Google Play Store

731 'Google Play Store' stories August 2012 - July 2020

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Before the unified Play branding, Google had the Android Market, Google Music, and Google eBookstore. Google decided to merge and rebrand its individual digital offerings into the Play Store in March of 2012.

The Play Store is now the default place to purchase apps, movies & television, music, books, and news subscriptions for all Android devices. The latter four offerings having their individual Android and iOS apps to watch, listen, and read purchased content. Most content can also be accessed through the web.

In April of 2016, the suite of icons were redesigned in a similar style to provide a consistent look across all devices and the web.

[Update: Shutdown delayed] Dark Sky for Android/Wear OS removed from Play Store for new users

Abner Li Jul 1 2020 - 8:13 am PT

In March, Apple announced that it acquired Dark Sky and planned to kill the Android, as well as Wear OS, app. The app has now been removed from Google Play for new users, but it — so far — still works.

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Google Opinion Rewards acquires 50 million downloads on the Play Store

Damien Wilde Jun 30 2020 - 5:12 am PT

Google Opinion Rewards downloads

The Google Play Credit caching Opinion Rewards has now finally acquired the 50 million downloads on the Play Store.

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google classroom downloads

Google Classroom achieves 100 million downloads, boosted by COVID-19 pandemic

Damien Wilde Jun 29 2020 - 6:36 am PT

As normal classroom learning has been curtailed as a result of COVID-19 lockdowns, Google Classroom has seen a surge of downloads on the Google Play Store.

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Google Play Store

Google could be set to bring back Play Store app update notifications

Damien Wilde Jun 29 2020 - 5:05 am PT

Play Store app notifications

A little while back you may remember that Google removed Play Store app update notifications. It now looks like Google has caved and will bring them back due to popular demand.

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Apple Music 3.30 Apple One

Apple Music 3.30 for Android adds support for gapless playback, more

Damien Wilde Jun 25 2020 - 5:10 am PT

Apple Music for Android might not be the most popular music streaming service but with version 3.30 it may entice you with gapless playback support.

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Android Auto

Android Auto races to 500 million downloads on the Google Play Store

Damien Wilde Jun 24 2020 - 10:33 am PT

Despite being a relative newcomer to in-car entertainment, the Android Auto app has now surpassed the 500 million download milestone on the Google Play Store.

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Google Play app subscriptions

Google Play simplifies redeeming Android app subscriptions, adds vanity codes, more

Abner Li Jun 23 2020 - 2:42 pm PT

Google is still in the process of detailing everything new in Android 11 over the coming weeks. Some features are not directly tied to the upcoming OS version, with the Google Play Store seeing a number of updates to subscriptions in Android apps.

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Google Play testing ‘Free trial & install’ button to bundle Android app download with IAP

Abner Li Jun 17 2020 - 2:00 pm PT

play store compare apps

Alongside the Android 11 Beta last week, Google shared a number of announcements for app developers. One related to in-app purchases and billing sees Google Play test a “Free trial & install button” that both downloads an app and starts a trial.

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Fitbit app Google Play Store

The Fitbit app reaches 50 million downloads on Android

Damien Wilde Jun 15 2020 - 5:11 am PT

Despite being more or less essential for those with a Fitbit fitness tracker, the companion Android app has only just surpassed 50 million downloads on the Google Play Store.

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After expanding support, Stadia for Android hits 1 million downloads on Google Play

Abner Li Jun 13 2020 - 11:01 am PT

Google Stadia app

On Thursday, Google gave Android users the ability to play Stadia on any modern phone. Following that expanded support, the Stadia app now has over 1 million installs.

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google play movies

Google Play Movies reaches 5 billion installs on the Play Store

Damien Wilde Jun 9 2020 - 5:12 am PT

Google Play Movies has now amassed a whopping 5 billion installs on the Google Play Store, no doubt spurred on as a result of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

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Google Play fighting bias

Google Play Store on Android prominently links to resource about fighting bias

Abner Li Jun 3 2020 - 8:46 pm PT

This morning, Sundar Pichai told employees that Google is working on “initiatives and product ideas” that support the Black community. The US Play Store is now featuring a resource on fighting bias.

