14 DAY TRIAL // Google has just taken the wrap off the SMS messaging in Android 4.4 KitKat, only a few days before the company is expected to reveal the next Nexus smartphone.
It looks like starting with Android 4.4 KitKat, users will be able to take advantage of third-party SMS applications as their default SMS / MMS service.
The search giant offers an in-depth look into what developers will have to do in order to prepare their applications for the upcoming Android 4.4 KitKat operating system.
Aimed at devs who have already created SMS apps, but who are using hidden APIs, something that Google discourages, Google’s official statement includes lots of information on the new supported set of APIs for building SMS apps.
According to Google, “if you are using the hidden SMS APIs on previous platform versions, you need to make some adjustments so your app continues to work when Android 4.4 is released later this year.”
Given the fact that on Android 4.4 KitKat, only one application will be able to receive and send SMS / MMS, Google recommends devs to disable the ability to send new messages when a certain app is not currently selected as default.
Apparently, without the ability to write to the SMS Provider, any messages a user sends won't be visible in the user's default SMS app, if the application has enabled the ability to send messages when it’s not the default app.
“We encourage you to update your apps as soon as possible to provide your users the best experience on Android. To help you make the changes, we'll soon be providing the necessary SDK components for Android 4.4 that allow you to compile and test your changes on Android 4.4,” says Google.
Last but not least, Google provides a whole bunch of details on its blog site, so we recommend developers to head there for more info on the upcoming SMS APIs for Android 4.4 KitKat.