Tag: Google Play Store

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Mobile Syrup

Play Store API update to help developers separate real users from bots

The world’s most used application store, Google’s Play Store, doesn’t just take the number one spot because of the Android market share but also because a majority of developers want to build games and applications for it.

The Play Store’s UI is not just user-friendly, but also intuitive for developers to manage their applications. As an added feature, Google is adding the ability for developers to distinguish real users from bots on its apps and games, as reported by Android Police.

Google announced the Play Integrity API for app developers at its annual I/O event in 2022. “The Play Integrity API helps protect your apps and games from potentially risky and fraudulent interactions, allowing you to respond with appropriate actions to reduce attacks and abuse such as fraud, cheating, and unauthorized access,” according to Google.

As part of the API, which is set to replace Google’s current ‘SafetyNet’ sometime in 2024, Play Store users would be categorized depending on their activity. The categories include: ACTIVITY_LEVEL_UNSPECIFIED, UNEVALUATED, UNUSUAL, UNKNOWN, TYPICAL_BASIC, and TYPICAL_STRONG.

Subsequently, Google Play will provide a signal that will help developers differentiate between “likely genuine” and “likely non-genuine” traffic on their apps and games.

Although this feature update serves no benefits to the end user, it does make help developers gauge the traffic on its apps, and is a constant reminder of the upgrades being added to the Play Integrity API. However, on the user front, Google is looking to place ads directly in the Play Store Search bar.

Source: @MishaalRahman Via: Android Police

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Mobile Syrup

Google Play Store has deals on games, books, apps and movies for Boxing Day

The Google Play Store has some hot deals for a limited time.

For Boxing Day, you can grab games up to 80 percent off the top games and in-game discounts as well. You can get discounts off Clash of Clans gems, Phantom Wonderland deals, discounts in Candy Crush, as well as deals on starter packs in Free Fire.

The Play Store is also offering 90 percent off apps as well. Including getting Tune In Premium up to 90 percent off for 90 days, 55 percent off VIP plans for Starmaker and 80 percent off monthly in Truecaller.

Tons of books are on sale, including The Witcher, Batman: Year One, The Witcher: Sword of Destiny, The Watchman (2019 Edition), and more, which are all under $5.

Audiobooks like Hercule Poirot’s Christmas: A Hercule Poirot Mystery, The Strain, The Soldier’s Scoundrel, Local Women Missing and more are all under $7.

There are a lot of movies at a discounted rate as well. The Batman costs $7.99, The Suicide Squad costs $7.99, The Black Phone costs $10.99, Click is available for $4.99m, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse retails at $9.99 and more.

Play Pass is also 90 percent off. 

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Mobile Syrup

Google is introducing ads in the Play Store Search bar

After a recent change in ad placements in the App Store, Google is looking to rejig ad placements in the Google Play Store as well.

As reported by 9to5Google, Google is looking to place ads directly in the Play Store Search bar.

Regularly, when you tap on the Play Store Search bar, you’ll be presented with your four most recent searches, alongside your keyboard to type in a new search. Now, on a device running version 33.0.17-21 of the Play Store, folks over at 9to5Google were able to spot apps that they’ve never searched for or interacted with show up in the Play Store Search bar. “They are all games, complete with their icons: Summoners War: Chronicles, Call of Duty Mobile Season 10, and Fishdom Solitaire,” the publication wrote.

Once you start typing in the Search bar, the ads go away, and the auto-complete suggestions take up the screen.

It is currently unknown if the apps/games that show up in the Search bar are boosted by their publishers (paid ads), or if they pop up depending on your search/download history as suggestions.

It’s worth noting that the same apps do not show in the ‘Suggested for you’ section for 9to5Google, which might indicate that the apps showing up is not due to organic suggestions, and rather, paid ads.

The updated Play Store Search bar is not available to all users yet, so it might just be an A/B test that might or might not make its way to the stable build.

Source: 9to5Google

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Mobile Syrup

Everything you need to know about Google Stadia refunds ahead of its death

In case you haven’t heard, the Google Stadia plug is being pulled on January 18th, 2023.

As part of its official announcement, Google reassured those who invested in the cloud gaming ecosystem that refunds will be given. As we steadily approach the month of January, we’ve compiled all the info you need to request a refund from the company.

It’s no easy pill to swallow knowing a platform you’ve invested money and time into is getting the axe. Google is thankfully issuing refunds for Stadia hardware purchases, software and DLC. However, there are eligibility guidelines to follow.

