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Google's working on a mysterious new Play Store app filter (APK teardown)
- The Google Play Store is developing a filter to prevent you from seeing apps that link to other apps.
- Support documentation for the filter is not yet available.
- We’ve got a few theories, but Google’s intent for this option is still pretty unclear.
Good app stores are all about discovery, right? They’re supposed to expose you to new and interesting releases, both trying to connect you with apps that align with your existing preferences, as well as introduce new ones you might not have considered before. But there’s also a flip side to this, and sometimes an app store will want to intentionally hide an app from you — maybe one that’s not compatible with any of your devices, for instance. Today we’re investigating one curious new option that’s in the works for how the Google Play Store filters apps.
An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.
This past summer, the Play Store gave users some great new tools to control the sort of apps the service highlights for them, with the debut of interest filters. But as we take a look into the code of the app’s new version 43.7.19-31 release, we’ve managed to uncover work towards a separate filter option that looks like it’s based on app behavior. When we activate it, below the controls to manage interest filters in Play Store settings we get a new toggle that lets us “filter apps that link to external apps.”
What exactly is that targeting? Well, that’s a very good question. Google’s “Learn more” link there has yet to be connected to a new support page, so we don’t get any official insight into why it’s doing what it’s going to be doing.
Could this be about Android App Links, which let developers craft links pointing to content within other apps? What about some kind of reaction to fears that the Play Store will be forced to carry alternate app stores? That one’s probably not too likely, as any court would just see right through this filter as an attempt to sidestep the order.
This feels like it could be tied to security — you don’t want an app redirecting you to another app in a way you’re not aware of — but if that’s indeed the case, why would Google not just refine its rules about acceptable app behavior? If there really is a security concern, it might be a little irresponsible to only address it in what appears to be an optional manner like this. And what’s meant by “external” here? Could this maybe be a tool for development teams that’s connected to the Play Store’s support for internal app sharing?
Ultimately, we’re not quite sure what to think about this in-development filter option right now, and we might just have to wait to see it in action before we get a better sense of what it’s targeting and why. Have a theory of your own? Let’s hear it in the comments.