Google is giving its Play Store a big change.
The popular search giant recently announced it is revamping its Play Store for devices with big screens like foldable phones, Android tablets, and Chromebooks to help users find apps that can support big screens.
Google previously mentioned it would make changes at its 2022 Google I/O event for large-screen devices.
Google Play Store Changes
Google mentioned in its announcement it is introducing four major updates to help users find "high-quality large screen apps" on the Play Store. These are refreshed app listing pages, ranking and quality improvements, streamlined store navigation, and a split-screen search experience.
Google's refreshed app listing pages feature games with high-quality videos first, with them showing a video banner at the top of their app listing page. This improvement allows users to get a "sense of gameplay in an immersive way" while also demonstrating the functionality and value of their app.
It also reorganized apps and games details pages in a multi-column layout, bringing more of their content higher up the page.
The existence and influence of large-screen devices will now affect the ranking and quality of Google's Play Store. The apps and games that can support a large screen and follow Google's large screen app quality guidelines will be ranked higher in search and Apps and Games Home.
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Thanks to this improvement, users can find apps that resize well, aren't letter boxed, and support both portrait and landscape orientations much more easily. Editors' Choice and other curated collections and articles will also consider these criteria in the foreseeable future, which creates new featuring opportunities for optimized apps.
Additionally, app listing warnings and reduced visibility will also take effect in the improved Play Store to help set user expectations for how apps will look and function on their devices. Google plans to roll these warnings out in late August, giving time for app developers to use Android vitals in Play Console or the reporting API to monitor and improve their app's stability metrics.
Google, in its pursuit of making browsing the Play Store more seamless, simplified its store navigation and moved to a left-side navigation rail on larger screens. This shift puts menu items closer to users' thumbs and makes them more accessible with large-screened devices, especially when they're holding a device in landscape mode.
Last but not least, Google added a split-screen search experience on large screens, separating search results and app details pages side by side - a feature that will be commonly found in foldable devices.
Google's Improved Play Store Availability
Google stated that it will roll out the improvements previously mentioned over the coming weeks; they are the beginning of Google's journey in creating a "tailored Play Store experience for large screens."
The popularity of foldable phones led Google to develop these improvements with them in mind. You may remember that Google released its Google Pixel Fold for public purchase in late June for $1,799, per Tom's Guide.
As such, these improvements are not only for the Pixel Fold but also for other foldable phones like Samsung Galaxy Fold 5, Z Flip 5, and other Android tablets currently in the market.
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