New Android app categories added to Google Play Store

Google is usually silent when it rolls out updates and changes to the Play Store. We know that it’s coming to more Chromebooks, allowing Android apps to run on mobile computers as they would on mobile devices. Another notable change we’ve seen the past months include Google Play showing game and app videos on main screen as preview, as well as, adding Android Wear apps section.

This time, new app categories have just been added to help Android mobile users find more relevant apps. With millions of apps available on the Play Store, it can be difficult to discover interesting ones. There are too many new ones and most of them are listed in categories not relevant to them. Good thing the Android team decided to launch new categories where developers can properly put their apps.

Google Play is a distribution platform that caters to a global audience. Most devs struggle to market their apps while some have it easy. One of the best ways to bring more downloads is to have the apps listed in a relevant category. The goal is to make them discoverable.

Apart from other special features like the Indie Corner, Search Ads, and store listing experiments, Google has added several new app categories from Art to Dating to Parenting.

New app categories are as follows:

• Art & Design
• Auto & Vehicles
• Beauty
• Dating
• Events
• Food & Drink
• House & Home
• Parenting

Some categories have been renamed as well. The ‘Media & Video’ category will now be known as ‘Video Players & Editors’ while ‘Transportation’ will be called as ‘Maps & Navigation’.

Here’s how you can choose a new category on the Google Play Store:

> Go to the Google Play Developer Console and sign in to your account.
> Choose an app.
> Select ‘Store Listing’ you see on the left menu.
> Click on an application type and category under ‘Categorization’
> Select ‘Save draft’ for new apps or ‘Submit update’ for existing apps.

Google Play will be displaying the new categories within 60 days so don’t be surprised if you see new categories.

SOURCE: Android Developers Blog