Google's plan to promote Android apps outside the Play Store is starting to take shape, as a new feature called “Collections” reveals a way for users to keep track of their apps from their Android home screen. At this year's Google I/O developer conference, the company presented developers with tools to reengage users with the apps they already have installed on their devices. However, the company didn't provide any details at the time about what this surface would look like, focusing only on the software development kit (SDK) that developers would have access to to integrate with the new offering.
Google also shared that it has already brought on board more than 35 developer partners to test the new feature, including Spotify, Pinterest, Tumblr, TikTok, and Shopify.
During a session at the conference, developers were shown information about a new invite-only Engage SDK, which is largely designed to bring users back to their apps by showcasing content, promotions and deals. The surface, Google said, would “automatically organize the best and most common content from already installed apps” with a focus on enabling cross-application continuous journeys for almost every app category.
With one tap, users can launch an immersive full-screen experience that highlights and organizes key content from their installed apps.
Now we're starting to get an idea of what this surface will look like, thanks to an APK teardown of the Google Play Store softwareconducted by the blog Android Authority. Their reverse engineering experiments reveal a still-in-development feature known as “Collections.” The feature, previously codenamed “Cubes,” introduces a Play Store-powered widget to the Android home screen that organizes app updates into categories like Watching, Listening, Reading, Games, Social, and Shopping.
When users select a specific category, they will see all relevant content from their apps in this space, assuming the apps are integrated with the SDK.
As Google described during the I/O session, the new on-device surface would organize what's most relevant to users, inviting them to jump back to their apps. The company also provided a few examples, showing how retail apps could invite people to continue their shopping journey by highlighting what they had saved in their cart, while apps like Uber Eats could invite users to order their favorite food. Reddit could encourage people to read and upvote interesting posts, while Spotify could show favorite playlists.
According to Google, app developers can also use the feature to show “personalized recommendations and promotions,” which can help them discover other content and offers they may have missed.
The APK teardown revealed that the feature is launching in the US first, before rolling out to new markets, and will also be easily accessible via a shortcut from within the Play Store app itself. That is, when you long-press on the Play Store app, a link will appear to access Collections from the pop-up menu that appears.
Google has not yet responded to a request for comment on the Collections feature, but previously announced that the consumer experience would launch later this year. Note that Google recently announced a new hardware and Android event: “Created by Google”, which will take place in August. We've heard that Google expects to officially announce this feature by then.