Google has confirmed that purchases on all hardware and software products are eligible for refunds. However, the major caveat is that the company is only issuing refunds for purchases made via the Google Play Store and Stadia store. Therefore, the following products are eligible for refunds:

  • Google Stadia controller (est. $89 CAD)
  • Founders Edition (est. $169 CAD)
  • Premiere Edition (est. $169 CAD)
  • Games and DLC purchases (Prices vary)

Understandably, Google is not refunding Stadia Pro subscriptions. In Canada, premium-level subscription cost $11.99 per month. However, if you’re a current subscriber, Google is not charging for access to the service between now and January 18th, 2023.

It’s also worth noting that returns of Stadia hardware aren’t required for a refund. That means Stadia players can keep their controllers and Chromecast Ultra. Players are hoping that support for the controller may expand following the termination of Stadia. With that in mind, all purchases can be tracked via the ‘Order History’ tab on the Google website. Likewise, with software purchases, there is a tab on the Stadia website that breaks it all down.

The Stadia store is currently closing. Players can no longer purchase new games to play. Google also confirms it is cancelling preorders for upcoming Stadia games. Stadia players will not be charged for the full price of the game. Once again, any dollar amount that has gone towards preorders will be refunded.

With all this said, Google hasn’t outlined the refund process in full. We’re still very early on in the process of Google shuttering Stadia, which was not long for this world. However, it appears the tech giant aims to fulfill refunds prior to January 18th, 2023.

Although Google is issuing refunds, some third-party partners are looking at other means to transfer game purchases. For instance, Ubisoft is looking at a way to transfer Stadia-purchased games from the publisher over to PC. The publisher confirms this is to be done via Ubisoft Connect. Bungie, IO Interactive, and other studios are also following suit.

MobileSyrup will continue to report on the state of Stadia refunds as more information surfaces in the lead-up to January 18th, 2023.

Image credit:

Source: AndroidPolice

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Mobile Syrup

Behaviour Interactive’s Jurassic World Primal Ops soft launches in Canada

Montreal-based Behaviour Interactive’s Jurassic World Primal Ops is entering a soft launch phase ahead of its full release. In Canada, players can download the free-to-play game on the App Store and Google Play Store.

Jurassic World Primal Ops is a top-down action-adventure game based on the long-running dino-centric franchise. Players take on the role of a dinosaur handler who must save dinosaurs from mercenaries, poachers, and other threats.

To help fight back the threats, players collect and team up with a roster of dinosaurs to complete objectives while travelling North America. The game features a ranking system for each dinosaur species. Players can rank them and level them up. In turn, these dinosaurs join players as companions in-game

From now until June 24th, Canadian players can jump into the game and gain access to an in-game event. During which, players take on the powerful T. rex.

Currently, Behaviour Interactive states that Jurassic World Primal Ops is due to arrive worldwide “soon.” However, pre-registration for the game is available now. Those who pre-register are able to unlock exclusive in-game items available at launch.

The latest entry in the Jurassic World franchise, Jurassic World Dominion is now playing in theatres.

Image credit: Behaviour Interactive

Source: Behaviour Interactive

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Mobile Syrup

Google is hiding nearly 900,000 un-updated apps from the Play Store

Google is removing nearly 900,000 old apps as part of its new policy changes. The new policy change looks at abandoned apps that haven’t received an update in two years.

According to CNET, which credits the analyst firm Pixalate, this amounts to nearly 869,000 apps in the Play Store.

Apple recently made a similar move.

“As part of the App Store Improvements process, developers of apps that have not been updated within the last three years and fail to meet a minimal download threshold — meaning the app has not been downloaded at all or extremely few times during a rolling 12 month period — receive an email notifying them that their app has been identified for possible removal from the App Store.” The company included in a press release.

Apple developers were pretty upset about the situation last month, and I’m sure Android developers are also not very happy about the situation.

According to CNET, apps will be hidden from view on the Play Store and won’t appear in search results. Including apps on the App Store, this is a removal of 1.5 million apps.

Source: CNET

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Google released security report stating it blocked over 1 million malicious apps

Google has released a report outlining the ways it fought against malicious apps and developers throughout 2021. In the report, the company states that 1.2 million apps were blocked for policy violations.

“We continue to enhance our machine learning systems and review processes,” team members state in the report. The team continues and states that “We also continued in our efforts to combat malicious and spammy developers.”Google also shut down 190,000 “bad accounts” and 500,000 inactive developer accounts.

Google is adding its new Data safety section for Google Play. Developers now must give users insight into the privacy and security practices within their apps. This also provides transparency into the data the app collects. Google requires developers to complete these sections for their respective apps by July 20th.

Additionally, Google continues to partner with SDK developers to improve app safety. “Last year we introduced multiple privacy focused features, enhanced our protections against bad apps and developers, and improved SDK data safety,” the report states.

Google also confirms that Google Play Protect “continues to scan billions of installed apps each day.” This security measure helps protect users around the world from potentially harmful and otherwise malicious software.

