Google Play Services¶
Famoco's Operating System is based on Android (AOSP), but several features and libraries were removed from the original design by Google. This was done in order to allow Famoco to create custom-built features unavailable elsewhere, and to integrate in an optimal way with our hardware, software and mobile services. The Google Play Services are among the elements which were removed from the Operating System.
We are fully aware that not providing Google Play Services will prevent some Android applications which rely on them from running on our devices. However, there are many alternatives available on the market.
Below, you will find a list of them, classified by theme. Should you have any questions or need help during integration, our support team is here to help you so please do not hesitate to contact them.
Push Notifications¶
The Push Notification solution proposed by Google is called Firebase Cloud Messaging (previously known as Google Cloud Messaging). Firebase Cloud Messaging requires Google Play Services run on Android devices, therefore it can not be used on Famoco devices.
Famoco's MDM provides a simple solution to send pop-up messages, which is described on the corresponding MDM documentation page.
Should you need something more complex, there are alternative solutions with companies that provide reliable and equivalent services. One of the recommended solutions tested by Famoco is Pushy.me. Other solutions exist and you can find some of them mentioned on this page.
Location¶
Google provides two methods to retrieve location on an Android device:
- Platform location API: relies directly on the Android system - this API is provided by the standard Android SDK
- Google Location Services API: relies on Google Play Services.
Given the removal of Google Play Services from the Famoco OS, only the Platform Location API is available, the Google Location Services API is not supported on Famoco devices.
You can get more information about how to retrieve location using the Platform Location API here and on the official Google Developer Site here.
Map¶
Another common feature part of the Google Play Services is the possibility to display a Google Map into an application. One of the alternatives to Google Map is OpenStreetMap for Android.
OpenStreetMap for Android is fully supported on Famoco devices and we wrote a detailed guide here. You will find all the necessary information to integrate OpenStreetMap in your Android project on the official project page here.
Barcode Scanner through device camera¶
The Google Play Services API offers an API called "Mobile Vision" that makes it possible to read barcodes. Some good alternatives to read barcodes and QRCodes are available as open source projects. You can find the links to such alternatives here.
We also provide here a tutorial specifically for FX9XX devices (validators).
Finally, for devices with an additional specialized Zebra camera (i.e. FX3XX devices), we describe a simple integration guide in this page.