Admit it or not, searching for a particular app on the Google Play Store can be frustrating at times. You search for “App X” and it won’t come up on top of the search results. You think Google should know better but it’s not the case as app search isn’t a priority and there are too many apps. With now one billion active users every single day and with almost 50 billion installs over the past year, Google wants to improve and help developers be discovered. Announced during the Google I/O 2015 keynote, more tools will be added to help devs like developer profile pages as landing pages.
Google also said it will improve app search and bring more family-related apps. The latter is expected to show apps that are safe, educational, and age-appropriate. You know how googling for things can sometimes lead to irrelevant information or sometimes, not come up with anything useful at all, but Google search is still the best way to discover new software. Problem is, it’s easily overloaded especially when you try to search for apps. With these changes, Google is expected to show more relevant collections of suggested apps on the Google Play homescreen.
Install rates usually double when targeted app collections are pushed rather than generic sets according Google. The tech giant also said that third-party ad networks will be supported together with its own.
Google will start curating apps to be added to the Family Zone. These are apps and programs that are more suitable for the younger Android users. Soon enough, parents and other adults will see a “Family Star” icon that indicates app is age-appropriate, thanks to the filters set by Google.
To make things more fun for the kids and the parents as well, Google has introduced special pages that feature children’s favorite characters from Dora to Star Wars to Pororo to Peppa Pig among others. I’m sure your kid will love fave character helping him find apps, books, and movies that are interesting.
These changes will provide parents tools and information to help them make decisions for their kids. One can never know if an app or game is child-friendly but a “Family Star” icon can give the adults peace of mind. Parental controls have been updated too so streaming, purchases, and downloads are restricted.
Google is expected to launch this new family discovery experience in the next few weeks.
VIA: SlashGear
SOURCE: Android Official Blog
