Play Store subscriptions start keeping track of Play Points

Beyond just helping you discover and install new apps, Google’s Play Store can also facilitate unlocking new content within those apps by way of its subscription management tools. Next time you check those out, you might notice a new look, as Google begins tweaking that subscription view to better emphasize key data, including Play Points.

So far, the subscriptions screen in the Play Store has listed your active subscriptions, ones that have expired, ones that are available in apps you have installed, and suggestions for subscriptions in apps you might want to install. But in version 50.2.11-31 of the Play Store for Android, some users are starting to see a new summary up top, including the total number of active subscriptions as well as a tally of how many Play Points you’ve earned as a result. (Thanks: @Blank94855 on Telegram)

If you care about Play Points, that might be a convenient number to have — and up to now, the Play Store hasn’t offered an easy way to see exactly what share of your Play Points is coming in from your subscriptions.

The existing history feature has let us stay on top of our Points totals, and while we could see individual entries for our subscriptions, it was up to you to tally them all independently.

Weirdly, while this feels like part of an effort to increase the visibility of Play Points, at the same time we’re also seeing other corner of the app dial down their interest in Play Points. Check out the profile switcher:

While we used to have that view on the left, complete with a running Play Points total, we’re now seeing the switcher drop that display and replace it with a message pointing you elsewhere to check on your Play Points — a message that takes up even more space than the old view did.

All told, that’s a bit of a mixed message concerning Play Points, but we’re still happy to see the convenient new subscription view. Look for these changes hitting the Play Store on your own phone soon.