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Google Play Store

Google takes down ‘Remove China Apps’ from the Play Store

Damien Wilde Jun 3 2020 - 5:07 am PT

Google Play app subscriptions

Google has removed a popular application going by “Remove China Apps” from the Google Play Store after the Android app became one of the most downloaded in India in recent weeks.

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Google Play Store tests showing popular gameplay videos within game listings

Damien Wilde May 27 2020 - 5:22 am PT

Google Play Store games

Google appears to be testing some enhanced Play Store listings for popular games, by showing video content from YouTube within storefront pages for games.

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[Update: 8 million] Google removes millions of negative TikTok reviews from the Play Store

Damien Wilde May 27 2020 - 5:10 am PT

play store compare apps

Google has removed millions of negative reviews of short-form video-sharing app TikTok, after brigading by disgruntled Indian fans.

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Files by Google media controls

Files by Google surpasses 500 million downloads on the Play Store

Damien Wilde May 26 2020 - 5:12 am PT

Today yet another milestone has been reached for a Google-developed app, as Files by Google has now hit 500 million downloads on the Play Store.

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Google prepares subscriptions on Android TV through Play Store, teases more ‘soon’

Ben Schoon May 25 2020 - 12:03 pm PT

google play store android tv redesign

The past couple of years have been important for Android TV, and Google is preparing to continue pushing the service forward later this year with new hardware, and apparently, new software. Now, Google is preparing to finally deliver on subscriptions for Android TV, something it promised this time last year, and the company teases that there’s more to come.

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[Update: Google News] Chrome OS trades Android apps for Progressive Web Apps in Play Store

Ben Schoon May 20 2020 - 6:33 am PT

google pixelbook go chrome os laptop

One of the biggest complaints many have had regarding Chrome OS over the years has been the app situation, but that’s been getting better and better over time. A big help has come from Progressive Web Apps, and now, the Google Play Store is distributing some PWAs including YouTube TV and Twitter on Chrome OS.

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Play Store app notifications

Google Play Store

[Update: App to be reinstated, Google statement] Popular podcast app Podcast Addict banned from Play Store over COVID-19 content

Damien Wilde May 19 2020 - 1:08 am PT

Despite having almost 9 years of pedigree as one of the most popular and most used podcast apps on Android, Podcast Addict has been banned from the Google Play Store due to new COVID-19 policies.

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Google Play Store

[Update: Fixed] Google Play Store facing partial outage on Android and the web

Abner Li May 13 2020 - 7:05 pm PT

Google Play Store developers apps disappearing

The Google Play Store on Android and the web is seeing a partial outage this evening. Key parts, like the homepage, are down for some users this evening, though they’re still able to download apps.

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Google Play Store

Google launches ‘Change the Game Design Challenge’ for students w/ free Chromebooks for entrants

Damien Wilde May 12 2020 - 5:19 am PT

Google Change the Game Design Challenge

Google has today officially announced the Change the Game Design Challenge encouraging students to submit their own original ideas for the next wave of mobile games.

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Google Play Store testing filters to refine search results by top Android apps

Abner Li May 11 2020 - 8:50 am PT

Google Play Store games

At the moment, the Play Store’s lookup capabilities are quite basic. Google Play is now testing filters in search that can refine results by only surfacing the top apps.

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Telegram

Telegram passes 500 million download milestone on the Google Play Store w/ 400 million users

Damien Wilde May 4 2020 - 5:06 am PT

Despite the dominance of WhatsApp messenger in vast swathes of the globe, Telegram has now surpassed the impressive 500 million download milestone on the Google Play Store.

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Google Play Store bug prompting repeat Android app updates

Abner Li Apr 26 2020 - 10:35 pm PT

Google Play app subscriptions

An odd bug this evening sees the Google Play Store prompt users to re-download Android app updates that they already have installed on their devices.

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