Android system apps start going unratable in Play Store

Should all app listings be created the same? At first glance, it might make sense to expect all app listings in the Play Store to have the same stuff: description, screenshots, device compatibility, and a place to submit and read reviews. Back at the start of the year, though, we started to become aware of a change Google was working on that would seriously pare down the content available in Play Store listings for some apps, resulting in a minimalistic app listing just containing a basic synopsis. And now it finally looks like this new view is starting to roll out widely.

Not all apps are built equally, and the ones we first saw associated with this minimal new Play Store layout were all Android system services — the sort of things the vast majority of users will never have to think twice about, let alone try to pull them up on the Play Store. At the time, we speculated that Google’s reasoning for this change might involve wanting to limit the ability of users to take out their frustrations with undesirable system behavior by review-bombing these apps.

As if heralded by that release, we’ve started to receive reports from users who are now seeing the new listing format live on their devices.

Odds are, you won’t stumble across any of these naturally — these aren’t the kind of apps most people go looking for in the first place, and they won’t even show up in a regular search. But if you’re browsing installed apps on your phone and tap through out of curiosity — well, now you’ve got no excuse for being surprised.