Both Android and the Play Storehave undergone considerable visual changesin the last few months to accommodate the larger screens of foldables and some ofthe top Android tablets. The Play Store’srevamped multi-column UInow better uses the extra display real estate on devices like thePixel Tablet, with categories now occupying the left panel. Google is doing a lot more to improve your experience with the Play Store on big-screen devices and is even bringing a fresh interface for the search function.
If you own aPixel Foldor any recent Android tablet/foldable, you should already have the new Play Store designthat we first saw last year. Individual app pages now come with rich visual elements like more prominent background images — and videos, in case game developers want to showcase their immersive gameplay. Details on these pages are further divided into two columns so that you can simultaneously explore any app alternatives without going back to the previous page. Even the dedicated Games and Apps tabs feature options that have proper screenshots for different device types.
But a more important aspect of these tablet-facing changes is how the Play Store ranks the apps when you look them up. The search results now focus on the apps that meet Google’s big screen guidelines so that they don’t appear letterboxed or have weird resizing issues in either orientation. This applies to the Play Store’s curated lists like Editor’s Choice apps and games as well. On the flip side, Google will also start warning you if tablet apps cross the 8% threshold of user reports on app crashes and unresponsiveness.
While many of these features are already available for a few foldables and tablets, the Play Store will soon get a new split-screen search interface, as shown in the image above. So instead of going back and forth to compare apps from the results page, the app’s details will show up on the right when holding the tablet in landscape mode. You can scroll through your options one by one, making the process more intuitive and less cumbersome.
Google saidthat the new split-screen search page should go live for users in the next few weeks without giving a firmer timeline. You will have to wait for the feature to be available for all eligible devices, though you may already use many of the Play Store’s practical UI elements mentioned above on your foldable or tablet.
