Google Play Store ditches helpful notifications for updated apps

Ben Schoon | Jan 15 2020 - 9:06 am PT

The Google Play Store isn’t just where you get new apps, but also where they’re updated. For most users, that’s done automatically, so updates are just an afterthought. Now, though, the Play Store is no longer showing notifications for updated apps.

At the end of 2019, some users started noticing that the Play Store was sending fewer notifications. Specifically, notifications were no longer arriving when apps were updated.

For those with auto-update turned on, the Play Store would typically update a handful of apps that had pending updates whenever you plugged into a charger. As an example, plugging your phone in before bed might trigger the updates, leading to a notification in the morning to tell users which apps were updated. This notification didn’t serve much of a purpose beyond the partial list, but it was handy to have so you could expect changes of some sort.

A Google spokesperson contacted the folks over at Android Police to confirm that, yes, the Play Store is no longer showing notifications for updated apps. Why? Google didn’t explain, unfortunately.

Presumably, Google isn’t sending the notification anymore since the list of recently updated apps is still showing in the Play Store, but it seems a little odd to take away the handy little notification. Notably, Google does still show a notification when an app is actively being updated. Who knows, maybe Google just wanted to help reduce notification clutter.

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