Google Play Archives

Dark Sky Alternatives on Android: Overdrop, Today, and Appy Weather

Kellen March 31, 2020

The saddest Android-related news in a while dropped today, thanks to Apple (of course). Dark Sky, the hyperlocal weather app so many of us use for real-time weather changes, has been acquired by Apple and will cease to exist on Android come July 1. Apple is a...

Google Play Update Moves the Account Switcher to Match Gmail

Kellen March 28, 2020

A Google Play change/update began widely rolling out yesterday that brings the app store in line with other Google app designs from the past year. The subtle change should make it easier to switch accounts for those of us with multiple Google accounts on a...

Google Play Search Results Start Showing Rating, Size, Downloads

Kellen March 26, 2020

I've always had sort of a love and hate relationship with Google Play. It's the only app store we have, so you can't get around using it, yet discovery in the early years wasn't fun. The app itself keeps changing too, so the layouts and bits of useful...

Google’s Advanced Protection Starts Blocking App Sideloading

Kellen March 18, 2020

Google has this service called Advanced Protection that you can enroll in today if you want an extra level of security on your Android device and Google account. It's still a somewhat-new service, but I feel like it is a lesser-known Google service that more...

Google Play Dark Theme Now Available to All

Kellen March 12, 2020

If for some reason you are hanging onto a phone without Android 10 and all the dark mode action our lives deserve, know that Google Play will at least give you darkness in times of need. Google announced this week that the Google Play dark them is now...

Google Play May Soon be Able to Auto Install Apps, Games You Pre-Register For

Tim January 29, 2020

A presumably seldom used feature on Google Play is the ability to pre-register for apps and games. I don't know if you've ever done this before, but as of right now, it's a really worthless feature for users. Every time I've used it, I'm not notified...

Snapdragon 865 GPU Drivers can be Updated Through Google Play

Kellen December 4, 2019

Qualcomm, with the Snapdragon 865, is going to issue driver updates to its Adreno 650 GPU through Google Play for the first time. There's no guarantee, but that could lead to longer support. If anything, that should mean regular bug fixes and a possibility of...

Google Names the Play Store’s Best of 2019

Tim December 3, 2019

The votes are in and everything's been tallied -- Google Play's Best of 2019 have been crowned! For those who haven't noticed, every year Google holds a user vote on the best app, game, movie, and ebook of the year. That vote is separate from Google's own...