**Google's Latest Moves: Niantic Labs and Relative Wave**

In recent weeks, Google has been making some significant moves that are sure to excite developers and users alike. One of the most notable developments is the news that Niantic Labs, the creators of Pokémon Go, has reached a milestone that will surely impress. The company announced that its popular augmented reality game has achieved a staggering number of user interactions: 64 million resonators have been deployed, portals have been visited a record-breaking 178 million times, and players have walked a total of around 127 kilometers – equivalent to 78 million miles or 327 times the distance between the earth and the moon. This is an incredible feat that showcases the game's enduring popularity and Niantic Labs' commitment to creating immersive and engaging experiences.

In addition to this impressive achievement, Google has also made significant strides in the world of Android development tools. Relative Wave, a company known for its innovative applications, recently caught Google's attention when it was acquired by the tech giant. This acquisition may lead to the development of new tools that will further enhance the Android ecosystem. Specifically, Relative Wave is behind an application called Form, which allows iOS developers to see how their app looks and operates while they're in the middle of making it. Currently available for iOS and Mac, Form has also been released as a companion app called Viewer, which can be downloaded free of charge. With its user-friendly interface and innovative approach, this tool is sure to revolutionize the way Android developers create and test their apps.

Google Play Store Expansion into China: A Massive Undertaking?

Rumors have been circulating that Google is in talks with Huawei and ZTE to bring the Google Play store to China. If true, this would be a significant move for the tech giant, as it would not only expand its user base but also provide Chinese developers with a platform to sell paid apps. This could potentially be a game-changer for Google, given China's massive population and growing digital landscape. The implications of such a move are far-reaching, and it will be interesting to see how Google navigates this new territory.

**App Reviews: Mails, Flexi, and The Hunt**

Several Android apps have recently made headlines due to their innovative features and user-friendly interfaces. Mails is an email application that aims to reimagine the traditional email experience on mobile devices. Using a messaging chat bubble-style interface, it offers a unique approach to managing emails. With its redesigned attachments management and excellent search function, Mails is definitely worth checking out. Another app, Flexi, has achieved a remarkable feat: breaking its own Guinness World Record for speed record and reducing its price to 1.99. This is the perfect opportunity for those who have been hesitant to try Flexi to finally do so.

The Hunt is another community-driven fashion application that allows users to snap pictures of their outfits, upload them to the platform, and receive help identifying what items they are wearing, how much they cost, and where to buy them. While its demo video may not be impressive, The Hunt's functionality could prove invaluable for those who enjoy fashion or simply want to stay on top of the latest trends.

**SwiftKey Keyboard Update: New Languages and Material Design Theme**

SwiftKey, a popular keyboard app, has recently released an update that addresses several performance issues and lag problems. The new version also includes support for multiple languages, making it more accessible to users around the world. To celebrate this milestone, SwiftKey has also released a material design keyboard theme pack for 2.99. This pack brings the sleek, modern aesthetic of Google's Material Design to a variety of keyboards, offering users a unique way to enhance their typing experience.

**Nokia's Z Launcher: A Gesture-Controlled Android Experience**

In another notable development, Nokia has released its highly anticipated Z Launcher as a beta app on the Google Play store. While it has received some criticism due to an activation issue, the launcher itself is remarkably simple and relies heavily on gesture controls. Not yet ready for prime time, the Z Launcher is free with no in-app purchases, offering users a glimpse into the future of Android development.

**Stay Connected: Subscribe to Android Authority**

To stay up-to-date with the latest news and reviews about Android apps and games, be sure to subscribe to the Android Authority YouTube channel. Additionally, follow us on social media to join the discussion in our forums. For those who want to watch some awesome videos, we have a few recommendations available in the video description below. Don't forget to check out the written companion for all download links.

