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- Not to be confused with Google Store or Google Pay.
Google Play (also branded as the Google Play Store and formerly Android Market) is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It is the official app store for certified devices running on the Android operating system and its derivatives, as well as ChromeOS, allowing users to browse and download applications developed with the Android software development kit (SDK) and published through Google. Google Play also served as a digital media store, offering games, music, books, movies, and television programs. Content that has been purchased on Google Play Movies & TV and Google Play Books can be accessed through a web browser, as well as Android and iOS apps.
Applications available through Google Play can be either free or at a cost. They can be downloaded directly on an Android device through the proprietary Google Play Store mobile app or by deploying the application to a device from the Google Play website. In 2016, the Google Play Store had over 82 billion app downloads and, in 2017 over 3.5 million apps were published. It has been the subject of multiple issues concerning security, in which malicious software has been approved and uploaded to the store and downloaded by users, with varying degrees of severity.
There are a few services available under the Google Play brand: the Google Play Games online gaming service, Google Play Books ebook digital distribution service, and Google Play Pass games and apps subscription service. Google TV, a video on demand service offering movies and TV shows, was known previously as Google Play Movies & TV; Google Play Music, a music and podcast streaming service, was shut down and succeeded by YouTube Music; and Google Play Newsstand, a news aggregator and digital newsstand service, was merged with other services to form Google News.
Google Play was launched on March 6, 2012, brining together Android Market, Google Music, Google Movies, and the Google eBookstore under one brand. Following their re-branding, Google has expanded the geographical support for each of the services. Since 2018, Google has gradually phased out the Play brand: Play Newsstand was rebranded as Google News in 2018; Play Music was discontinued in favor of YouTube Music in 2020; and Play Movies & TV was rebranded as Google TV in 2021. In 2022, Play Games is expected to shut down its mobile app in favor of an Android emulator for Windows with the same name.[Citation needed] The remaining standalone mobile app will be Play Books.
History[]
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Former Google Play logo, circa 2012.
Google Play (previously styled Google play) originated as a combination of three distinct products: Android Market, Google Music, and Google eBookstore.[Citation needed]
Android Market was announced by Google on August 28, 2008,[Citation needed], and was made available to users on October 22.[Citation needed] In December 2010, content filtering was added to Android Market, each app's details page started showing a promotional graphic at the top, and the maximum size of an app was raised from 25 megabytes to 50 megabytes.[Citation needed] The Google eBookstore was launched on December 6, 2010, debuting with three million ebooks. In November 2011, Google announced Google Music, a section of the Play Store offering music purchases.[Citation needed] In March 2012, Google increased the maximum allowed size of an app by allowing developers to attach two expansion files to an app's basic download; each expansion file with a maximum size of 2 gigabytes, giving app developers a total of 4 gigabytes.[Citation needed]
Also in March 2012, the Android Market was rebranded as Google Play.[Citation needed]
The Google Play Store, including all Android apps, came to ChromeOS in September 2016.[Citation needed]
In May 2021, Google Play announced plans to implement a new section with privacy information for all applications in its storefront. The project is similar to App Store's privacy labels and is expected to be released in full in the first half of 2022. The feature will show users what kind of information each app collects, whether the data it stores is encrypted and whether users can opt out of being tracked by the application.[Citation needed]
Music[]
News publications and magazines[]
Devices[]
Catalog content[]
Android apps[]
Games[]
- Main article: Google Play Games
Books[]
- Main article: Google Play Books
Movies and TV shows[]
- Main article: Google TV (service)
Play Pass[]
- Main article: Google Play Pass
Device updates[]
Teacher Approved[]
User interface[]
Features[]
App monetization[]
Gift cards[]
Gallery[]
See also[]
- List of mobile app distribution platforms
- List of most-downloaded Google Play applications