Listings and recommendations should become more useful
While the Android Dev Summit takes a week off before diving into the subject of form factors, the Google Play team is announcing some new capabilities for app developers that will subtly impact how users experience the Play Store. Some of the changes will give more visibility and promotion to some apps while blocking some others from appearing in recommendations, and you may even see some app listings change descriptions just for you.
First, in an effort to give users a better experience and to incentivize a higher level of quality in the apps you try, Google will begin filtering app recommendations to restrict those that crash or freeze too often. Apps that exceed the threshold of 1.09% crashes or 0.47% ANRs (“Application Not Responding,” or freezing for 5 seconds) will no longer appear in lists of recommended apps, or may carry a warning on the listing to let users know the app may suffer from quality issues.
Source: Google
A new feature is also in the works for reintroducing users to apps that may not have worked out for them in the past. Google Play calls this Churned-user Custom Store Listings, and it will allow developers to craft alternate app listings that appear for users that have tried an app and subsequently uninstalled it. This can ideally create an opportunity to set different expectations for how an app can be useful or where it may fit into different workflows. Of course, this may mean you will find yourself looking at a listing that changes significantly between the first and second time you see it.
Finally, the LiveOps program is about to be renamed to “Promotional Content” in an effort to better reflect its intent. First announced earlier this year during Google I/O, the program gives select developers an opportunity to highlight special events, limited-time offers, and other notable promotions directly in the Play Store’s top-level pages — as opposed to merely mentioning them in the listing. In the coming months, Google will be welcoming more developers into the program and expanding to more promotional formats and different placement opportunities.
Source: Google
Google also detailed a couple of other new things that can help to protect them against malicious hacking attempts and dishonest reviews. The first comes as a set of new features coming to the Play Integrity API that will assist in detecting risky network traffic and debugging the API on devices. Meanwhile, Google Play is establishing a program that will work more closely with developers to combat maliciously posted reviews that are merely intended to attack the developer or push an app out of competition.
Both the Churned-user Custom Store Listings and the recently renamed Promotional Content programs are in closed beta. Check out Google’s blog post for more details and to find the application forms.
