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Google Play Store Testing Ability to Compare Apps Directly

A closeup of a phone showing a Google Play Store logo.
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The Google Play Store is testing a feature that lets you directly compare multiple apps. It’s not widely available yet and currently only works with a select number of media player apps. But early testing looks promising.

According to Android Police, the “Compare apps” section shows up near the bottom of the Play Store listing of a specific app. It shows useful information such as the ability to play content offline, the ratings for each app, the level of ease of use, and what resolution the apps are capable of playing (SD, HD, UHD).


Android Police

Google typically asks users a series of basic questions when leaving reviews for apps so it’s possible the company is simply using that data for the comparisons. With an estimated 3 million apps in the Play Store, choices between competing apps can be overwhelming. Comparisons might help alleviate decision overload.

It’s unclear when or if this feature will roll out to a wider audience or if support for more than just media apps is coming. Version 22.4.28 seems to be the version of the Play Store that is capable of displaying this new app comparison section, but it’s possible a server-side component determines whether or not your device will show it. Nonetheless, this will be a welcome addition whenever Google wants to roll this out to everybody.

Via Android Police

Peter Cao Peter Cao
Peter is a freelance writer for Review Geek. He started out 7 years ago writing about jailbreaking the iPhone and that evolved into writing about general Apple. And now? He’s just writing about tech. He’s written for several major online publications in the past and has written several thousand news and reviews articles over the years. Read Full Bio »