**Written Companion**

If you're interested in checking out any of these applications or learning more about Google's latest developments, be sure to visit our written companion, which is linked in the video description below. There, you'll find detailed information on each app, including download links and user reviews. As always, thanks for watching, and have a wonderful day!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhello again ladies and gentlemen i'm joe handy the android authority app guy and welcome back to google play weekly this week we're going to talk about apps maps and more apps and china let's get started first up this week root users can rejoice because titanium backup is officially ready for lollipop the app received an update earlier this week that gave it initial support for lollipop and that's a good thing some other changes include a couple of bug fixes updated translations and the update fixes an issue with google play newsstand it's been a hallmark application for root users as long as i can remember and i guess it will continue to be for at least one more version of android google play services was updated to version 6.5 this week and it brought with it a lot of changes the four services that this affects the most are google drive google fit google wallet and google maps apps will be able to create both public and private custom file properties in google drive and there will be better controls provided for device syncing developers now have better control over activity segments in google fit which allows them to better see and control exercise segments which are broken up when you take a break from exercising in google maps it provides developers an easier way to provide you with relevant maps in certain situations and there is a new toolbar all in all once it's implemented it should save you some time for google wallets there is now a donate to google wallet button lastly it's also worth mentioning that developers can be more specific about which apis they need for their applications and that should help create better smaller apps with fewer permissions and less battery drain ingress turned 2 years old this last week and have released an awesome infographic to show off their stats some of these numbers are pretty intense according to niantic labs gamers have deployed 64 million resonators visited portals 178 million times and walked a total of around 127 kilometers which translates to 78 million miles or 327 times the distance between the earth and the moon these are all very impressive and congratulations are in order can't wait to see these stats again in a couple of years earlier this week google bought a company called relative wave and that may eventually lead to better development tools on android okay so relative wave is known for an application they do called form which allows ios developers to see how their app looks and operates while they're in the middle of making it it's currently only available for ios and mac but you can get form and the companion app called viewer for free if you want it we have no doubt this will work its way over to android eventually and likely even platforms other than mac such as pc or maybe even linux this looks like an interesting way to design an application and it'll be fun to see what google does with it in our last bit of news this week is the google play store finally going to make its way over to china maybe google and china have been in informal talks for years now so it's no surprise that another rumor is popping up now word around the digital water cooler is that google is in talks with huawei and zte to get google play off the ground in china this would be a massive undertaking for google that could potentially make them a lot of money because china is gigantic to support that idea chinese developers can now make and sell paid apps in the google play store and that may very well be that pivotal first step so who wants to see some trending applications as usual if you want to check any of these applications out you can find the links in the written companion which is in the video description below we mail is a new email application that tries to re-imagine the email experience on mobile it relies on a messaging chat bubble style interface and has a few fun features like voice emails redesigned attachments management and a really good search function it's free in the google play store right now if you want to try it flexi had a big week they managed to break their own guinness book of world record speed record and to celebrate they have permanently lowered the price of their application to 1.99 if you've been on the fence about buying flexi this is the perfect time to do it but remember that they do have a free trial version so you can try it first to see if you like it the hunt is a community driven fashion application that allows you to snap pictures of various outfits upload them to the hunt and other people who use the platform will help you identify what those items are how much they cost and where you can buy them their demo video sucks but the app itself can be quite handy for those who are fashionably minded and it's totally free swiftkey keyboard got a huge update this last week that helps fix a number of performance issues and lag problems they've also added some new languages on top of that they also released a material design keyboard theme pack for 2.99 so if you want the material goodness but want it on a different keyboard this is definitely the way to go nokia's highly anticipated z launcher is out on beta in the google play store right now it's received a slew of bad reviews because of an activation thing they did and that sucks for them however the launcher itself is very simple and relies very heavily on gesture controls it's not ready for prime time yet but if you want to check it out it is free with no in-app purchases if you want to check out the latest news and reviews about android apps and games head on over to android authority dot com click on the little menu thingy and check out the application section and if you want to join the discussion head on over to android authority dot com slash community set up an account and join us in the forums i will see you there once again i'm joe handy the android authority app guy don't forget to subscribe to our youtube channel and if you want to follow android authority myself or the rest of the video team you can find our social media links in the video description below if you're hanging out for a minute we have a couple of awesome videos for you to watch right over there and they're also linked in the video description below for you folks on mobile finally don't