What you need to know
- Google has new plans for its Play Store starting next year.
- Ahead of the Pixel tablet release, Google is already working on a Play Store redesign.
- The search giant showcases the new Play Store design for larger screens, with some improvements for Chromebook app listings as well.
Google has announced new features and tools for developers to showcase their apps’ Play Store listing on various devices. The new means are said to be helpful for developers to display their app’s assets like descriptions, images, screenshots, and videos to each device’s form factor, which may include phones, foldable devices, tablets, smartwatches, and TVs.
In the announcement blog post, Google mentions the first significant change for the Play Store, which is aimed at large-screen devices. As hinted at Google I/O, this May, the company will entirely redesign the Play Store to suit the needs of large screens, like the upcoming Pixel tablet. The change includes the above-outlined assets from developers displayed on the new Play Store revamp, particularly in the App and Games Home section.
Google has also previewed the new Play Store redesign for large screens. The provided screenshot looks new and refreshing. The search giant further suggested we can witness the new Play Store revamp next year. Developers can follow the criteria accordingly to ensure their app with its assets is displayed correctly.
Google has also updated its content quality guidelines for this new large screens approach.
However, according to Google, these app assets on the Play Store for Chromebooks seem out of place, as they tend to favor the phone or tablet experience. To address this, Google is introducing the ability to share Chromebook-specific screenshots in Play Console. With the new ability, developers can add up to eight screenshots of their app’s images in a typical 16:9 format.
As for phones, the Play Store will continue the form-factor-specific homepage, a “dedicated surface on phones for users that have additional non-mobile devices.” It allows users to filter for apps that can be found on other devices like smartwatches, TV, or cars.
Google has further mentioned Store listing’s best practices for developers. It includes using device-specific screenshots to represent their apps or game experiences and using device imagery with caution.
You can find more information about Play Store best practices on the blog post.
