Android 4.4 KitKat to have default SMS app, Developers asked to update apps by Google

Google today reveled a new sneak peek into their next vesrion of Android the Android 4.4 aka Android KitKat.

In a bid from SMS app makers form making API's hidden Google now requires you to make a default SMS app, which the user can select in system settings. Rumor has it that Google is working on making Google Hangouts the standard messaging app in Android.

If you are a Android developer then you should keep the following things in Mind

• When your app is not currently selected as the default SMS app, it’s important that you disable the ability to send new messages from your app because, without the ability to write to the SMS Provider, any messages you send won’t be visible in the user’s default SMS app.
• To enable your app to send and receive messages, you can display a dialog hosted by the system that allows the user to make your app the default SMS app.
• To provide a graceful user experience, check whether your app is the default SMS app when your activity resumes and modify your UI to include a message that allows the user to change the default SMS app.
• Because the ability to write to the SMS Provider is restricted to the app the user selects as the default SMS app, any existing app designed purely to backup and restore SMS messages will currently be unable to restore SMS messages on Android 4.4. An app that backs up and restores SMS messages must also be set as the default SMS app so that it can write messages in the SMS Provider. However, if the app does not also send and receive SMS messages, then it should not remain set as the default SMS app.

With the leaked Video (above) leaving little to nothing to imagine on the upcoming Nexus 5 and the new OS we seem to have more exciting times ahead from the Android world soon- Stay Tuned!