Google today announced a change to the Play Store that’s aimed at helping you to find higher quality apps.
Google has improved the Play Store’s search and discovery algorithms to reflect app quality. This means that higher quality apps, aka ones that have fewer complaints about app stability, will be surfaced higher in the results and will be easier for you to find.
So far, this change has had a positive impact on user engagement, says Google. Users are installing higher quality apps more frequently and uninstalling these apps less.
Installing apps with stability issues can be frustrating on many levels. Not only does it make you feel like you wasted your time by installing one app and then being forced to uninstall it and search for another, but it could be a waste of your data as well if you end up downloading the app over the cellular network.
The changes made to the Play Store’s search and discovery algorithms not only help protect a user from wasting their time and data, but they also reward developers that put in the work to make high-quality apps. Getting this boost can increase an app’s number of downloads and can lead to more positive app reviews, both of which are great for an app.
If you’re an Android app developer, Google suggests that you visit the Play Console to see if you can find and improve your app’s quality issues.