Google revamps its Play Store with AI features and more

Google stated Tuesday it’s making plenty of adjustments to how the Play Retailer appears and features in an effort to raised personalize the shop to its customers and enhance engagement. Among the many new options is a redesigned Apps tab, a brand new Play Video games expertise, a brand new tab targeted in your pursuits, and different options that leverage Gemini AI.

The replace builds on different latest additions that goal to make the Play Retailer extra of a vacation spot — like a tab that exhibits you the place you possibly can watch your favourite exhibits or Collections, which organizes your favourite apps and video games into areas like store, watch, and pay attention, Google Play Video games VP and Common Supervisor Aurash Mahbood defined to Trendster in a press briefing.

“For over 4 billion customers, Google Play is a vital gateway to discovering apps, video games, books, films, TV, and well timed cultural content material, and our ambition is to assist all customers interact with the apps and content material that gas their wants and pursuits,” he stated in a press briefing forward of at the moment’s launch.

Not surprisingly, the replace is including AI-powered performance to the Play Retailer.

AI Search and new Apps tab

With a characteristic referred to as Guided Search, customers can discover the app or sport they need to strive by typing in a aim or concept as a substitute of the app’s title. For instance, a consumer might kind in “discover a residence” to be pointed to actual property apps.

The Play Retailer’s Apps tab can be being up to date to incorporate new “curated areas” devoted to seasonal subjects and people tailor-made to a consumer’s pursuits. These might pull in content material from a number of apps, Google says. Within the U.S., content material associated to the WNBA shall be featured right here, as an illustration.

This growth follows the launch of curated areas in India and Japan, which had targeted on regional pursuits like cricket and comics, respectively. Korean customers can even achieve a curated area targeted on video content material, providing a mixture of films, TV exhibits, and short-form video, together with drama and serialized tales. Google notes that short-form content material is probably the most steadily consumed media format on smartphones.

A private residence with the You tab

A brand new You tab goals to draw customers to have interaction with the Play Retailer extra steadily, as it’s going to provide a centralized place for monitoring subscriptions, rewards (like Play Factors), suggestions, stats, and updates.

Notably, the tab will provide suggestions associated to your pursuits, like films or exhibits, podcasts, ebooks or audiobooks, and make it simpler to leap again into what you had been studying, listening to, or watching final.

Players can even see their new gamer profile on this tab, which organizes stats and achievements throughout video games and gadgets. These profiles also can now be custom-made with a Gen AI avatar.

A brand new Video games tab and AI ‘sidekick’

New options for avid gamers are additionally rolling out after the launch of the brand new Video games app that shipped with Android rival Apple’s iOS 26 launch.

Now, the Video games tab will centralize stat and achievement monitoring, rewards, and neighborhood into one place. Play Video games Leagues will enable customers to problem their associates and compete for Play Factors rewards. This kicks off with the primary league devoted to the favored title Subway Surfers, which is able to run from October 10 by way of October 23.

Nonetheless, the extra fascinating replace is the addition of the AI-enabled Play Video games Sidekick. It is a new in-game overlay that you would be able to entry to get real-time gaming help from Gemini Dwell.

The thought is that you would be able to ask Gemini for assist while you get caught in a sport and want steering or ideas. The characteristic builds on the work Google showcased with DeepMind in December, the place the corporate confirmed off the way it was growing AI brokers throughout domains, together with gaming.

“As an alternative of getting to depart the sport to hunt out tutorials or walkthroughs, we’re leveraging the newest Gemini audio-to-audio mannequin to assist perceive your gaming context, offering you fast responses and encouragement,” stated Mahbood.

The Sidekick can even curate and arrange different related gaming data in a single place, so you possibly can keep within the sport. Initially, the characteristic shall be supported in video games from EA and Netmarble, together with Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes, FC Cellular, and Solo Leveling: Come up.

Also new are the improved Recreation Element Pages, which is able to showcase details about the title, together with ongoing occasions, developer updates, and provides. Subsequent month, avid gamers can even have the ability to ask questions and share solutions on this web page to supply or get assist from different avid gamers.

The Google Play Video games on PC providing, which brings greater than 200,000 titles to Home windows desktops, is exiting beta at the moment, too, Google stated.