Google Play Collections widget rolls out in the US

Abner Li | Sep 6 2024 - 8:43 am PT

In July, Google announced the Play Store’s new “Collections” feature, and the widget is now widely rolling out in the US.

You access this content recommendation and aggregation capability from one of two widgets that the Play Store now offers. They are actually the same Collections widget, but Google Play shows them in two styles. There’s a small bar or a full feed that can take up your entire homescreen.

Your apps are organized into Watch, Game, Read, Listen, Food, Shop, and Social. Tapping opens a fullscreen feed with various card carousels, while you get an app tray at the bottom. It just shows apps that fit the category even if it does not support surfacing recommendations by supporting the Engage SDK.

If you use YouTube Music, there’s Continue listening, Your shows (podcasts), Mixed for you, and “Similar to [artist]” in Listen feed. Watch is populated by YouTube’s From your subscriptions and Google TV surfaces various genres. Read has “Continue reading” from Play Books and other suggestions.

Food shows nearby places from Google Maps, as well as “Cooking & recipe videos” from YouTube. Social will show a “From your feed” carousel from Reddit.

An eight feed is for the “App library” that serves as an alternate app launcher. There are folders for Top used and Recently added, with various categories appearing below.

Tap your profile avatar in the top-right corner for Collections settings. There’s the ability to disable feeds or rearrange them, as well as turn off apps.

So far, Google has only announced Collections for the US, and we’re seeing it widely available with version 42.5.15 of the Play Store.