Google Play Store

Back in September, Google previewed Play Games Sidekick. This experience is now beginning to roll out, with Google sharing a number of Android updates at the Game Developers Conference today. 

In what could be a bug or behavior change, the Google Play Store is not showing available updates for system-level apps if you have automatic updates disabled.

As has become tradition, Google Play has returned to mark the end of another year with its roundup of the best Android apps and games from 2025.

These days, there’s a pretty good chance whatever movie or TV show you’re looking for is available for streaming — the question is, which streaming app is it actually on? Google is attempting to make your Friday night process of finding something to watch a little easier with an upgrade to search in the Play Store.

Google has launched a new “excessive partial wake locks” metric for Android app developers that will result in Play Store warnings for end users.

We’re due for some big changes coming to the Play Store after the results of the Google-Epic lawsuit, but an additional extension could give the company the final change to overturn the case it’s been looking for.

Besides other incoming updates, the Google Play Store now lets you directly buy digital gift cards on Android.

The fullscreen Google Account switcher started rolling out earlier this year, and the menu redesign is now coming to the remaining first-party apps.

• Android
• Google Play Store

Google Play Store rolling out ‘auto-open’ option for newly installed apps

The Play Store will now allow users to “auto-open” new apps as they’re downloaded to their Android devices, as the functionality is rolling out widely this week.

Following its loss in court against Epic Games, Google has just a few weeks to make some absolutely massive changes to the Play Store – and in effect, Android as a whole – despite the company’s goal to appeal the court’s decision.

As previewed in March, the Google Play Store is adding a “Slide to buy” gesture to confirm Android app, book, movie, and TV show payments.

Last year, Google Play kicked off efforts like Collections to be “more than a store.” The next step in that might be a broader Google Play Store redesign, especially of the Apps feed.

Google I/O meant a lot of changes for the Google Play Store and developers, though two small changes will mean users see more relevant information in apps and media with “Topics” and a Collections expansion.

To raise awareness about what the Play Store does, Google is launching a safety-focused advertising campaign about how you should “download apps not traps.”

The Google Play Store has seen a wide purge of potentially millions of apps over the past 12 months as part of a wider clean-up operation.

• Apps & Updates
• Google Play Store

Google Play ‘Collections’ feed elevates the App library 

Google introduced a new “Collections” feature powered by the Play Store last year, and it’s now better highlighting the “App library” aspect. 

In early 2021, the Google Play Store rolled out a Nearby Share-powered method for sending apps on your device to others. This feature is soon going away.

The Android team this week is putting a “Spotlight” for developers on widgets, especially “high-quality” ones. Meanwhile, Android users will benefit from a new Play Store “Widgets” filter.

Gboard for Android is the latest Google app to hit 10 billion downloads on the Play Store. The listing says the app was released on June 5, 2013.

Instead of a homescreen widget, you can now launch Google Play Collections using an app shortcut.

• Apps & Updates
• Google Play Store

Google Play Store showing repeat Android app updates 

On Friday evening, the Google Play Store started showing Android users repeat app updates that they’ve already installed. This is not the first time that this bug has occurred.