Windows 10: Introducing new Google Play Pass service coming to Android devices

Brink · Sep 26, 2019

Google Play has always been about connecting you to the best apps, games and digital content out there. Since everyone plays a little differently, we’re introducing a new way to enjoy many of these digital experiences: Google Play Pass.Play Pass is a new subscription service that gives you access to more than 350 apps and games that are completely unlocked—all free of ads, in-app purchases and upfront payments. Play Pass offers a high-quality, curated collection of titles from Stardew Valley to Risk, and Facetune to AccuWeather, with new apps and games added every month.

Play Pass is coming to Android devices in the U.S. this week, and we’ll be bringing it to additional countries soon. You can get started with a 10-day free trial and subscribe for just $4.99/month. And for a limited time, you can get Play Pass for only $1.99/month for your first twelve months, then $4.99/month (see full terms).

Apps and games you already love, plus more to discover

The Play Pass collection spans hundreds of titles, from games that help you unwind to apps that power productivity. We think the creators of Monument Valley put it best: “Play Pass helps encourage people to try new experiences they would not have otherwise," says Maria Sayans, CEO of Ustwo games.

You’ll find well-known apps and games like Terraria, Monument Valley, Risk, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and AccuWeather. And others you might be less familiar with that are just as amazing, like LIMBO, Lichtspeer, Mini Metro, Old Man’s Journey and many more. With new additions every month—including titles like This War of Mine and Cytus coming soon—there’s always something new to discover.

To make all of these apps and games easier to find, we’ve added a new Play Pass tab for subscribers. Play Pass apps and games can still be found throughout the Play Store–just look for the Play Pass “ticket.” All apps and games found on the Play Pass homepage or throughout the Play Store with the ticket are completely unlocked with your subscription.

Share with the whole family

Just like Google Play Family Library, family managers can share their Play Pass subscription with up to five other family members. Each family member can access Play Pass individually, so your experience won’t be affected by what others download. Play Pass also has a great selection of family-friendly content—from Toca Boca classics to the My Town series—so the whole family can enjoy.

Get started

Once Play Pass is available on your Android device this week, you can start your free trial by simply opening the Play Store app, tapping the menu at the top left, and looking for “Play Pass.” You can learn more here. Have fun!

Source: Google Play Pass: Enjoy apps and games without ads or in-app purchases

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Brink · Sep 26, 2019

Passwordless FIDO2 verification on Android for Google Accounts

Passwords, combined with Google's automated protections, help secure billions of users around the world. But, new security technologies are surpassing passwords in terms of both strength and convenience. With this in mind, we are happy to announce that you can verify your identity by using your fingerprint or screen lock instead of a password when visiting certain Google services. The feature is available today on Pixel devices and coming to all Android 7+ devices over the next few days.

Simpler authentication experience when viewing your saved password for a website on passwords.google.com

These enhancements are built using the FIDO2 standards, W3C WebAuthn and FIDO CTAP, and are designed to provide simpler and more secure authentication experiences. They are a result of years of collaboration between Google and many other organizations in the FIDO Alliance and the W3C.

An important benefit of using FIDO2 versus interacting with the native fingerprint APIs on Android is that these biometric capabilities are now, for the first time, available on the web, allowing the same credentials be used by both native apps and web services. This means that a user only has to register their fingerprint with a service once and then the fingerprint will work for both the native application and the web service.

Note that your fingerprint is never sent to Google’s servers - it is securely stored on your device, and only a cryptographic proof that you’ve correctly scanned it is sent to Google’s servers. This is a fundamental part of the FIDO2 design.

Here is how it works

Google is using the FIDO2 capability on Android to register a platform-bound FIDO credential. We remember the credential for that specific Android device. Now, when the user visits a compatible service, such as passwords.google.com, we issue a WebAuthn “Get” call, passing in the credentialId that we got when creating the credential. The result is a valid FIDO2 signature.

High-level architecture of using fingerprint or screen lock on Android devices to verify a user’s identity without a password

Please follow the instructions below if you’d like to try it out.

Prerequisites

Phone is running Android 7.0 (Nougat) or later

Your personal Google Account is added to your Android device

Valid screen lock is set up on your Android device

To try it

Open the Chrome app on your Android device

Navigate to https://passwords.google.com

Choose a site to view or manage a saved password

Follow the instructions to confirm that it’s you trying signing in

You can find more detailed instructions here.

For additional security

Remember, Google's automated defenses securely block the overwhelming majority of sign-in attempts even if an attacker has your username or password. Further, you can protect your accounts with two-step verification (2SV), including Titan Security Keys and Android phone’s built-in security key.

Both security keys and local user verification based on biometrics use the FIDO2 standards. However, these two protections address different use cases. Security keys are used for bootstrapping a new device as a second factor as part of 2SV in order to make sure it’s the right owner of the account accessing it. Local user verification based on biometrics comes after bootstrapping a device and can be used for re-authentication during step-up flows to verify the identity of the already signed-in user.

What’s next

This new capability marks another step on our journey to making authentication safer and easier for everyone to use. As we continue to embrace the FIDO2 standard, you will start seeing more places where local alternatives to passwords are accepted as an authentication mechanism for Google and Google Cloud services. Check out to get an early glimpse of the use cases that we are working to enable next.

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Source: https://security.googleblog.com/2019...r-with_12.html

Brink · Sep 26, 2019

The Google Play store visual refresh

The Google Play Store has over two billion monthly active users coming to find the right app, game, and other digital content. To improve the overall store experience, we’re excited to roll out a complete visual redesign. Aligning with Material design language, we’re introducing several user-facing updates to deliver a cleaner, more premium store that improves app discovery and accessibility for our diverse set of users.

To make browsing faster and easier, we’ve introduced a new navigation bar at the bottom of the Play Store on mobile devices and a new left navigation on tablets and Chrome OS. There are now two distinct destinations for games and apps, which helps us better serve users the right kind of content. Once users find the right app or game, the updated store listing page layout surfaces richer app information at the top of each page as well as a more prominent call-to-action button. This makes it easier for users to see the important details and make a decision to install your app. You’ll also notice our new icon system with a uniform shape, helping content to stand out more over UI. If you haven’t done so already, make sure to update your icon following the new icon specifications as soon as possible.

If you’re looking for best practices to make a compelling store listing page, we have several resources to help. To ensure your page resonates well with Android users, use store listing experiments to test for the best app icon, images, video, and descriptions on Google Play. You can also tailor your marketing messages to specific user groups based on their country, install state or even pre-registration by creating custom store listings. For even more, try our free e-learning resource, Academy for App Success.
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Source: Android Developers Blog: The Google Play store’s visual refresh

93tid · Sep 26, 2019

music player and google play service

Google Play services are not supported by the version of Android installed on the X range of phones.

Windows 10: Introducing new Google Play Pass service coming to Android devices

Introducing new Google Play Pass service coming to Android devices

Introducing new Google Play Pass service coming to Android devices

Introducing new Google Play Pass service coming to Android devices

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