Google Play Store

731 'Google Play Store' stories August 2012 - November 2016

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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.

Google Play Movies lands in 10 new Middle Eastern countries, Vietnam

Stephen Hall Nov 17 2016 - 8:39 am PT

Google is continually updating its “country availability for apps & digital content” support document, and today it was updated with 11 new countries for Google Play Movies. Ten new countries in the Middle East, plus Vietnam, will as of today be able to buy and rent films straight from the Google-run service.

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Google is testing a refreshed Play Store UI and it’s now appearing for some users

Ben Schoon Nov 6 2016 - 7:14 am PT

The Google Play Store commonly gets slight UI tweaks here or there, and sometimes a major update. We’ve had the current UI for about a year, but now it looks like Google is testing another minor update for the app, and it’s already appearing on some user’s devices.

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Google Play Store Icon

Google adds promotional pricing for subscription apps and services in the Play Store

Abner Li Nov 3 2016 - 12:07 pm PT

At a developer event in San Francisco today, Google announced that apps in the Play Store will soon be able to offer limited-time subscription promos. With subscriptions being the fastest growing business model on Play, Google hopes that this will help developers attract more customers.

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New Play Store measures better combat fraud and spam install manipulation

Abner Li Oct 31 2016 - 5:09 pm PT

After Apple dealt with a high-profile case of fradulent reviews in its App Store earlier this month, Google is announcing its own new measures to fight manipulation in the Play Store. An improved detection and filtering systems for fraud and spam installs is going live today.

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Google Allo passes 1 million downloads on the Google Play Store

Justin Duino Sep 24 2016 - 4:22 pm PT

Google’s new messaging app Allo was launched this week and even though many people are not fans of the app itself, it does appear to have been downloaded many, many times already. Not counting iOS, Allo has so far been downloaded over one million times by Android users…

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Android Basics: How to stop your phone from automatically adding icons to the home screen

Justin Duino Sep 19 2016 - 6:42 am PT

When you are setting up a new Android phone, the Google Play Store on some devices has a setting enabled that will automatically add icons for all newly installed applications to your home screen. This can be a nuisance when you are installing all of your favorite apps at once but, thankfully, it’s easy to disable…

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Android Basics: How to turn on automatic app updates

Justin Duino Sep 19 2016 - 6:36 am PT

One of the best ways to keep your Android phone or tablet secure is by making sure all of your applications are updated. By doing this, you’re helping to eliminate vulnerabilities within apps that could be exploited and used to harm your device in one form or another. Additionally, by having automatic updates turned on, you are sure to get the newest features as soon as they roll out…

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Apple Music for Android hits 10 million downloads on the Google Play Store

Stephen Hall Sep 6 2016 - 8:35 am PT

After first being announced and previewed at WWDC in June of last year, Apple launched its music streaming platform on Android on November 10th. Now, after almost a year of being available to the public (and only a month since it finally exited beta), the app has garnered more than 10 million downloads on the Google Play Store…

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Play Store taking submissions for ‘Early Access’ section, launches app dev events in Europe

Abner Li Sep 1 2016 - 11:17 am PT

Announced at Google I/O, the Early Access section of the Play Store allows developers to have their near finished apps beta tested by thousands of users. The collection has been a success with a million installs and frequent user feedback. Google is now opening up the submission process and launching an event for app and games developers in Europe.

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Google Contacts 1.5 update includes a complete redesign, labels, and duplicate contact removal

Justin Duino Aug 29 2016 - 8:24 pm PT

With Google, it’s hit or miss when it comes to how the company designs its apps. It’s also common that a product of Google’s such as Contacts might have a feature on one platform but not on another. With this update to its stock Contacts app, however, users gain the ability to add labels and remove duplicate contacts right from our device.

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Family Library allows Google Play purchase sharing w/ up to six members on Android, iOS, web

Abner Li Jul 27 2016 - 9:05 am PT

As originally telegraphed earlier this year, the Play Store will now allow users to share eligible apps, games, movies, TV shows, or books with up to six people. The Google Play Family Library has a number of controls to manage sharing and is being rolled internationally over the next few days.

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Play Store now lists actual download and update sizes, new algorithm to reduce file size

Abner Li Jul 22 2016 - 1:43 pm PT

Google notes that Android developers are now more frequently pushing updates to their apps. To insure that the frequent fixes don’t affect user cellular plans, the Play Store has several new features to reduce and be more transparent about data usage.

