Google I/O 2021 Keynotes

List of each and every announcement from all Android sessions

If you think anything needs to be added or removed, feel free to contribute.

1. Un-deprecated @Deprecated which was deprecated by accident

2. Introduced Theme.DeviceDefault and Theme.DeviceDefault.DayNight

3. Added new color palettes to use within App

4. Improved Widgets - selection, configuration, placement

5. Widgets can use new device's themes

6. New Launch/Splash-Screen Animations by default for all Apps which can be customised further

7. Notifications - redesigned all templates, deprecated full custom remote views

8. Notifications - Trampoline - Notifications must start an Activity from contentIntent

9. Toast can show App icon, reduced text length

10. Capped number of toasts that any App can have/show in a given time

11. Picture-in-picture mode new API to animate transition

12. Blur Content can be used on any view, windowContent or other content

13. Sparkle ripple animation by default when you tap on any view

14. New Edge Effect - Replaced Glow with Stretch

15. New image format - AVIF - better quality, lesser size

16. Media type support fallback

17. Audio-coupled Haptic Playback

18. Privacy - New separate permission for Nearby/Bluetooth access - BLUETOOTH_SCAN, BLUETOOTH_CONNECT instead of broder Location permission

19. Introduced Approximate location so user can choose to share or not the exact location.

20. User will see a toast to know which App accessed the Clipboard, it will be ignored if content was copied by same app

21. Deferring foreground notification by 10sec so there will be less distraction to the user. App can override this behaviour

22. Not allowed to launch Foreground service from the background, it can be launched in response to user interaction only. Also there are few more excemptions to launch it.

23. Introduced ‘Expedited Jobs’ with low latency and high reliability but maximum allocated duration will be shorter. Executes during Dose and Battery Saver. Subject to standby buckets so less used apps will have fewer opportunities to launch this job. Expedited Jobs also available through WorkManager v2.7

24. Foreground service should be used for only meaningful task for the user, like music player, navigation…

25. Work Manager is One Stop Solution recommended for all background tasks. Can schedule Expedited, Periodic and Opportunistic work.

26. Collapsed similar features - Drag & Drop, Copy & Paste, Keyboard Stickers into one.

27. Service charges reduced to 15% instead of 30% for first $1M (USD) of earnings.

28. New Policy and program section on console

29. New SDK Console for SDK developers

30. App bundle is required for new apps

31. New engagement metrics and benchmark comparison with peer

32. New Payment methods

33. New Multi-quantity purchases

34. New Multi-line subscriptions

35. Prepaid plans

36. New Play Billing Library v4.0

37. New Security-Crypto library

38. Privacy : Microphone and camera indicators while in use in status bar

39. New Privacy dashboard in Android Settings

40. Added Data Access auditing APIs > AppOpsManager

41. Introduced new options in the Notification Centre to turn of Camera and Mic access for all apps, this would not impact the Apps which are using permission best practices

42. Motion sensor sampling rate limited to 200 Hz

43. Made Guest mode switching easier

44. New Macrobenchmark library to measure Jank and Startup

45. App hibernation system

46. Restriction on MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE & QUERY_APP_PACKAGES permissions

47. Using Private Compute Core to deliver intelligence features without compromising privacy. Example usage - Smart reply

48. Removed direct Network permission from Private Compute Core instead using open source APK - Private Compute Services

49. Well defined Foreground Service in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqnCqHyu1E4

50. In Android 12, most sensitive components are re-written using a better language - Rust language

51. Android Ready SE (Secured Elements) - an advanced physical security

52. New Jetpack Security Suite

53. Introduced ability to hide overlay window apps

54. Added setAuthenticationRequired flag to Notification action builder

55. Added App Compatibility Changes > set of toggles to isolates testing for certain conditions under Developer Options

56. Further restricted access to network MAC address

57. android:exported = “true/false” attribute is compulsory to mention

58. Improved App Links to reduce user friction

59. Changes in Webviews > Samesite cookies

60. Overscroll - more natural scroll stop indicator. Verify scrolling container compatibility for GridView, ListView, RecyclerView, ViewPager

61. Untrusted touch events

62. Exact Alarm permission

63. Widgets - added support for more interactive view components

64. Widgets can be shown on more new places

65. Introduced System-level Resources for consistence widget on launcher home-screen

66. Smoother transition between widget and app can be achieved using ID

67. Support for Animated Vector Drawable visual in Design Tools