During its I/O keynote, Google announced that its Cloud Messaging platform will also work with Apple’s iOS platform. There will also be a 1.3 version of Android Studio with support for C++ and C, and the new Polymer should make web apps look like native apps.
Cloud Messaging is currently used by more than 600,000 Android apps, according to Google, but with support for iOS, the internet company hopes that cross-platform developers will use the platform faster. Browser support has been integrated before.
Topics are also new in Cloud Messaging. Developers can also ask end users in an app what type of notification they are interested in. This should increase the chance that users will only receive notifications for relevant topics.
Google has also announced Android Studio 1.3. This integrated development environment will receive support for C and C++ using Google’s Native Development Kit that was previously accessible in Eclipse. While most Android software is written in Java, C and C++ can produce faster code.
Polymer was also officially announced during the I/O meeting. This library makes it possible to make web applications look more like native apps. This makes elements such as menus and toolbars available.
Developers will also soon be able to get started with Cloud Test Lab. This cloud platform allows a developer to upload an Android application and test it on more than twenty commonly used Android devices. The developer receives error messages, crash reports and screenshots. In the future, the service will have to be partly paid for, but Google has not yet provided many details.