Posted by André Labonté – Senior Product Manager, Android Widgets
On April 7th, Samsung will begin rolling out One UI 7 to more devices globally. Included in this bold new design is greater personalization with an optimized widget experience and updated set of One UI 7 widgets. Ushering in a new era where widgets are more prominent to users, and integral to the daily device experience.
This update presents a prime opportunity for Android developers to enhance their app experience with a widget
More Visibility: Widgets put your brand and key features front and center on the user's device, so they're more likely to see it.
Better User Engagement: By giving users quick access to important features, widgets encourage them to use your app more often.
Increased Conversions: You can use widgets to recommend personalized content or promote premium features, which could lead to more conversions.
Happier Users Who Stick Around: Easy access to app content and features through widgets can lead to overall better user experience, and contribute to retention.
More discoverable than ever with Google Play’s Widget Discovery features!
Dedicated Widgets Search Filter: Users can now directly search for apps with widgets using a dedicated filter on Google Play. This means your apps/games with widgets will be easily identified, helping drive targeted downloads and engagement.
New Widget Badges on App Detail Pages: We’ve introduced a visual badge on your app’s detail pages to clearly indicate the presence of widgets. This eliminates guesswork for users and highlights your widget offerings, encouraging them to explore and utilize this capability.
Curated Widgets Editorial Page: We're actively educating users on the value of widgets through a new editorial page. This curated space showcases collections of excellent widgets and promotes the apps that leverage them. This provides an additional channel for your widgets to gain visibility and reach a wider audience.
Getting started with Widgets
Whether you are planning a new widget, or investing in an update to an existing widget, we have tools to help!
Quality Tiers are a great starting point to understand what makes a great Android widget. Consider making your widget resizable to the recommended sizes, so users can customize the size just right for them.
Leverage widgets for increased app visibility, enhanced user engagement, and ultimately, higher conversions. By embracing widgets, you're not just optimizing for a specific OS update; you're aligning with a broader trend towards user-centric, glanceable experiences.
Posted by Sam Bright – VP & GM, Google Play + Developer Ecosystem
Hello everyone,
Thank you for making this year another incredible one! Your innovative experiences continue to inspire us and bring joy to billions. We recently celebrated some of your amazing work in our Best of 2024 awards, showcasing moments of delight across phones, large-screen devices, watches, and PCs.
This year, we shared our vision for the next phase of Play where Play leans into being more than a store and becomes a dynamic platform that connects people with your content, when and where they need it most. To help people discover all you have to offer, truly engage with your experiences, and keep them coming back for more, we’re making Play:
A destination for discovery: Helping people find their new favorite apps and games and the content within
The best place for gaming: So people can play more of the games they love across more surfaces, with exclusive rewards available only through Play Points, and
Go beyond the store: Where people can get relevant content from installed apps directly on their home screen through our new Collections experience
Check out the video above, or keep reading for some of the key features we've launched this year to help you succeed at every stage of your app’s lifecycle.
New tools and features built in 2024
Launch with confidence
Launching a new app or update is a critical moment and we want to make this process as smooth and successful as possible.
Pre-review checks help you catch policy and compatibility issues before launch.
The new quality panel gives you a centralized view of your app's quality so you can proactively find and address issues like crashes and ANRs, and see recommendations related to user experience.
And with SDK Console, we’re connecting you with SDK owners who can alert you in Android Studio and Play Console when new versions may address quality issues or help your app or game comply with Play policies.
Features like quality panel help you proactively find and address issues before you launch, helping you have a smooth and successful experience
Accelerate your growth and deepen your engagement with users
We've made Google Play even more content-forward with a visually engaging design that helps people discover the best of what you have to offer, wherever they are.
We integrated Gemini models to make it easier for everyone to find what they're looking for with AI-generated app review summaries, FAQs, and app highlights, providing key information at a glance.
Seamless app discovery helps users enjoy amazing experiences across their devices. Now, when people search for apps on their phone, they'll easily discover and install relevant apps for their TV, watch, and more.
Enhanced custom store listings give you even more ways to tailor your content. And now, with the ability to segment by search keyword, you can connect with users who are actively searching for the specific benefits your app offers. Play Console will even give you keyword suggestions.
