Neowin

Indian digital payments company PhonePe has announced a new Android app store to compete against Google Play. Indus Appstore will offer a localized experience in 12 different Indian languages.

Google Play Games Beta for PC is now available in over 120 countries. It has a new keyboard remapping feature for control customization. Hardware restrictions have also been reduced.

Google Play Store is about to get a new rival app store in India. The new platform is being developed by fintech giant PhonePe which expects to put its app store on various Android OEMs after launch.

A new Google Play policy is designed to give consumers a faster and easier way to delete any data or accounts on Android apps. Developers will still have some time to make the changes to their apps.

Google has managed to prevent $2 billion worth of fraudulent transactions in 2022, the company has said. It outlined a few ways developers can take additional steps to further reduce fraud.

Google Play games on Windows PCs are coming to more regions, including Europe, soon. Google has also partnered with Intel to facilitate faster routes to market for mobile games on desktop.

A new report from the US Government's Department of Commerce has recommended changes to Apple's App Store and the Google Play Store to help stop "harmful" issues for consumers and app developers.

Google has come up with a new Purchase Request feature that lets children send a purchase request directly to the family manager for approval even if they do not have an active Family Payment method.

Google has announced that developers should convert their APK apps on Android/Google TV to the Android App Bundle (AAB) format soon or risk getting their apps hidden from the device.

An update to the Google Play Store will now ask users to update their app if it crashes. Google Play will also have new formats for search results and automatic updates over mobile data connections.

Following the early success of its user choice billing pilot for the Google Play Store, Google has decided to expand the program to more countries. Spotify is rolling out its implementation today too.

Google has been handed a $113 million fine by India's antitrust watchdog for forcing consumers and developers to use only its own billing mechanisms for purchases from the Google Play Store.

Outlook Lite for Android has landed on the Google Play Store. It is currently available in select emerging markets, weighs in at just 5MB and offers core Outlook functionality across any network.

Google has published a detailed defense against Match Group's claims that its Play billing mechanism allows it to monopolize the market. It has accused the lawsuit campaign of being cynical and false.

Google has announced that paid apps in the Play Store can't be downloaded or updated in Russia anymore. This is apparently being done due to "compliance" efforts but free apps are exempt.

Google has revealed that it banned over 190,000 malicious and spammy developers from the Play Store last year. Similarly, 1.2 million apps that violated Play Store policies were also removed.

Google has announced a new data safety section for apps on the Play Store. Developers will be required to answer some questions about how they will use data collected from their app.

Google is effectively killing off third-party call recorder apps in the Play Store by restricting access to its Accessibility APIs which were being used by developers to circumvent Google's policies.

Google has announced that from May 2022, media content such as TV shows and movies is being migrated from the Google Play app to the Google TV app. The user experience will be the same.

Google is putting a halt on Google Play billing services in Russia due to the current unstable situation. It has asked developers with critical paid apps to make their content free in the country.

After a flood of Wordle clones - including those charging a premium - hit the App Store in the past few days, Apple is finally taking charge against copycats by removing them from the storefront.

Nox APP Player is a free, easy to use Android emulator. Play games, run apps, and enjoy a full Android experience on your PC.

Netflix has started testing its gaming service for Android users in Poland. Two Stranger Things titles can now be downloaded from the Play Store at no additional cost for Netflix subscribers.

In a bid to make the internet a safer space for teenagers, Google is making changes to many of its major products. SafeSearch will be enabled by default for teens and YouTube uploads will be private.

Nintendo has announced that it is shutting down Dr. Mario World in November, just a little over two years after the game's launch. The title was reportedly doing poorly in terms of revenue.

Developers now have up until March 31, 2022, to integrate Google Play billing into their apps if they sell digital goods. However, developers will have to file an appeal for an extension.

Google is deprecating support for Play Services on Android Jelly Bean. After SDK version 21.30.99's release in August, developers will have to utilize workarounds to add new components to their apps.

In a sort of "year in review" for 2020, Google has disclosed some of the methods it enforced to combat the distribution of malicious content in the Play Store, along with some accompanying statistics.

Google is improving the Play Console and introducing new metrics which will allow developers to better analyze their apps' store performance by comparing them to benchmarks set by similar apps.

Microsoft Launcher has received version 6.2.201202.9334 update that brings Work profile setup optimization and design improvements. The new update is available for download from the Google Play Store.

Google has announced some changes that Android app developers will need to implement next year. They include switching to the newer Android App Bundle publishing format to decrease download sizes.

Google has delayed enforcing its policy of developers using Google Play billing and paying a 30% commission for IAPs until April 2022 in India following backlash from developers in the country.