The Google Play Store isn’t broken. If it was, we wouldn’t be hanging around. However, it seems to get better and better after each and every update it receives.
The latest update, for instance, changes the way things look and feel.
From this:
To this:
Good, isn’t it?
As you can see, previously, all app updates used to be available under the “Installed” tab. Now? They have their own tab called, you guessed it right, “Updates”. Users also get to view detailed information on the apps they about to update. Like when they last updated the app. The best, bit, in my opinion, is letting users know, beforehand, how big an app update is. Previously, this information was buried deep in the app description page. Handy for all the Kenyans who are up in arms over the disappearing acts performed by their data bundles.
Under the “Installed” tab users now get to do a little tinkering with filters which is very welcome: sort apps by either the last time they used them, the last time they updated them, alphabetically or by how big they are! It’s funny no one is calling Google out for encouraging fat app shaming. I, for one, love seeing which apps are bulky.
There is even more magic: the new “Library” makes downloading and installing or deleting apps that you have previously installed a breeze.
How do you get the new Play Store with these updates?
It’s a server-side update so you don’t really need to do a thing, it will just show up. Like magic. Mine did this morning after a few days of reading about it elsewhere and having everyone but me in the office getting it.
However, if it hasn’t shown up for you, yet, and you are running low on that reserve energy they taught us in Sunday School called patience then you can go to the settings app and clear the Play Store’s app data and cache. This should do the trick, at the very least though, nothing is guaranteed.