forget to check out the written companion which is in the video description below because that's where you're going to find all of the download links as always thanks for watching everybody and have a wonderful dayhello again ladies and gentlemen i'm joe handy the android authority app guy and welcome back to google play weekly this week we're going to talk about apps maps and more apps and china let's get started first up this week root users can rejoice because titanium backup is officially ready for lollipop the app received an update earlier this week that gave it initial support for lollipop and that's a good thing some other changes include a couple of bug fixes updated translations and the update fixes an issue with google play newsstand it's been a hallmark application for root users as long as i can remember and i guess it will continue to be for at least one more version of android google play services was updated to version 6.5 this week and it brought with it a lot of changes the four services that this affects the most are google drive google fit google wallet and google maps apps will be able to create both public and private custom file properties in google drive and there will be better controls provided for device syncing developers now have better control over activity segments in google fit which allows them to better see and control exercise segments which are broken up when you take a break from exercising in google maps it provides developers an easier way to provide you with relevant maps in certain situations and there is a new toolbar all in all once it's implemented it should save you some time for google wallets there is now a donate to google wallet button lastly it's also worth mentioning that developers can be more specific about which apis they need for their applications and that should help create better smaller apps with fewer permissions and less battery drain ingress turned 2 years old this last week and have released an awesome infographic to show off their stats some of these numbers are pretty intense according to niantic labs gamers have deployed 64 million resonators visited portals 178 million times and walked a total of around 127 kilometers which translates to 78 million miles or 327 times the distance between the earth and the moon these are all very impressive and congratulations are in order can't wait to see these stats again in a couple of years earlier this week google bought a company called relative wave and that may eventually lead to better development tools on android okay so relative wave is known for an application they do called form which allows ios developers to see how their app looks and operates while they're in the middle of making it it's currently only available for ios and mac but you can get form and the companion app called viewer for free if you want it we have no doubt this will work its way over to android eventually and likely even platforms other than mac such as pc or maybe even linux this looks like an interesting way to design an application and it'll be fun to see what google does with it in our last bit of news this week is the google play store finally going to make its way over to china maybe google and china have been in informal talks for years now so it's no surprise that another rumor is popping up now word around the digital water cooler is that google is in talks with huawei and zte to get google play off the ground in china this would be a massive undertaking for google that could potentially make them a lot of money because china is gigantic to support that idea chinese developers can now make and sell paid apps in the google play store and that may very well be that pivotal first step so who wants to see some trending applications as usual if you want to check any of these applications out you can find the links in the written companion which is in the video description below we mail is a new email application that tries to re-imagine the email experience on mobile it relies on a messaging chat bubble style interface and has a few fun features like voice emails redesigned attachments management and a really good search function it's free in the google play store right now if you want to try it flexi had a big week they managed to break their own guinness book of world record speed record and to celebrate they have permanently lowered the price of their application to 1.99 if you've been on the fence about buying flexi this is the perfect time to do it but remember that they do have a free trial version so you can try it first to see if you like it the hunt is a community driven fashion application that allows you to snap pictures of various outfits upload them to the hunt and other people who use the platform will help you identify what those items are how much they cost and where you can buy them their demo video sucks but the app itself can be quite handy for those who are fashionably minded and it's totally free swiftkey keyboard got a huge update this last week that helps fix a number of performance issues and lag problems they've also added some new languages on top of that they also released a material design keyboard theme pack for 2.99 so if you want the material goodness but want it on a different keyboard this is definitely the way to go nokia's highly anticipated z launcher is out on beta in the google play store right now it's received a slew of bad reviews because of an activation thing they did and that sucks for them however the launcher itself is very simple and relies very heavily on gesture controls it's not ready for prime time yet but if you want to check it out it is free with no in-app purchases if you want to check out the latest news and reviews about android apps and games head on over to android authority dot com click on the little menu thingy and check out the application section and if you want to join the discussion head on over to android authority dot com slash community set up an account and join us in the forums i will see you there once again i'm joe handy the android authority app guy don't forget to subscribe to our youtube channel and if you want to follow android authority myself or the rest of the video team you can find our social media links in the video description below if you're hanging out for a minute we have a couple of awesome videos for you to watch right over there and they're also linked in the video description below for you folks on mobile finally don't forget to check out the written companion which is in the video description below because that's where you're going to find all of the download links as always thanks for watching everybody and have a wonderful day\n"