Google Play Store

Google Play Store begins rolling out redesigned ‘Categories’ section

Damien Wilde | Jul 6 2020 - 5:06 am PT

The Google Play Store is now rolling out a fresh lick of paint and redesigned “Categories” section to make it easier to navigate.

Initially spotted rolling out over on Reddit, the newly organized Categories section is joined by a slight re-jig of the Family and Kids categories section with larger sections and icons for better identification of what you’re searching for.

This is by no means a major overhaul but as you’ll probably be able to tell from the screenshots below, the entire categories section is far better spaced than it was previously on the Google Play Store. The new icons are far larger, more detailed, and gone are the circular icons that have been a staple for quite some time. It also looks as though the “Top categories” section has been completely removed — likely as it feels a bit redundant for the most part.

We’re not sure if these new Play Store categories will roll out more widely over the coming weeks or if it’s part of an A/B UI test. However, it is live on several of our test devices, which hints that this change is made possible via a server-side switch.

: Current design

: New design – Light mode

: New design – Dark mode

That’s not all though, as the Family section has also had a minor facelift as part of the Categories changes. There are new chips for each family-focused category, with an overflow menu mimicking the new style. You can also see this in action in screenshots below:

It might not be the biggest UI overall that we’ve seen on the Google Play Store but the new Categories sections might help you find new applications to download and install that bit better than before. Have you seen the new UI on your device? Let us know down in the comments section below what you think.

Dylan Roussel contributed to this article.