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Hi there.
My name is Katherine Kuan and I'm a developer advocate
on the Google Developer Relations team.
I'm here today with a gift idea for you
for this upcoming Valentine's Day,
or that next special occasion that's around the corner.
The idea is that you can create a mobile app
for your special someone.
So you can go run and tell them, I made this just for us.
In today's fast paced world, you can
buy the most extravagant present with the click of a button.
But sometimes, the most meaningful things
are the things you can't buy off a shelf.
They are the things that you can create yourself and add
a personal touch to.
Because, after all, you're the one
who knows your loved one best and how to melt their heart.
You'll download the source code for the app,
customize it, and then give it as a gift to your Valentine.
Now keep in mind that it could be for any one
important in your life-- your significant other, parent, best
friend, et cetera.
So let's walk through the app.
It contains a list of coupons where each one can be redeemed
for a favor or some event to do together.
For example, you can have a coupon to wake
up insanely early and go watch a sunrise together.
You could have a coupon for a getaway to Hawaii
or a picnic at a vineyard.
These are just some examples.
The only rule is to be as creative as you can be.
Whenever the person is ready to redeem the coupon,
they'll click on it and the Share dialog will pop up.
They can pick which app they want
to use to contact you to redeem it.
There will be a pre-populated message and photo
from the coupon so that you can just hit send.
Then it's up to you to fulfill your end of the bargain.
If they want a more public way of declaring how lucky they are
to have such a thoughtful person like you in their life,
then they can share to G+ or other apps as well.
Let's get into the steps of how to customize the app.
First, you can create a custom app icon.
Roman Nurik, who is a fellow developer advocate on the team,
created this custom tool where you
can insert a photo of you and your Valentine into this heart.
It will generate the icon of you at all the right densities.
When you open up the tool, you'll see a blank heart.
Then, upload your image of your choice, either a picture of you
two, or the picture of an adorable puppy.
You can adjust the scaling and padding in the image
as well so it'll look centered.
Once you create your app icon, you
can download the zip file of the icons and save it for later.
Now you'll want to download the code for the app.
You'll need Android Studio to open the app.
If you haven't installed it before,
see the link for how to set up Android Studio.
Once you're looking at the code, you
should fill in the sender name with your name.
That way, when the coupon is shared to another app,
the sentence will contain your name too.
Like in this example, I'm excited to redeem my coupon
with Amy.
Just to add a personal touch to it.
Next you'll want to add photos for your own coupons
in the assets folder where the other images are located.
Here's a screenshot of what the assets folder looks
like in Android studio.
Now you can just add the lines of code to create the coupons.
Specify a title, description, and the name
of the corresponding image file in the assets folder.
After you're done customizing it,
you can give it your Valentine.
You can use Google Play to make it available to them.
Optionally, you can restrict the app availability
using the alpha channel feature in Google Play.
We've given you the basics, but you can extend it further.
Think of new ways you can bond with this person
by taking advantage of what a phone can offer.
Your phone can buzz when another person is thinking of you.
If you hook it up to a web service,
you can send them little notes or pictures to their device.
So start brainstorming, and be the first one
to build a personal app for your loved one.
That should earn you some major brownie points.
You can share screenshots of the app
that you've built with the hashtag #justforus
and it will give other people ideas on what to do too.
Thanks for watching, and I can't wait to see what you build.