Play Store ratings are country and device specific
From November 2021, Google will break down the ratings of apps and games in the Play Store by country. Later, a distinction will also be made between devices.
Reviews and star ratings give interested parties important clues as to whether an app or a game will meet their expectations – or whether the application is running properly on their device at all. The fact that one and the same app does not always perform the same in different countries or on different devices – this has not yet been reflected in the ratings.
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In the future, Google will break down ratings in the Play Store by country and device
Like Google in one blog entry announced, ratings and ratings in the Play Store will in future be broken down by country and device type. The country in which a: e User: in is registered should be taken into account from November 2021. Different types of devices such as wearables, tablets or Chromebooks are to become the criterion in “early 2022”.
The changes, according to Google, are intended to take account of the fact that certain deficiencies in an app only occur regionally or are limited to one type of device, but could generally affect the ratings. Evaluations and ratings should therefore be “more personalized” and tailored more to the individual experience of the user.
So that developers have enough time to prepare for the update, it is already being announced, Google explains. In addition, the Play Console, in which developers can find information on downloads, ratings and the performance of their apps, will be adapted to the changes.
Google is constantly working on the Play Store
At the beginning of this year, Google announced or made major changes to the Play Store. The company wants to follow suit from 2022 and, like Apple, use privacy labels in its app store to specify how individual apps handle data – how much they collect, to whom they are forwarded and how they can be deleted.
There are also innovations that primarily affect developers: the file format for applications changed in August 2021. Stricter rules for app display have been in place since April of this year – emojis, capslocks and misleading information are prohibited here. Presumably inspired by Apple’s legal dispute with Epic Games, Google also announced at the beginning of the year that developers can look forward to a reduction in transaction fees – at least up to the first million in sales.
