Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Google is working on a small tweak for Play Store app listings.
- The Play Store may begin emphasizing metadata with new highlights.
- Information like app rating and any badges awarded could be stressed in this manner.
What sort of thing catches your eye when you’re shopping for a new app? Venues like the Play Store are all about app discovery, but apps still have to do their darnedest to stand out from the pack, hoping to grab your attention with a colorful icon or catchy name. But there’s lots of other info associated with an app that might be relevant to someone thinking about installing it, and it looks like Google might be thinking about doing something to bring it to your attention.
An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.
When you’re browsing app listings, the Play Store shows basic data like a synopsis and relevant app categories. You’ll also find the rating, possibly giving you some quick insight into app quality, and see any affiliated badges, like an app would get for being Editor’s Choice or Teacher Approved.
Going forward, Google may start emphasizing some of that meta content in app listings. In our analysis of Google’s recent version 45.3.21-31 Play Store build, we were able to activate a slightly revised interface that highlights those ratings and badges.
Not only does that background element offer a bit of contrast, but Google also dresses things up with a splash of color. It’s still all very subtle, but we can already appreciate how it helps break up the wall of text and numbers these app listings can quickly devolve into, with ratings and file sizes all sort of blending together. A tweak like this manages to render that data more accessible at a glance, while not requiring any extra screen real estate in the process.
Like we said, right now none of this is pubic facing, and as with any in-development change to an app, this could just as easily never arrive at all as it might land with a further revised look, playing with colors and text weighting in order to strike just the balance Google is look for. We’ll keep an eye on future Play Store updates to see if we can track any progress along that line.
