Google Play Store

724 'Google Play Store' stories August 2012 - April 2018

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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.

2018 Google Play Award nominees announced highlighting best Android apps & games

Abner Li Apr 24 2018 - 10:00 am PT

Since 2016, the Google Play Awards have recognized the top apps and games for Android available on the Play Store. The nominees for the 2018 edition are now out with several new categories focussing on growth areas and recent trends.

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Google Play Store 9.7 testing a nearly full-white UI, ‘similar app’ badges [APK Insight]

Ben Schoon Apr 18 2018 - 2:02 pm PT

New Play Store UI tests are always underway on Android. Google has revamped the Play Store with some new designs in the past, and in the latest version, it seems the company is preparing a brand new, nearly all-white design for the app…

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These Material Design 2-inspired concepts imagine the next iteration of the Google Play Store [Gallery]

Ben Schoon Apr 10 2018 - 10:41 am PT

Since the debut of Material Design, Google’s designs have been my favorite. However, it’s been quite a long time since Material Design first landed, and the look of various Google apps is starting to get stale. With Material Design 2 supposedly on the horizon, we’ve been curious what the company has in store, and thanks to a new concept, we can imagine what that will look like…

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Google Play names best Android Excellence apps and games for Q2 2018

Abner Li Apr 5 2018 - 12:22 pm PT

Google last year revamped Editors’ Choice on the Play Store to Android Excellence with a new focus on editorial content and lists. This quarterly collection highlights the best Android apps, games, and experiences, with the latest edition now available.

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Google Play Store

Google Play Store to beta test in-line video ads for apps

Abner Li Mar 15 2018 - 8:38 am PT

Ahead of the Game Developers Conference next week, Google’s ad services are launching new tools to help gaming developers better advertise apps. This includes video ads in the Play Store and more types of rewarded ads.

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How to join the Google Play Services beta on Android

Justin Duino Feb 6 2018 - 1:43 am PT

Typically, when Google rolls out an update to Play Services, it introduces new features or functionality to Android. One instance of this was when Google rolled out Assistant to most modern smartphones. If you want these updates even earlier, you can enroll in Google Play Services beta track. Here’s how…

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How to update Google Play Services on Android

Justin Duino Feb 1 2018 - 10:59 pm PT

Google Play Services, just like most apps, gets updated through the Play Store. And just like with some apps, Play Services doesn’t get updated on the device as soon as a new version is available. Here’s how to manually update Google Play Services…

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Google Play Store Android

How to download applications on Android from the Google Play Store

Justin Duino Feb 1 2018 - 1:53 am PT

If you’re new to the Android platform, one of the first things you need to know how to do is download and update applications. Here’s a quick Android Basics to get you started…

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Google Play details 2017 protections against copycat, inappropriate, & malware Android apps

Abner Li Jan 30 2018 - 9:59 am PT

Google Play Store

Platforms with any scale have the chance to be abused and the Play Store is no exception. Today, Google detailed its efforts to protect users throughout 2017, including removal stats and its latest machine learning techniques.

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Google testing tweaked ‘Free up space’ uninstall feature for the Play Store

Abner Li Jan 25 2018 - 2:11 pm PT

Google Play Store

Given the “Free up space” feature in Google Photos and the recent launch of Files Go, storage management is a significant issue for some users. The Play Store has long had a similar feature to delete apps, but Google is now testing a more prominent revamp of the functionality.

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Audiobooks launch in Google Play Books with new store and Assistant, Cast integration

Abner Li Jan 23 2018 - 9:29 am PT

Google Play Books

Over the weekend, Google Play inadvertently teased the launch of an audiobook store and listening feature. Today, that functionality is officially launching as part of Play Books and includes integration with Google Assistant.

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Google Play names the best Android apps and games for Q1 2018

Abner Li Jan 11 2018 - 12:25 pm PT

Back in June, Google announced a new Editors’ Choice section for the Play Store. Besides topical curated lists of apps and games, Google Play also publishes a quarterly collection of the absolute best Android experiences, with the latest one now available.

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Google Play hosts ’12 Days of Play’ sale for apps, games, movies, TV shows, and more

Abner Li Dec 21 2017 - 11:59 pm PT

Ahead of the holiday weekend, Google Play is launching a “12 Days of Play” sale for apps, movies, TV shows, music, and books. Kicking off today and running into the new year, the Play Store is offering a number of discounts as people unwrap their new devices.

