Following last week’s announcement, Google Play’s new content recommendations “Collections” widget is starting to see broader availability (server-side rollout) in the US.
The Play Store now has two widgets in the picker to highlight the different layout options. They are otherwise the same widget depending on how you size it. The smallest is a bar, while the biggest option takes up your entire display. A pseudo-navigation rail in the latter configuration provides access to: Watch, Game, Read, Listen, Food, Shop, and Social.
Tapping opens a dedicated fullscreen experience with a slew of card carousels. At the bottom of each feed is an app tray.
Of note is the “App library” that basically serves as an alternate app launcher. There are folders for Top used and Recently added, with the various categories appearing below.
The widget is how you access the consolidated feed of content recommendations. For example, if you use YouTube Music, there’s Continue listening, Your shows (podcasts), Mixed for you, and “Similar to [artist]” in Listen.
Under Watch, Google TV users will see various genres, while YouTube offers “From your subscriptions” and Trailers. Read has “Continue reading” from Play Books and title suggestions based on what you’ve already read.
Food shows nearby recommendations from Google Maps, as well as “Cooking & recipe videos” from YouTube. Social will show a “From your feed” carousel if you use Reddit.
Meanwhile, here’s the list of apps that support Collections today and have integrated with the Engage SDK. You can turn off entire feeds or disable individual apps by opening the full Collections UI > tapping your profile avatar in the top-right corner > Collections settings.
Game: Play Store, YouTube
Food: Chick-fil-A, Dunkin’, Maps, Play Store, Uber Eats, YouTube
Listen: Audible, GoodFM, iHeart, Kobo Books, Play Books, Spotify, YT Music
Read: AlphaNovel, Audible, Blinkist, GoodFM, Kobo Books, Play Books, Wattpad
Shop: Adidas, AliExpress, ASOS, Best Buy, FARFETCH, Home Depot, Play Store, Sam’s Club, Shop, Walmart, Wish
Social: Nextdoor, Pinterest, Play Store, Reddit, Tumblr
Watch: ABC, Amazon Freevee, BET NOW, BET+, Boomerang, Brown Sugar, Cartoon Network, Cooking Channel, Crackle, Crunchyroll, CW Network, Discovery+, Disney NOW, Disney+, Food Network, Fox Nation, Fox News, Globoplay, Haystack Network, Hulu, KOCOWA, Max, MGM+, Movies Anywhere, MUBI, NBC, Paramount+, Peacock, Philo, Plex, Pluto TV, Prime Video, Red Bull TV, Sling TV, Starz, Travel Channel, Tube TV, VH1, Viki, Watch TBS, Watch TNT, XUMO, ZEE5.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Comments