ay Services 8.1 SDK is ready, brings Maps ambient mode other new tools

BY GreenBot Staff

Published 25 Sep 2015

The ay Services 8.1 A is now ready for developers, who can put many new features to use like ambient maps mode app invites.

’s Magnus Hyttsten took to YouTube for another zany video that outlines the new tricks. ile ay Services 8.1 has been rolling out for a while, typically gives more details about what’s new when the rollout is complete all the new As are ready.

th Ambient Mode, Maps will be able to render in a simple, low-color version on your Android ar watch, much like some ambient watch faces.

The app invites tool will allow you to tap into your contacts to invite others to check out the app via email or SMS. Developers will need to enable this before you see it in any of the Android apps on your device.

app invites Android Developers Blog

Invite friends to check out that cool, new app you’ve been playing with.

ay Games lets developers personalize the gaming experience a bit more. For example, you may see a welcome back message reward when returning to a game that you’ve ignored for a while.

You can get the full rundown of what’s new exciting from the Android Developers Blog.

The impact on you: Android updates may take forever, but new features actually roll out pretty quickly thanks to ay Services. If you’re not up-to-speed on a lot of the technical details, the takeaway is that ay Services gives developers new tools whenever updates it, so they don’t need to wait for new versions of Android to slow through the ecosystem.