Android is a mobile operating system based on a modified version of the Linux kernel and other open-source software,designed primarily for touchscreen-based mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Android has historically been developed by a consortium of developers known as the Open Handset Alliance,but its most widely used version is primarily developed by Google. First released in 2008,Android is the world's most widely used operating system;the latest version,released on October 15,2024,is Android 15.
The Android Debug Bridge is a programming tool used for the debugging of Android-based devices. The daemon on the Android device connects with the server on the host PC over USB or TCP,which connects to the client that is used by the end-user over TCP. Made available as open-source software under the Apache License by Google since 2007,its features include a shell and the possibility to make backups. The adb software is available for Windows,Linux and macOS. It has been misused by botnets and other malware,for which mitigations were developed such as RSA authentication and device whitelisting.
Google Authenticator is a software-based authenticator by Google. It implements multi-factor authentication services using the time-based one-time password and HMAC-based one-time password,for authenticating users of software applications.
Google Play,which is also known as the Google Play Store or Play Store,is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certified devices running on the Android operating system and its derivatives,as well as ChromeOS,allowing users to browse and download applications developed with the Android software development kit and published through Google. Google Play has also served as a digital media store,with it offering various media for purchase such as books,movies,musical singles,television programs,and videogames.
Google Hangouts was a cross-platform instant messaging (IM) service developed by Google. It originally was a feature of Google+,becoming a standalone product in 2013,when Google also began integrating features from Google+ Messenger and Google Talk into Hangouts. Google then began integrating features of Google Voice,its Internet telephony product,into Hangouts,stating that Hangouts was designed to be "the future" of Voice.
Android KitKat is the codename for the eleventh Android mobile operating system,representing release version 4.4. Unveiled on September 3,2013,KitKat focused primarily on optimizing the operating system for improved performance on entry-level devices with limited resources. As of October 2022,1.39% of Android devices run KitKat. On July 24,2023,Google announced that Google Play Services would no longer support KitKat in August of that year. The first phone with Android KitKat was the Nexus 5.
Wear OS is a closed-source Android distribution designed for smartwatches and other wearable computers,developed by Google. WearOS is designed to pair with mobile phones running Android or iOS,providing mobile notifications into a smartwatch form factor and integration with the Google Assistant technology.
Google Fit is a health-tracking platform developed by Google for the Android operating system,Wear OS,and iOS. It is a single set of APIs that blends data from multiple apps and devices. Google Fit uses sensors in a user's activity tracker or mobile device to record physical fitness activities,which are measured against the user's fitness goals to provide a comprehensive view of their fitness.
Android Marshmallow is the sixth major version of the Android operating system developed by Google,being the successor to Android Lollipop. It was announced at Google I/O on May 28,2015,and released the same day as a beta,before being officially released on September 29,2015. It was succeeded by Android Nougat on August 22,2016.
Android Nougat is the seventh major version and 14th original version of the Android operating system. First released as an alpha test version on March 9,2016,it was officially released on August 22,2016,with Nexus devices being the first to receive the update.
Android Oreo is the eighth major release and the 15th version of the Android mobile operating system.
Flutter is an open-source UI software development kit created by Google. It can be used to develop cross platform applications from a single codebase for the web,Fuchsia,Android,iOS,Linux,macOS,and Windows. First described in 2015,Flutter was released in May 2017. Flutter is used internally by Google in apps such as Google Pay and Google Earth as well as other software developers including ByteDance and Alibaba.
ARCore,also known as Google Play Services for AR,is a software development kit developed by Google that allows for augmented reality (AR) applications to be built. ARCore has been integrated into a multitude of devices.
Android Pie,also known as Android 9 is the ninth major release and the 16th version of the Android mobile operating system. It was first released as a developer preview on March 7,2018,and was released publicly on August 6,2018.
Google Podcasts was a podcast application developed by Google and released on June 18,2018,for Android devices,and released on iOS devices on March 24,2020.
Android 10 is the tenth major release and the 17th version of the Android mobile operating system. It was first released as a developer preview on March 13,2019,and was released publicly on September 3,2019.
MicroG is a free and open-source implementation of proprietary Google libraries that serves as a replacement for Google Play Services on the Android operating system. It is maintained by the German developer Marvin Wißfeld. He describes microG as "the framework to create a fully-compatible Android distribution without any proprietary Google components".
Google Messages is a text messaging software application developed by Google for its Android and Wear OS mobile operating systems. It is also available as a web app.
Android 11 is the eleventh major release and 18th version of Android,the mobile operating system developed by the Open Handset Alliance led by Google. It was released on September 8,2020. The first phone launched in Europe with Android 11 was the Vivo X51 5G and after its full stable release,the first phone in the world which came with Android 11 was Google Pixel 5.
Android App Bundle is the Android application publishing file format. The App Bundle must include the application's compiled code and resources,which allows for the signing and generation of APK files to be deferred to the app store,reducing the initial download size of the app. The file extension used for this format is ".aab".
