Whitwam, Ryan (April 4, 2016). “Google Announces New Google Play App Icons”. Li, Abner (December 1, 2018). “Google Play – linked web site – redesign w/ revamped navigation, organization, and bright UI more widely rolling out on Android”. Statt, Nick (April 4, 2016). “Google Play app icons are getting the candy-colored flat design treatment”. The Verge. Vox Media. Carman, Ashley (May 10, 2017). “Google drops the shopping bag from the Play Store icon”. The Verge. Vox Media. Chu, Eric (February 13, 2009). “Android Market update: support for priced applications”. Warren, Tom (July 25, 2022). “Google Play gets a new logo for its 10-year anniversary”.

In December 2023, Google agreed to pay $700 million, mostly to its customers, to resolve complaints of anti-competitive behavior from U.S. Google also agreed to give users the option to pay through another party other than Google at download time, and make it easier to download apps from web sites directly. Google Play has until March 6, 2024, to comply with the new Digital Markets Act in the European Union.

Seven Days To A Better Google Play Store

Apart from searching for content by name, apps can also be searched through keywords provided by the developer. For the discoverability of apps, Google Play Store consists of lists featuring top apps in each category, including “Top Free”, a list of the most popular free apps of all time; “Top Paid”, a list of the most popular paid apps of all time; “Top Grossing”, a list of apps generating the highest amounts of revenue; “Trending Apps”, a list of apps with recent installation growth; “Top New Free”, a list of the most popular new free apps; “Top New Paid”, a list of the most popular new paid apps; “Featured”, a list of new apps selected by the Google Play team; “Staff Picks”, a frequently-updated list of apps selected by the Google Play team; “Editors’ Choice”, a list of apps considered the best of all time; and “Top Developer”, a list of apps made by developers considered the best. When searching for apps, users can press on suggested search filters, helping them to find apps matching the determined filters.

In 2017, the Bouncer feature and other safety measures within the Android platform were rebranded under the umbrella name Google Play Protect, a system that regularly scans apps for threats. If one app stands out, such as requesting more device permissions than others in the same group, Google’s systems automatically flag the app and security engineers take a closer inspection. Android apps can ask for or require certain permissions on the device, including access to body sensors, calendar, camera, contacts, location, microphone, phone, SMS, storage, Wi-Fi, and access to Google accounts. In July 2017, Google described a new security effort called “peer grouping”, in which apps performing similar functionalities, such as calculator apps, are grouped together and attributes compared.