Despite some recent headlines, iPhones remain safer than Androids given Apple’s tighter restrictions and control of its ecosystem. But Google is catching up — and Samsung is moving even faster to narrow the gap. Now, a new Android upgrade for 2025 could make Androids more like iPhones than ever before — but there’s a twist.

Before we explore what the Play Store needs to copy from the App Store, let's discuss what it shouldn't. If there's one major way Google can differentiate its app store from Apple's, it's how you discover new apps and games. Right now, the Play Store is so difficult to use that it's easy to completely miss exciting new apps and games.

Use Separate Wallets: Avoid storing large amounts of cryptoassets in apps with questionable security.”

If you browse the Google Play Store on a desktop browser, you'll notice an "Install on Windows" button scattered around the website. This feature is seldom advertised, but it is part of Google's initiative to bring Android games to your Windows computer.

Android Auto 13.6 is now available for download; the rollout started on the Play Store, but users can also update using the APK installer

The first entry of the year is a quiet one. Our stable Android 15 Pixel phone is still on the November 1, 2024 Google Play system update, while the latest stable version of Play services is 24.49.33. [Phone] You can find different formats on the App details page when you browse more apps.

Google Play Store is testing a new minimal design for app listings for core system apps that could prevent review bombing. Check it out!

Google has announced that badges for VPN apps on the Play Store are rolling out. These badges inform users that the app has been verified.

Although it hasn't specified which ones, Google has confirmed that a new wave of Android Automotive-compatible apps is coming to the Play Store next month.

Now that Android 16 Beta 1 is official, we’ll be diving in to look for meaningful changes that you should be aware of. Google gave us the details on developer-focused changes, but what about the fun new toys you might want to look at or play with?

Google is launching its car ready mobile apps program next month. This program, announced at I/O 2024 last year, takes existing mobile apps that are large screen compatible and makes them available to cars running Android Automotive. We don’t know which apps have been selected for the program, though.

Google has spent a surprising amount of time in recent months rolling out a hefty level of security features to Android that we are very appreciative of. It started with Theft Protection and has only expanded from there,