Sep 2017

Why trust Greenbot

We maintain a strict editorial policy dedicated to factual accuracy, relevance, and impartiality. Our content is written and edited by top industry professionals with first-hand experience. The content undergoes thorough review by experienced editors to guarantee and adherence to the highest standards of reporting and publishing.

Android Wear standalone apps

Google has tweaked its Google Play policies to help promote standalone Android Wear apps. The policy changes see Google bringing multi-APK support for Android Wear 1.0 running smartwatches.

Multi-APK allows developers to upload two different APKs of their apps to the Google Play console: one for smartphones and the other for Android Wear watches. This feature was so far only supported by Android Wear 2.0 running smartwatches. Two separate APKs will lead to a reduction in the size of the phone app APK as it will no longer include the Android Wear APK.

Secondly, all Android apps that support wear notification enhancements but do not have a standalone Android Wear app will lose the “Enhanced for Android Wear” badge.

The new policy change comes into effect from January 18, 2018, so developers still have plenty of time in their hand to create a standalone Wear app and add multi-APK support to it.

Google is making these changes so as to promote standalone Android Wear apps. This will help ensure that even iOS users who purchase and use an Android Wear smartwatch are able to fully enjoy the ecosystem of apps the platform offers.

[Via Android Developers]