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Stadia hits Google's Play Store ahead of its debut this month
Google is set to flip the switch on its Stadia game streaming service this month. While you can play through Chrome or your TV (with Chromecast Ultra), you'll also be able to run games like Destiny 2 and Assassin's Creed: Odyssey on some Pixel devices. To help you get ready for the big day on November 19th, Google has added the Stadia app to the Google Play Store.
Kris Holt11.08.2019
Google pulled 'millions' of junk Play Store ratings in one week
Google is just as frustrated with bogus app reviews as you are, and it's apparently bending over backwards to improve the trustworthiness of the feedback you see. The company instituted a system this year that uses a mix of AI and human oversight to cull junk Play Store reviews and the apps that promote them, and the results are slightly intimidating. In an unspecified recent week, Google removed "millions" of dodgy ratings and reviews, and "thousands" of apps encouraging shady behavior. There are a lot of attempts to game Android app reviews, in other words.
Jon Fingas12.18.2018
Google to let more app developers offer 'Instant' trials this year
Google's just released Android 9.0 -- aka Pie -- so it seems like as good a time as any for the company to reflect on some of the platforms achievements in recent times, and to consider what's on the horizon. In a blog post, director of Google Play, Apps & Games Purnima Kochikar has outlined some of the behind-the-scenes milestones Google Play has seen this year, and hints at a more "instant" experience for app developers in the future.
Rachel England08.09.2018
InfoWars fans flock to apps following recent bans
While a number of tech companies have purged their sites of Alex Jones podcasts and accounts over the last couple of days, not all InfoWars-related content has been taken down. And what's still available continues to attract interest. CNBC reports today that the InfoWars app, which is still available through the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store, is being downloaded quite a bit, taking the fourth spot in Apple's chart of top free news-related apps. As of writing, the app was number 12 in Google's chart of top free news and magazine apps.
Mallory Locklear08.07.2018
Google no longer welcomes crypto-miners on the Play Store
Google has updated its Play Store policy, and it's clear that the fresh set of rules was created to keep out the new types of unsavory and unsafe content popping out these days. One of the changes Android Police has spotted is the addition of a cryptocurrencies section, wherein the tech giant states that crypto-miners are no longer allowed on its app marketplace. Applications that can manage crypto-miners are A-OK, but miners themselves are no longer welcome.
Mariella Moon07.27.2018
Google's Lens AI camera is now a standalone app
Google has made good on its promise to release a standalone Lens app in the Play Store. The feature is already integrated on most Android phones, and the app doesn't come with any new features, so really it just serves as a quick launch for the platform. It's only available on devices with Marshmallow and above, and already many users are reporting that it's not working properly on some devices, but hey, it's Lens. The feature, which lets you identify artwork, landmarks and even dogs, hasn't always lived up to its promise as a computer vision platform. However, Google has recently launched a load of cool new Lens features, such as text integration and Style Match, so at least the separate app means that everyone will be able to play with them.
Rachel England06.05.2018
Philips' Hue app is actually good now
At this year's CES Philips announced a forthcoming update for its Hue smart lights app. The company kept details to a minimum, but now we know exactly what the promised improvements look like, as v3.0 rolls out on the Play Store today. Alongside a raft of feature additions, it's had a complete makeover.
Rachel England05.29.2018
Volvo will embed Google Assistant and Maps into future cars
Volvo announced today that its next-generation Sensus infotainment system, which will run on Android, will have the Google Assistant, Google Maps and the Google Play Store embedded within it. Adding Google Maps has some obvious benefits for drivers while the Google Assistant will give users voice control over in-car functions like air conditioning as well as music and messaging. "Bringing Google services into Volvo cars will accelerate innovation in connectivity and boost our development in applications and connected services," Henrik Green, Volvo senior VP of research and development, said in a statement. "Soon, Volvo drivers will have direct access to thousands of in-car apps that make daily life easier and the connected in-car experience more enjoyable."
Mallory Locklear05.07.2018
Google credits AI for stopping more rogue Android apps in 2017
Google likes to boast of its ability to shut down Android malware, and it apparently has good reason to brag about 2017. The company took down over 700,000 apps that violated Play Stores policies last year (a 70 percent increase over 2016), and it was considerably better at pulling rogue apps in time to avoid infections. Thanks to a slew of new machine learning techniques, it caught 99 percent of apps with "abusive contents" before anyone had installed them.
Jon Fingas01.30.2018
Chrome update rids Android devices of pop-ups and redirects
Android is getting priority treatment again from Chrome as the stable version of Chrome 64 rolls out here ahead of Mac, Windows and Linux for the second release in a row. The version includes the usual bug fixes, plus a host of features designed to make browsing safer and easier. Malicious auto-redirects are out, with the browser blocking third-party iframes unless you've directly interacted with them, and an improved pop-up blocker will stop shady sites from opening new tabs or windows from accidentally-clicked play buttons and transparent overlays.
