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Project Rome for Android and iOS Cross-Device Experiences Hits v1.0
Microsoft announced its Project Rome SDK for Android and iOS has hit version 1.0, providing cross-device and cross-platform experiences that can travel with the user in a variety of scenarios.
The open source Project Rome, in the works for several years and introduced with early versions of Windows 10, uses several Microsoft technologies to make app experiences transition seamlessly among devices, form factors and platforms according to a user's needs.
Or, as Microsoft said in announcing v1.0, "Your apps, like your data, should travel with you."
As detailed in a May 2017 blog post, Project Rome consists of three primary components:
- A programming model delivered as APIs for Windows, Android, iOS and Microsoft Graph, enabling client and cloud apps to build experiences using the Project Rome capabilities.
- A set of infrastructure services in the Microsoft cloud for Windows-based, and cross-platform devices.
- A device runtime for connecting and integrating Windows-based and cross-platform devices to the Project Rome infrastructure services.
On the API front, developers can leverage two primary APIs exposed by Project Rome to drive engagement among multiple active devices: RemoteSystems and RemoteSessions.
RemoteSystems functionality can manifest itself in several ways, with Microsoft providing the following example scenarios:
- Extend the experience: A developer could extend their app to launch on a bigger screen that may be more suited for the task at hand.
- Augment the experience: A developer could create a companion experience for their app on another of the user's devices. This can aid in providing another view of functionality in their app.
- Enrich the experience: A developer could add additional controlling abilities to their app. An example of this could be where a developer provides remote control abilities for their main app from a companion device.
The RemoteSessions API -- which can be used to create group experiences for multiple users in proximity -- can bolster a scenario in which a developer creates such experiences by enabling multiple users near one another to start a session together and collaborate. "Example of these could be where multiple users are editing a photo, video or a piece of music together," Microsoft said. "Or where multiple users are playing a game together."
With the Project Rome SDK for Android and iOS 1.0 now available, Microsoft published several related resources, including brand-new Project Rome documentation. The project's open source code is available on GitHub.
About the Author
David Ramel is an editor and writer for Converge360.