As a result of protecting its platform and users, Google is safeguarding against developers releasing harmful apps. “As a result of new platform protections and policies, developer collaboration and education, 98% of apps migrating to Android 11 or higher have reduced their access to sensitive APIs and user data,” the report notes.

Google Pixels now utilize machine learning models to improve the detection of malware in Google Play Protect. The privacy-preserving technology runs on Google Pixel devices called “federated analytics” to discover malicious apps.

The company closes out by stating to look forward to more “exciting announcements in 2022.”

Source: Google Via: TechRadar

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Apps on the Play Store to show info on how they collect user data

A new “Data Safety” section in the Google Play Store will now show users safety and privacy information about the app they’re attempting to download.

The feature was first revealed back in May 2021 and is just rolling out after a short delay. At the time, Google had said the feature will roll out in Q1 2022.

According to the new feature’s guidelines, developers of all apps on the Google Play Store have to provide information about how their product collects, shares and uses user data. But that’s not all.

“We heard from users and app developers that displaying the data an app collects, without additional context, is not enough,” reads Google’s blog post about the update. “Users want to know for what purpose their data is being collected and whether the developer is sharing user data with third parties. In addition, users want to understand how app developers are securing user data after an app is downloaded. That’s why we designed the Data safety section to allow developers to clearly mark what data is being collected and for what purpose it’s being used.”

This allows users to see whether an app needs to collect the data to function or whether it’s entirely optional. Additionally, the Data Safety section will also show:

  • Whether the developer is collecting data and for what purpose.
  • Whether the developer is sharing data with third parties.
  • The app’s security practices, like encryption of data in transit and whether users can ask for data to be deleted.
  • Whether a qualifying app has committed to following Google Play’s Families Policy to better protect children in the Play store.
  • Whether the developer has validated their security practices against a global security standard (more specifically, the MASVS – Mobile Application Security Assessment).

Google says that developers have until July 20th to update their app’s Data Safety section.

The new section is rolling out today and will be completely rolled out in the coming weeks.

Image credit: Google

Source: Google

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Mobile Syrup

Google kicks off ‘User Choice Billing’ pilot with Spotify partnership

Google announced plans to pilot ‘User Choice Billing’ in select countries with a “small number of participating developers,” chief among them being Spotify. The new billing option will let developers offer customers another way to pay alongside Google’s payment system, which takes a cut of developers’ revenue.

The search giant detailed the new User Choice Billing system in a blog post on the Android Developers Blog. Interestingly, Google notes that the announcement builds on its “recent launch” in South Korea, although as Android Police reports, the policy change stems directly from a South Korean law mandating app stores must accept third-party payments.

Plus, with other countries targeting Google over app store billing processes, it makes a lot of sense that Google would want to expand the system to garner some goodwill with regulators.

Google will still charge developers that use third-party billing

However, Google’s new User Choice Billing system doesn’t get rid of revenue share fees entirely. Through Google’s payment system, developers are on the hook to pay 10 to 30 percent of revenue to Google based on factors like business model and product sold. (the search giant stresses that 99 percent of developers qualify for a fee of 15 percent or less).

As for the new User Choice Billing system, Google explains that it will reduce whatever service fee a developer would have paid by four percent when customers choose to use an alternate billing system.

As per Google, “for example, for the vast majority of developers who pay 15% for transactions through Google Play’s billing system, their service fee for transactions through the alternate billing system would be 11%.”

It remains to be seen how this will impact developers that want to use alternate billing, but I suspect it may dissuade some. Developers who want to use their own billing system will want to make sure the cost of doing so isn’t greater than the four percent they’re saving by using it. At the same time, third-party billing services will need to charge fees of less than four percent to make it worthwhile for developers.

As a reminder, a 2021 report cited internal Google documents that said the company could break even with a roughly six percent fee on the Play Store. Google, however, continues to push the angle that the Play service fees fund managing the Play Store, security, developer tools, app distribution and more.

Spotify among the first to offer a choice of payments

Music streaming giant Spotify will be among the first to offer User Choice Billing. The streamer announced a multiyear partnership with Google that will allow users who downloaded Spotify from the Play Store to pick between Spotify’s payment system or Google’s.

Per Spotify:

“Over the coming months, Spotify will work with Google’s product and engineering teams to build this new experience, and we’ll roll out in countries around the world. Working together, the companies will test and learn, jointly exploring product innovations across the Android platform. We anticipate launching the first iteration of User Choice Billing later this year.”

It sounds like Spotify is on board with Google’s User Choice Billing system, despite that it continues to charge fees. Spotify has long advocated against Google (and Apple) charging app store fees, so this change is likely a win. Just, maybe not as big a win as some had hoped.

Regardless, I’m interested to see how User Choice Billing progresses.

Source: Google, (2), Spotify Via: Android Police