This Play Store change could stop you from review-bombing some of Google’s apps (APK teardown)

The Google Play Store is home to millions of apps, games, and other content, and Google is constantly experimenting with features and UI changes to better serve users and developers alike. Over the years, app listing pages have gained features to increase the probability of users trusting a new app and downloading it. Curiously, one recent change to the Play Store removes features from them instead of adding them. Despite the feature regression, this change to app listings could help save some apps from being unfairly review-bombed by ignorant users.

Google Play Store v44.1.17-31 brought along an interesting change: a less detailed version of the app listing pages. We managed to enable this less detailed version of app listings for several apps in the Play Store. These listing pages have practically no areas for user engagement, support, and feedback, as they merely display only a handful of details, like the name of the app and its icon, the app developer, a call to action button (“Uninstall” in most cases), and a description of the app.

Here are screenshots depicting Play Store app listing pages of Google Play Services before this change and after we activated this change:

The second screenshot shows a relatively minimal layout with merely an app description. In case an app has been updated, you will also see the changelog as provided by the app developer. These minimal listings have no reviews, ratings, app support, or carousels for similar apps.

Here are some more examples of these minimal app listings on the Play Store:

Eagle-eyed readers would have noticed that these minimal app listings are only being showcased for certain core system apps. In fact, you will not be able to land on these app listings through a search in the Play Store, as these system app listings can be accessed only through an external link such as this one for Google Play Services or in your Pending Downloads whenever there is an update available for some of these apps.

Since first spotting this change, we’ve waited a few weeks to see if Google would reverse it. The company hasn’t, so we’re inclined to believe that this is intentional.

We can only guess what Google’s intentions are for such a change, but a good guess could be that such minimal app pages for core system apps could help them avoid being review-bombed by ignorant users. We’ve noticed such behavior on some of these apps wherein users who do not fully understand the app’s purpose would leave behind 1-star ratings and negative/sarcastic reviews simply because they spotted the app on their device and hadn’t intentionally installed it. Such ignorant and unwarranted criticism often creates a feedback loop where other users also grow suspicious of such system apps. The review bombing ends up inciting a mass of users to uninstall updates to these apps, updates that could be fixing some critical bugs. So, users end up shooting themselves in the foot more often than not in such situations.

Simplifying the app details page for core system apps and having them stick to the basics sounds like a good idea for the most part. However, the other side of the coin is that the app developer could and should do a better job at describing their app, its functions, and its importance. They should educate users on why the app is present on their device and why uninstalling its updates would generally be a bad idea. Such an approach would reduce panic and mistrust; otherwise, users will simply take to badmouthing the app on social media.

What do you think about these minimal app listings on the Play Store? Let us know in the comments below!