Cyanogen MOD Platform Grants Deep Third-Party App Integration With Its Popular OS
Cyanogen is rolling out a new MOD platform that will give third-party app developers deep-level access to its operating system. The benefit of letting developers dive beneath the surface of the OS is that it allows them to tap into functions that were previously off-limits, which in turn opens the door for added functionality.
Through a previously announced partnership with Microsoft, the Redmond software giant's already been taking advantage of deep level access in Cyanogen OS. Most notably, Microsoft was given the keys to bake its Cortana digital assistant directly into the next version of Cyanogen, and when that happens, Cortana will be more functional than it is on other Android devices, such as being able to take voice-powered selfies.
"Thinner bezel, better biometrics, faster processors... changes never cease, yet many people are still bored with their devices. Why is this? We think people are intuitively looking for a more natural way to interact with them. MOD enables this by effectively creating a new runtime, a new way to build services for the Android super platform," said Kirt McMaster, CEO & Co-Founder of Cyanogen.
What Cyanogen is doing here is opening up a world of possibilities to app developers. As currently constructed, mobile OSes like Android (and Windows 10 for Mobile and iOS) only allow a handful of apps to be natively integrated, and typically they're first-party apps. With MODS, Cyanogen is empowering third-party app developers to build creative apps that can work across the OS.
For example, a developer could build an app/MOD that allows a user to schedule a ride-sharing service from within their calendar, or make a voice conference call from their Contacts list. There are already several planned MODs, including one called Truecaller that will identify incoming spam calls and texts in the native dialer and messenger apps so you can permanently block them.
MODs will start rolling out in March on devices running Cyanogen OS 13.0 and higher.
Through a previously announced partnership with Microsoft, the Redmond software giant's already been taking advantage of deep level access in Cyanogen OS. Most notably, Microsoft was given the keys to bake its Cortana digital assistant directly into the next version of Cyanogen, and when that happens, Cortana will be more functional than it is on other Android devices, such as being able to take voice-powered selfies.
"Thinner bezel, better biometrics, faster processors... changes never cease, yet many people are still bored with their devices. Why is this? We think people are intuitively looking for a more natural way to interact with them. MOD enables this by effectively creating a new runtime, a new way to build services for the Android super platform," said Kirt McMaster, CEO & Co-Founder of Cyanogen.
What Cyanogen is doing here is opening up a world of possibilities to app developers. As currently constructed, mobile OSes like Android (and Windows 10 for Mobile and iOS) only allow a handful of apps to be natively integrated, and typically they're first-party apps. With MODS, Cyanogen is empowering third-party app developers to build creative apps that can work across the OS.
For example, a developer could build an app/MOD that allows a user to schedule a ride-sharing service from within their calendar, or make a voice conference call from their Contacts list. There are already several planned MODs, including one called Truecaller that will identify incoming spam calls and texts in the native dialer and messenger apps so you can permanently block them.
MODs will start rolling out in March on devices running Cyanogen OS 13.0 and higher.
