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· 5 min read
Michael

Startup time of an application is often key in retaining your users so it can be critical to make start time as short as possible.

One factor that can contribute to the startup time of an AIR application is loading the definitions for the functionality in native extensions. This is normally done by AIR automatically however with the latest AIR release you can now specify an option on an extension in your application to delay load the extension functionality.

· 4 min read
Michael

ANE updates, AIR SDK Manager

This year has been remarkably busy and unfortunately news updates were pushed down the list, but as the year comes to a close I'd like to update on what we see as the major native extension news over the past months.

Major changes across all our extensions include:

  • iOS/macOS Xcode 14 update that required removal of bitcode support and increasing the minimum sdk to 12;
  • Android permissions overhaul for new Android 33+ requirements;
  • Android compatibility when running AIR in a background thread;
  • Apple Silicon support for our macOS extensions;

We have several major projects in the works including:

  • Scanner rewrite away from the deprecated library currently in use;
  • Migration to gradle dependencies in all our dependency extensions;
  • apm integration with IDEs;

Some of the key recent changes are listed below.

Looking forward to another year of amazing AIR development!

· 2 min read
Michael

If you are publishing games to the AppStore for iOS you may have recently received an notification along the following lines:

Upcoming Game Center entitlement requirement

Starting August 16, 2023, new apps and app updates that offer Game Center features need to include the Game Center entitlement and have Game Center features configured in App Store Connect before you can submit them to the App Store. Existing apps on the App Store are not affected by this new requirement.

We noticed that although the apps listed below have Game Center features configured in App Store Connect, their latest binary delivery doesn’t include the Game Center entitlement. In your next app update, please update your binary to include the entitlement.

There are two important things you need to do to your application in order to meet this new requirement.

Firstly, make sure the capability is enabled in "Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles" for your application in the developer portal. Then update and download your provisioning profiles to ensure they are updated with the new capability.

Then in your application descriptor you will need to add the entitlement. If you are using apm just ensure you are using the latest version and then generate your app descriiptor, apm will ensure the entitlement is correctly added.

If you are manually managing your app descriptor additions then you will need to add the following to the Entitlements node under iPhone:

<iPhone>
<Entitlements><![CDATA[

<key>com.apple.developer.game-center</key>
<true/>

]]></Entitlements>
</iPhone>

Once you have followed these steps your application will support this new requirement and you will be able to submit your application to the AppStore.

· 4 min read
Michael

AIR SDK Manager, Adverts, Application Rater

As the end of the year approaches we have been cleaning up a lot of the work we have done this year and starting to set out development goals for the first half of next year. As we enter into the final weeks of the year if there is anything in our extensions that you believe should have priority please let us know and we will be sure to schedule it for the beginning of the year.

Importantly this month Harman have released a beta of the new AIR SDK Manager.

· 4 min read
Michael

AIR SDK Manager, Adverts, Application Rater

As the end of the year approaches we have been cleaning up a lot of the work we have done this year and starting to set out development goals for the first half of next year. As we enter into the final weeks of the year if there is anything in our extensions that you believe should have priority please let us know and we will be sure to schedule it for the beginning of the year.

Importantly this month Harman have released a beta of the new AIR SDK Manager.

· 2 min read
Michael

Play Billing v5 release, IronSource updates

This last month has seen the release of the major update for our InAppBilling extension to support the latest version of the play billing library from Google for the Play Store. This update brings a major change to the way subscriptions are handled and is critical for any updates or new applications released to the Play Store.

Additionally we have released several updates and new mediation networks for the ironSource extension.

· 2 min read
Michael

Many of you will have received the following notice from Google over the previous months:

Reminder

Starting on August 2, 2022, all new apps must use Billing Library version 4 or newer. By November 1, 2022, all updates to existing apps must use Billing Library version 4 or newer.

We are excited to announce that version 14 of the InAppBilling extension brings v5.0.0 of the Billing library so you will be able to update your applications before the November deadline for updates.

· 3 min read
Michael

Cutouts/Notches, InAppBilling testing

This month a series of smaller updates have been released including updates for Application, Adverts and Permissions extensions to address some minor issues that were found in the extensions and to add some features.

Community announcement

The AS3 reference has finally been updated to reflect the latest changes in the AIR SDK since harman took over development. We have been able to host it on the air sdk developer portal, so if you need access to the latest actionscript reference you will find it here: https://airsdk.dev/reference.

Additionally if you have any tutorials or guides that may be useful for the AIR community please reach out to us and we can help you get them hosted on the airsdk.dev site.

· 3 min read
Michael

APM Update, InAppBilling testing

This month a series of smaller updates have been released including updates for Firebase, Adverts and Share extensions to address some minor issues that were found in the extensions.

Importantly APM v1.2.0 has been released! If you aren't using APM to manage your extensions we highly recommend spending a small amount of time to migrate to using this tool. It will save you an enormous amount of time maintaining your application descriptor particularly for Android builds when needing to update the manifest additions.