Rachel England01.24.2018
The Google Play store is now selling audiobooks
The Google Play Store has sold just about every media type for years now, but there's one more category the company is getting into as of today: audiobooks. As a leaked image revealed a few days ago, audiobooks are now on sale from Google Play in 45 countries and nine languages. As with most other Google services, audiobooks are available on pretty much any device you would want to use: Android, iOS, the web and Google Home speakers. To play a book on your phone, you'll need to download the Google Play Books app, which until now has focused on text-only options.
Nathan Ingraham01.23.2018
Google cracks down on apps with shady lock screen ads
Following years of complaints by users, Google is cracking down on Android apps that show shady ads on your lock screen, according to a new developer policy spotted by Android Police. That includes very popular ones like ES File Explorer, which has over 100 million downloads to date. They often force annoying, obtrusive and even spyware ads to pop up for games, iffy anti-virus tools and other dreck.
Steve Dent12.01.2017
Google cracks down on apps that misuse accessibility features
Android's accessibility services are supposed help disabled folks by letting app-makers integrate spoken feedback, voice commands and more. However, developers like LastPass have been using the functions for other purposes like autofilling passwords and overlaying content. That gives them an easy way to read data from other apps like YouTube, but it also creates a potential security risk. Now, Google is telling app makers that they must show how accessibility code is helping disabled users or their apps will be removed from the Play Store within 30 days.
Steve Dent11.13.2017
Google is reportedly working on an AirDrop-like file transfer app
Google has a history of working on apps and services for more rural, data-lacking locations around the globe, like its mobile wallet for users in India and a search-lite app for Indonesian folks. Now, according to a now-pulled app on Google Play reported by 9to5Google, the company is testing a new Files Go app. According to now-pulled Play Store images, the app is intended to transfer files wirelessly, even without an internet connection, much like Apple's AirDrop tech.
Rob LeFebvre11.07.2017
Google Play lets you test drive Android apps before installing them
Google's Instant Apps are available in a few places for curious Android users, but they've been conspicuously absent in one place: the Play Store. Wouldn't you want to check out an app before committing to it? You can now. Google is now building Instant Apps into the store through a "Try It Now" button on app pages. Tap it and you can find out if an app is your cup of tea without the usual rigamarole of downloading it first. Only a handful of apps are explicitly labeled as Instant Apps-ready (the New York Times' crossword game is one example), but we'd expect that list to grow before long.
Jon Fingas10.19.2017
Google can add new features to Android Wear through its app store
One of Google's most important decisions for Android was to separate key feature updates from new firmware -- you don't have to suffer through months of delays from your manufacturer and carrier just to get a new messaging app or a vital behind-the-scenes service. And now, that's true for Android Wear as well. Google's Hoi Lam has confirmed that Android Wear 2.0 can receive some updates through the Play Store, rather than waiting for monolithic firmware upgrades. An update this past week is proof positive: 2.0-equipped watches got support for third-party chat apps in contacts and fewer accidental launches for the watch face picker.
Jon Fingas10.10.2017
Now Amazon Prime Video's Android app is available in the Play Store
Amazon's video app has always had odd gaps in its platform support, or weird hurdles to work around like requiring sideloading on Android. In the last few months, those have started to close, with the news that it will be available on Apple TV, and its inclusion on Vizio's SmartCast platform. Now, 9to5Google points out that the Amazon Video app is finally available as a standard app in the Google Play Store -- no more sideloading required.
Richard Lawler08.30.2017
Apple removes apps from Iran following US sanctions
Apple has been cracking down on Iranian apps over the last few weeks, removing those that offer food delivery, shopping and ride-hailing services, among others from its App Stores. Due to US sanctions on Iran, companies like Apple are limited in the sorts of business they can do in the country, which is why the iPhone isn't legally sold in Iran and why there's no Iranian App Store.
Mallory Locklear08.25.2017
Google’s Play Store will boost rankings of high quality apps
With thousands of apps added every day, Google's Play Store is bloated with poor-quality software. We're not just talking about lame game knockoffs -- lots of the worst are badly-coded monstrosities that crash often and drain your battery. To keep them off the top of app lists, Google has overhauled its search and discovery algorithms to take quality into account and downrank bad apples into oblivion.
David Lumb08.03.2017
Android exploit adds secret, thieving layers to your phone
Researchers from UC Santa Barbara and Georgia Tech have discovered a fresh class of Android attacks, called Cloak and Dagger, that can operate secretly on a phone, allowing hackers to log keystrokes, install software and otherwise control a device without alerting its owner. Cloak and Dagger exploits take advantage of the Android UI, and they require just two permissions to get rolling: SYSTEM ALERT WINDOW ("draw on top") and BIND ACCESSIBILITY SERVICE ("a11y").
Jessica Conditt05.25.2017