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Overview of the Google Play Core Library

This page describes the Google Play Core Library and how to import it into your project.

What is Play Core?

The Play Core Library is your app’s runtime interface with the Google Play Store. Some of the things you can do with Play Core include the following:

The Play Core Library is available in Java, native, and Unity. For more information about the latest Play Core Library release, see the Release notes.

Import the Play Core Library into your project

Before you can start using the Play Core Library, you need to first import it into your app project. The steps you need to take depend on whether you're developing in Java, Kotlin, native, or are using Unity.

Java or Kotlin

If you’re developing your project using Java or Kotlin, you can import the Play Core Library into your Android project as a Gradle dependency, as shown below:

// In your app’s build.gradle file:
...
dependencies {
    // This dependency is downloaded from the Google’s Maven repository.
    // So, make sure you also include that repository in your project's build.gradle file.
    implementation 'com.google.android.play:core:1.8.3'

    // For Kotlin users also import the Kotlin extensions library for Play Core:
    implementation 'com.google.android.play:core-ktx:1.8.1'
    ...
}

The Play Core KTX library is optional and provides Kotlin coroutines versions for the asynchronous method calls in the regular Play Core Library, as well as other useful extensions that make using the APIs more idiomatic from Kotlin.

Native

The Play Core Native SDK provides a C/C++ API interface for Play Asset Delivery. The SDK is designed for building ARM and x86 native libraries with CMake and for using Gradle to generate Android App Bundles and APKs.

Set up your development environment

  1. Do either of the following:

  2. Prepare Android Studio for native development by using the SDK Manager to install the latest CMake and Android Native Development Kit (NDK). For more information on creating or importing native projects, see Getting Started with the NDK.

  3. Download the zip file and extract it alongside your project.

    Download Link Size SHA-256 Checksum
    52.9 MB ac08ac35502456484d3768a86fbf86cffc58cc34a41cae7dfc55034ebf887dc5

  4. Update your app’s build.gradle file as shown below:

    // App build.gradle

apply plugin: 'com.android.application'

// Define a path to the extracted Play Core SDK files.
// If using a relative path, wrap it with file() since CMake requires absolute paths.
def playcoreDir = file('../path/to/playcore-native-sdk')

android {
    defaultConfig {
        ...
        externalNativeBuild {
            cmake {
                // Define the PLAYCORE_LOCATION directive.
                arguments "-DANDROID_STL=c++_static",
                          "-DPLAYCORE_LOCATION=$playcoreDir"
            }
        }
        ndk {
            // Skip deprecated ABIs. Only required when using NDK 16 or earlier.
            abiFilters 'armeabi-v7a', 'arm64-v8a', 'x86', 'x86_64'
        }
    }
    buildTypes {
        release {
            // Include Play Core Library proguard config files to strip unused code while retaining the Java symbols needed for JNI.
            proguardFile "$playcoreDir/proguard/common.pgcfg"
            proguardFile "$playcoreDir/proguard/per-feature-proguard-files"
            ...
        }
        debug {
            ...
        }
    }
    externalNativeBuild {
        cmake {
            path 'src/main/CMakeLists.txt'
        }
    }
}

dependencies {
    // Use the Play Core AAR included with the SDK.
    implementation files("$playcoreDir/playcore.aar")
    ...
}

  5. Update your app’s CMakeLists.txt files as shown below:

    cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.6)

...

# Add a static library called “playcore” built with the c++_static STL.
include(${PLAYCORE_LOCATION}/playcore.cmake)
add_playcore_static_library()

// In this example “main” is your native code library, i.e. libmain.so.
add_library(main SHARED
        ...)

target_include_directories(main PRIVATE
        ${PLAYCORE_LOCATION}/include
        ...)

target_link_libraries(main
        android
        playcore
        ...)

