In addition to announcing official support for foldable in Android, Google revealed some important news regarding app updates at the Android Dev Summit.
Google is launching an In-app Updates API that'll help developers ensure that their users are running the latest version of their app. There are two ways for devs to use this API, including an immediate update that will take up the entire screen and have the user install an update before it can be used.
The other way for devs to use the In-app Updates API is a flexible update. With it, users can continue to use the app while it's being updated. The example shown by Google has a pop-up appear at the bottom of the screen to tell the user that their update is complete and that they should restart the app for the changes to take effect.
Google is testing this new API with select early access partners, and the company plans to launch it to all developers soon.
The new In-app Updates API could be pretty nifty for Android app developers. With the flexible in-app update, users will be alerted that an update is available but whatever they're doing won't be interrupted. And then the immediate in-app update will require the user to update before they can continue using the app, which would be useful if an app has a major security bug or a crashing issue.