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Google Play Black Friday deals: 80% off games, 50% off movie purchase, $1 rentals, & more

Abner Li Nov 22 2017 - 12:04 am PT

Google Play Store Android

In time for Black Friday, Google Play is hosting a number of offers on apps, movies, TV shows, and books. Many of the deals start today and end on Cyber Monday, but some of the best savings come into effect this Saturday.

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Google Play Store Android

UK Google Play Store adds its first 4K UHD movie

Abner Li Nov 16 2017 - 3:35 pm PT

The first 4K movies began rolling out to the U.S. and Canadian Play Store last December. Since then, Apple’s iTunes has also rolled out higher-quality films with a free upgrade for past purchases. Google might finally be expanding the content to other countries as the first 4K UHD movie in the UK is now available for purchase.

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Google Play Store Android

Google Play Store

Former Hulu CTO hired by Google as vice president leading Play Store

Abner Li Nov 13 2017 - 3:23 pm PT

Google last month hired a high-ranking executive from Hulu to lead its Play Store division. Tian Lim was formerly the streaming service’s chief technology officer and is now leading Google Play as a vice president.

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Planned Accessibility Service app removals likely due to ‘toast overlay’ attack

Abner Li Nov 13 2017 - 10:21 am PT

News broke over the weekend that Google was instructing Android developers that don’t use Accessibility Services for its intended purpose to strip away that functionality from apps. It has now surfaced that this change is related to a “toast overlay” attack that tricks users into installing malware by masking parts of the interface.

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Google set to remove apps from Play Store that use Accessibility Services not designed for users with disabilities

Justin Duino Nov 12 2017 - 10:00 am PT

lastpass

To better help users with disabilities, Android has a set of Accessibility Services that developers can use to improve their applications. For some time, though, these services and APIs have been used by some apps (such as LastPass and Tasker) to create unique overlay user interfaces and control functions within other apps.

Now, according to an email from Google, unless developers can describe how the app properly uses the Accessibility Services to help users who are disabled, it will need to remove all requests for accessibility services or it will be taken off of the Play Store…

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Free Money: Snag 10% off $50 Google Play gift card digitally delivered in minutes from Amazon

9to5 Staff Oct 29 2017 - 8:41 pm PT

From 9to5Toys.com:

Amazon has a $50 Google Play Store digital gift card on sale for $45 when you use the coupon code GOOGLE5 at checkout. This is $5 off of the normal price, saving you a few bucks this holiday season.

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How to stop new apps from being added to your home screen on Android Oreo

Justin Duino Oct 29 2017 - 6:00 am PT

Android has long had a feature that automatically added shortcuts to the home screen after they were downloaded from the Google Play Store. As this could get annoying, the feature could be disabled within the Play Store’s settings menu. With Oreo, though, Google moved this setting out of the store itself and placed it into one of the operating system’s menus. Here’s how to turn this automatic feature off…

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Google Play Store

Google halving its cut of in-app subscriptions, mirroring Apple’s move last year

Ben Lovejoy Oct 20 2017 - 5:16 am PT

Google Play Store Android

Google has announced that it is halving its commission on the sale of in-app subscriptions from 30% to 15%. The change will take effect in January of next year.

The move mirrors one made by Apple last year, likely for the same reasons …

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Google Play Store rolling out nested tab design that goes against Material guidelines

Abner Li Oct 18 2017 - 7:39 pm PT

Several weeks ago, users spotted a new Google Play design on Android that featured a nested navigation bar just underneath the main tab of categories. That redesign — which goes against the Material guidelines — now appears to be more widely rolling out today.

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Google Play Store tests displaying top chart ranks in app listings

Abner Li Oct 5 2017 - 8:59 pm PT

Google Play Store

Following a recent redesign to the Play Store’s high-level organization that separated various types of media into their own tabs, Google Play is testing a change that better highlights app rankings. When applicable, an app listing will now include a top chart rank.

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Google Play Movies upgrades

Google apparently testing lower 4K movie pricing on Google Play Movies to match Apple

Ben Schoon Sep 27 2017 - 10:36 am PT

Earlier this month Apple announced the 4K HDR-capable Apple TV, and along with that, the company revealed that it had worked with studios to match 4K pricing with that of HD. Now, it appears that those lower prices are starting to spread to other digital movie outlets, specifically Google Play Movies.

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