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HP launches the Chromebook 11-inch G5 w/ 12.5 hours of battery life, optional touchscreen

Stephen Hall Jun 27 2016 - 8:25 am PT

HP has today launched the latest version of its lower-end Chromebook, the HP Chromebook 11-inch G5. At first glance there might not appear to be anything special about this laptop, but there are a couple of standout features: the laptop offers more than 12 hours of battery life, and there’s also a model that includes a touchscreen (essential for those planning to take advantage of recently-announced Android app support coming to more Chrome OS devices later this year)…

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Report: Google also working on 85-15 revenue split with developers, but without year long wait

Abner Li Jun 8 2016 - 3:05 pm PT

Among other changes this morning, Apple announced a new 85-15 revenue split with developers of apps that have subscriptions. Recode is now reporting that Google has had the same plan in mind for the Play Store, but with an important advantage.

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Google Maps gains a public beta channel on the Play Store

Abner Li Jun 2 2016 - 1:30 pm PT

At this year’s I/O, the Play Store gained the ability to let users easily participate in an app beta without having to first join a Group. Google Maps for Android now has a beta channel (via Android Police) that users can easily sign-up for here.

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The Play Store’s Uninstall Manager can suggest which apps to uninstall to free up space

Edoardo Maggio Jun 1 2016 - 6:08 am PT

It looks like the Play Store is now showing pop up windows inside the app to users — at least some — whose onboard storage is running out of free space, according to an Android Police tipster…

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Betas will now appear in Play Store search, localized suggestions for Brazil & India, more

Abner Li May 19 2016 - 1:19 pm PT

The Play Store is adding a few features for both developers and users. Betas are now easier to find and join from the Play Store with Google even highlighting beta apps in a new Early Access section. The store also has new smart collections for tasks that require a combination of apps.

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Google Play Store is coming to Chrome OS in mid-June to 3 Chromebooks, more to follow

Stephen Hall May 19 2016 - 11:09 am PT

We spotted the event description yesterday, but Google today finally took the wraps off its plan to bring the Google Play Store to Chrome OS. While the event is just now starting, we’ve spotted a support page on Google’s site that says the feature is coming to three Chromebooks in mid-June, with dozens more devices to follow…

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Play Store v6.7 lets you join and leave the beta testing program, leave feedback for devs, more

Edoardo Maggio May 16 2016 - 2:33 am PT

For those who are fairly experienced in the app world, joining betas is always exciting and fun — since it allows people to access the latest features and design tweaks — despite the usual presence of bugs.

With the rollout of version 6.7 of the Play Store, Android Police first spotted, Google will now allow you conveniently see if you’re in a beta testing group from within the Store itself, leave and join potential betas, and even give developers some feedback regarding the latest build…

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Google Opinion Rewards expands to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden

Stephen Hall May 6 2016 - 1:15 pm PT

If you’re fond of purchasing new apps, movies and music on your Android smartphone, you might be interested in a less-than-well-known app from Google called Opinion Rewards. You’re obviously not going to get rich quick, but it’s a great way to earn small amounts of Google Play Credit a quarter at a time by answering quick 2-5 question surveys. Today, Google has expanded the app to three new countries: Denmark, Norway, and Sweden…

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HP Chromebook 13, built w/Google is thinner than MacBook, with 3 USB C/A ports, retina display, starts at $499

Edoardo Maggio Apr 28 2016 - 7:24 am PT

Albeit not being full-fledged PCs, Chromebooks are becoming increasingly interesting machines for a lot of people, given that the extremely simple and lightweight Chrome OS generally leads in reliability, ease of use and usually highly affordable prices.

However, a few of these computers have stood out for things like higher-end specs and interesting industrial designs — namely Google‘s own Pixels — and it looks like HP may have found a really sweet spot with today’s announcement. Partnering with the Mountain View company, the two are today unveiling the Chromebook 13, an all-metal machine with truly impressive specs and price…

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Google Play Store continues to lag behind iOS App Store in revenue despite advantage in downloads

Edoardo Maggio Apr 19 2016 - 11:24 am PT

For both Google and Apple, the operations on their virtual stores are hugely important, as they account for millions of dollars. However, there has historically been a disparity between the number of downloaded applications and the actual money generated by them, a trend that seems to have peaked in the first quarter of this year.

According to App Annie‘s Index Market for Q1 of 2016, in fact, Google’s Play Store saw a number of downloads that roughly doubles that of the iOS App Store, which in turns represents the platform with the highest profitability, with over 90% more revenue generated over its counterpart…

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Shazam gains deeper integration with Google Play Music, offering 3-month Play trial for $1

Abner Li Mar 18 2016 - 8:53 am PT

Popular song identification app Shazam has announced (via The Verge) deeper Google Play Music integration on Android, as well as a promotion for 3 months of Play Music (which includes YouTube Red) for only $1.

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App promo codes can now be redeemed via the Play Store website

Abner Li Feb 18 2016 - 1:50 pm PT

When the Play Store finally launched support for app promo codes last month, they could only be redeemed in the Android Play Store. The Play Store on the web (as spotted by Android Police) has been updated to support app promo code redemption.

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