Unity

Unity plugins are available for select Play Core APIs, including Play Asset Delivery. The preferred way to obtain these plugins depends on the version of Unity:

  • For Unity version 2018.4 and later, install the Game Package Registry for Unity. This will make individual packages available for installation through the Unity Package Manager.
  • For Unity version 2018.3 and prior, download the latest release from Google Play Plugins for Unity releases. This is a single package that includes Play Core plugins as well as other Play plugins, such as Play In-app Billing and Play Instant.

Download Play Core Native SDK

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Terms and Conditions

This is the Android Software Development Kit License Agreement

1. Introduction

1.1 The Android Software Development Kit (referred to in the License Agreement as the "SDK" and specifically including the Android system files, packaged APIs, and Google APIs add-ons) is licensed to you subject to the terms of the License Agreement. The License Agreement forms a legally binding contract between you and Google in relation to your use of the SDK. 1.2 "Android" means the Android software stack for devices, as made available under the Android Open Source Project, which is located at the following URL: https://source.android.com/, as updated from time to time. 1.3 A "compatible implementation" means any Android device that (i) complies with the Android Compatibility Definition document, which can be found at the Android compatibility website (https://source.android.com/compatibility) and which may be updated from time to time; and (ii) successfully passes the Android Compatibility Test Suite (CTS). 1.4 "Google" means Google LLC, organized under the laws of the State of Delaware, USA, and operating under the laws of the USA with principal place of business at 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA.

2. Accepting this License Agreement

2.1 In order to use the SDK, you must first agree to the License Agreement. You may not use the SDK if you do not accept the License Agreement. 2.2 By clicking to accept and/or using this SDK, you hereby agree to the terms of the License Agreement. 2.3 You may not use the SDK and may not accept the License Agreement if you are a person barred from receiving the SDK under the laws of the United States or other countries, including the country in which you are resident or from which you use the SDK. 2.4 If you are agreeing to be bound by the License Agreement on behalf of your employer or other entity, you represent and warrant that you have full legal authority to bind your employer or such entity to the License Agreement. If you do not have the requisite authority, you may not accept the License Agreement or use the SDK on behalf of your employer or other entity.

3. SDK License from Google

3.1 Subject to the terms of the License Agreement, Google grants you a limited, worldwide, royalty-free, non-assignable, non-exclusive, and non-sublicensable license to use the SDK solely to develop applications for compatible implementations of Android. 3.2 You may not use this SDK to develop applications for other platforms (including non-compatible implementations of Android) or to develop another SDK. You are of course free to develop applications for other platforms, including non-compatible implementations of Android, provided that this SDK is not used for that purpose. 3.3 You agree that Google or third parties own all legal right, title and interest in and to the SDK, including any Intellectual Property Rights that subsist in the SDK. "Intellectual Property Rights" means any and all rights under patent law, copyright law, trade secret law, trademark law, and any and all other proprietary rights. Google reserves all rights not expressly granted to you. 3.4 You may not use the SDK for any purpose not expressly permitted by the License Agreement. Except to the extent required by applicable third party licenses, you may not copy (except for backup purposes), modify, adapt, redistribute, decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble, or create derivative works of the SDK or any part of the SDK. 3.5 Use, reproduction and distribution of components of the SDK licensed under an open source software license are governed solely by the terms of that open source software license and not the License Agreement. 3.6 You agree that the form and nature of the SDK that Google provides may change without prior notice to you and that future versions of the SDK may be incompatible with applications developed on previous versions of the SDK. You agree that Google may stop (permanently or temporarily) providing the SDK (or any features within the SDK) to you or to users generally at Google's sole discretion, without prior notice to you. 3.7 Nothing in the License Agreement gives you a right to use any of Google's trade names, trademarks, service marks, logos, domain names, or other distinctive brand features. 3.8 You agree that you will not remove, obscure, or alter any proprietary rights notices (including copyright and trademark notices) that may be affixed to or contained within the SDK.

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7. Third Party Applications

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Download Play Core Native SDK

Download Play Core Native SDK

play-core-native-sdk-1.8.0.zip