Deep links help you create seamless web-to-app journeys to take users directly to the content they want, right inside your app. And now, we’ve made it even easier for you to manage and experiment with these deep links in Play Console, where you can make quick changes without waiting to publish a new app release.
App highlights is one of our latest AI-powered features making it easier for users to discover their next favorite apps.
Optimize revenue with Google Play Commerce
We're continuing to make it easier and more convenient for over 2.5 billion users in over 190 markets to have seamless and secure purchase experiences.
This year, we've helped over half a billion people be ready to make purchases by proactively encouraging them to set up payment and authentication methods in advance. With new secure biometric authentication options like fingerprint and facial recognition, checkout is now faster and more secure.
Our extensive payment method library, which includes over 300 local forms of payment in more than 65 markets, continues to grow. This year, we added CashApp (US), Blik Banking (Poland), Pix (Brazil), and MoMo (Vietnam).
Expanded payment options give more ways for users to pay for content. Parents with Google Family setup can now approve their child's in-app purchases from any OS, not just on Android devices.
And new subscription platform improvements, like flexible payment plans for long-term subscriptions, give users more options throughout the purchase experience, which helps drive higher conversions and new subscribers.
Flexible payment plans give users more options throughout the purchase experience, helping drive higher conversions and new subscribers for your app
Reinforcing trust, safety, and security
We continue to invest in more ways to protect users, your business, and the ecosystem. This includes actively combating bad actors who try to deceive users or spread malware, and giving you tools to combat abuse.
Google Play Protect scans 200 billion apps daily. When it finds a potentially harmful app, we let people know and may even disable particularly dangerous apps.
Easier automatic app updates help ensure users have the latest features and improved security. Users with limited Wi-Fi access have the option to get their app updates over mobile data, and within their data budgets. We also launched a new tool that empowers you to prompt users for timely updates.
These are just the highlights. To see how we're continuously improving the experience, check out our quarterly roundup of programs and launches on The Latest.
Investing in our app and game community
We’re continuing to help app and game businesses of all sizes reach their full potential.
This year, we’ve doubled the size of our global Indie Games Accelerator program and selected 60 game studios from around the world to participate in a 10-week program of masterclasses, workshops, and access to industry experts.
Ten studios from across Latin America were selected to receive a share of $2 million in equity-free funding and hands-on guidance from the Google Play team as part of our Indie Games Fund.
500 aspiring developers in Indonesia participated in our Google Play x Unity Game Developer Training Program to build top-notch skills in game design, development, and monetization to kick-start their game development careers.
And the ChangGoo initiative in Korea has nurtured a thriving startup ecosystem, supporting over 500 startups and attracting over KRW 147.6 billion in investments.
And with another year of #WeArePlay, we shared and celebrated the stories of 300 app and game businesses from all over the world. Take a look back at just a few of the inspiring founders we’ve featured.
Looking ahead
I’m excited about the future of Google Play as a dynamic platform that connects users with your amazing content, wherever they are.
Next year, we're going to continue helping you maximize your investments on Play by:
Leaning into content-rich and interactive experiences for apps both within and beyond the Play store,
Building on our gaming destination to make it even more personalized, engaging, and part of daily routines, and,
Simplifying the payment and checkout experience for your apps and content.
Thanks again for your continued partnership and the innovation you’ve put into your apps and games. From our team to yours, happy holidays and best wishes for an amazing 2025!
Today we’re launching the first episode of a new YouTube series called App-etizers, bite sized insights for app developers. For this first episode, watch Max (Google AdMob Specialist) share the secret to growing your mobile app.
Play Store or App Store optimization? A sophisticated paid advertising strategy? A viral social media campaign?
While all of these strategies could help you grow your user base, the foundation for rapid growth is much more basic and fundamental—you need an engaging app.
This handbook will walk you through practical ways to increase your app’s user engagement to help you eventually transition to growth. You’ll learn how to:
Pick the right metric to represent user engagement
Look at data to audit your app and find areas to fix
Promote your app after you’ve reached a healthy level of user engagement
Posted by 
Posted by Sam Bright – VP & GM, Google Play + Developer Ecosystem
