Google wants developers to create multi-device Android apps

Google is working on making it easier for app developers to develop Android apps with some form of continuity across various devices.
The company announced its cross-device software development kit (SDK) in a blog post. It said it allows developers to create “rich multi-device experiences with a simple and intuitive set of APIs.”
It specified that the core functionality of the APIs is centred around finding nearby devices, enabling secure connections between devices, and extending a user’s experience across multiple devices.
Google said the SDK lets developers build cross-device experiences by enabling the following use cases:
- Discovering and authorising communication with nearby devices;
- Sharing an app’s state with the same app on another device;
- Starting the app on a secondary device without having to keep it running in the background;
- Establishing secure connections for devices to communicate with one another; and
- Enabling task handoff where the user starts a task on one device and can easily continue on another.
Regarding cross-device connectivity, Google said its new SDK could use wireless technologies such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and ultra-wideband.
“Our SDK does all the heavy-lifting under the hood, offering you a modular,connectivity-agnostic API that supports bi-directional communication between devices and is backward compatible to Android 8,” it added.
Google made the Developer Preview for Android phones and tablets on 26 August 2022 and said it “will be available later for other Android surfaces and non-Android OSs”.