The Google Play app on your Android phone is about to get its biggest update in a long time. The announcements came earlier today, with Google saying its end goal is to transform the user experience on the Google Play app, to turn it into more than just a place to download apps.
To do this, Google is implementing various changes and new features, including curated spaces, the ability to list specific interests when searching for new apps and games, and new privacy and app recommendation controls. Let’s dive into some of them.
The first big thing is, naturally, AI, which Google first announced during Google I/O earlier this year. The AI implementation will let you use AI to browse and display app reviews and compare apps in similar categories. The AI can also provide highlights about the app, making it easier to read and find what’s relevant to you.
It sounds rather similar to Amazon’s implementation of AI into the product pages, where the AI can process user reviews and give you a general overview of the pros, cons, and common user complaints about a particular product.
The other big change comes from curated spaces. Google Play will give you a single place to find all the apps on a specific subject. That could be anything ranging from sports, like cricket for fans in India, to comic books for fans in Japan.
The curated spaces will let you access all related content in one place, including things like free chapter previews for comics, live events and trailers, editor picks, and fan reviews from apps you haven’t installed yet.
User interest is a big focus. Google is adding filters like genre that will let you specify your preferences when searching for a new game without having to browse the app charts.
PC users aren’t left out in the cold, either. A few years back, Google added PC support to Google Play Games with the Google Play Games beta desktop app, allowing you to play Android games on your PC. Over the course of the next several weeks, Google is rolling out multi-game capabilities that will let you play two games simultaneously and competitively — essentially giving users multiplayer support.
Next, we have collections in the form of a widget that you can add to your home screen. This widget will show your downloaded apps, books, TV shows, and other content, letting you easily jump back into what you were doing. This was something that existed in the Nexus 7 era, so it’s nice to see it come back and roll out to all users.
The Play Point system was first launched in 2018, allowing members to earn points for purchases on the Google Play Store. Generally speaking, there weren’t a lot of great things to get. That’s set to change with Google rolling out weekly events called Super Weekly Prizes. Users will now be able to enter drawings for a physical prize, which could include various Pixel gear like a Pixel Watch, Pixel Buds Pro, and even phones. The drawing will only be available to Gold, Platinum, and Diamond members and only for users in the U.S., U.K., Japan, South Korea, or Taiwan.
Less exciting, though still important, Google is giving you control over app data. You’ll be able to head to Personalization in Play on the main menu to find the new controls that will let you pick which apps are used inside Google Play.
The OnePlus Buds Clip are a new pair of open-ear earbuds built around a simple convenience. They join Sony’s LinkBuds Clip in the growing ear-cuff category, but either OnePlus bud can go on either ear.
Sensors recognize how the earbuds are being worn and route the audio channels accordingly. There’s no label to check before putting them on, and the feature also works when only one bud is used.
We buy fitness bands and activity trackers to keep tabs on our exercise, but it is easy to forget to start tracking or switch modes when moving between different activities. For Fitbit and Pixel Watch users, that could soon become a lot less annoying, as Google is rolling out a major upgrade to automatic activity tracking that can recognize more than 100 types of exercise, up from just 10 before.
Google first showed off the improved tracking earlier this month alongside the Fitbit Edge. It is now coming to Fitbit Air and the Pixel Watch 3, 4, and 5, and Google claims the added context behind the system makes workout detection nearly twice as accurate while cutting missed activities by more than half. Fitbit Edge will support it too.