Google Details Google Drive Android API

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[ Developer]

Earlier this month, Google upgraded Google Play Services to version 4.1. Among the many big features during this latest upgrade was the inclusion of a Google Drive Android API. Now Google has offered more details on what it says provides developers “a faster, seamless experience that allows your apps to integrate with the Drive backend within minutes.”

To start us off, Google says the Drive API will sync app data stored locally with Google Drive storage within the cloud. This occurs automatically so a users locally stored data will always be backed up on Google Drive. If the user happens to be offline when creating new local data, the Google Drive API will sync that data with the cloud the subsequent time they get online.

With this being Android, the Google Drive Android API was designed to work on virtually every device. There are three specific features try to be privy to though:

  • There’s reduced impact at the weight of your apps. Because the client library is a stub to Google Play Services, incorporating the API has reduced impact at the size of your .apk binaries, leading to faster downloads, fewer updates, and smaller execution footprint.
  • User files are automatically synced between different devices (provided the app has an analogous namespace and is signed with a similar key).
  • Any device running the Gingerbread or later releases of Android and Google Play Services will automatically have support for the Google Drive Android API.

    • If you don’t are looking to build your personal UI for the hot Drive functionality, Google says this initial release comes with both file picker and creator user interface components.

    Specific to Android 4.4, Google notes that the Storage Access Framework is a generic client API that permits apps to speak with multiple storage providers. They encourage developers to exploit the the Google Drive Android API because it provides “specialized functionality for interacting with files stored on Google Drive.”

    To learn more in regards to the Google Drive Android API, take a look at the documentation and Google’s GitHub page. You may as well watch a fast video introduction to the API below:

    Image via Google Developers Blog

    Google Details Google Drive Android API 16 hours ago