Google is enhancing the Play Store with AI-driven app reviews and curated sections

Google has recently unveiled a series of enhancements to the Play Store with the goal of enhancing user enjoyment. This is a key component of the company’s broader strategy to transform its digital marketplace into a comprehensive experience beyond just a place to shop. In essence, Google is encouraging users to spend more time on Google Play.

Here’s what the company has planned. The update brings AI-generated review summaries based on user reviews to reach consensus. You’ve probably already come across this sort of thing on Facebook and when using Google search. The company first announced this feature at this year’s I/O event.

This AI-adjacent approach also applies to automatically generated FAQs for each app running on Gemini models. Additionally, there are AI-generated highlights that provide a quick summary of a specific app. Google showed off a still image of this in the photo editing app, where highlights included the number of filters and layouts available, as well as tools and sharing options. This AI approach also allows users to quickly compare apps in similar categories.

Google is also introducing shared spaces in the Play Store. These aren’t communities or mini-social networks like Reddit or something, but rather landing pages for various topics of interest. The company started this project with a pilot involving cricket. The shared space allowed users in India to “explore all their cricket content from different channels in one, convenient place”. This included relevant videos, around 100 curated cricket-related apps and some simple user surveys. The next curated space is about Japanese manga. There is no word on when this feature will expand to more categories available to global users.

The whole “buying a new game” experience is also getting an update that focuses primarily on discovery. Google promises “enriched game details” pages with YouTube videos from developers and clearly marked offers, which reminds me of Steam. This even extends to the post-purchase experience, as returning users will see updated developer notes and a section for tips and tricks. The program is in its early stages and currently only available to English-speaking users. Google’s often overlooked Play Pass is also getting new games like Asphalt Legends Unite and Candy Crush Saga, as well as a feature that allows users to play multiple games at once on PC.

Finally, there are some personalizations in this update. The new Collections feature offers custom categories based on previously purchased apps. This means that each Google Play home screen is different for each user, providing an easy way to resume a presentation or quit a video game.

Many of these updates will begin rolling out today, although some are still in the early stages. Others, like shared spaces, still have some kinks to work out.