Google’s tweaking the Play Store to make it better for tablets and folding phones

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The Play Store will be changed to make it easier for people with big screen devices to find apps that take advantage of the display real estate. According to a post on its Developers blog, the company has some changes planned for how apps are ranked and promoted, how reviews are displayed, and the alert messages you might see if you are browsing apps on a tablet, foldable, or Chromebook.

In the post, it was stated that the Play Store will be updated to take into account factors like the support of different device orientations, keyboard support, and more. In the coming months, the company says it will change to prioritize high-quality apps and games.

The Play Store will start showing people reviews and ratings from devices in the same category, as well as showing reviews left by other phone users. It's good to hear that this change is still being worked on, even though the company announced it last summer. Developers can see which reviews and ratings a user has for a specific device in the Play Store console.

To make sure big screen device users know how something will run after they install it, the alert for apps that don't meet compatibility requirements will be changed. Its post is vague on what this actually means, saying that it will provide additional communications later this year.

A lot of attention has been given to tablets and larger-screen phones. The update focuses on improving the big-screen experience with changes to the notification and Quick settings shades. There are some interesting developments at the Platforms and Ecosystems team, where one of the original founders of the company is working on a project for large screens.

The push on big screen devices is interesting, given that it makes no tablets, no folding phones, and all of one Chromebook. I think my ears would perk up if I were in the business of predicting what a company was working on. There are rumors of an upcoming Pixel foldable, and maybe that's all we'll see, but maybe Google will make a better version of the operating system for tablets that it'll just have to make one of its own.