Google has been updating many of its Android apps with new design elements and visuals, and now it"s time for the Play Store itself to be updated with similar guidelines. As spotted by Reddit user rodrigoswz (via 9to5Google), the new design is rolling out to the general public with version 15.1.24 of the Play Store. Previously, it was only available through some workarounds.
Once you get this version, it"s not guaranteed that the new look will be visible right away, but all you need to do is head into your phone"s settings and clear the cache for the Play Store, then force the app to stop running. The next time you open it, the new look should be visible right away.
The changes here are the same as we"ve seen in many other Google apps in recent months. The navigation, previously made up of two sets of tabs at the top, has now taken an approach more similar to the YouTube or Google Phone apps. At the bottom of the screen you"ll find the sections for Apps, Games, Movies, and Books, while the top still houses categories such as For You, Top Charts, and so on. For whatever reason, it"s no longer possible to swipe between the categories at the top, so you"ll have to reach for the top of your screen if you want to change tabs.
The Music section has been relegated to an item in the side menu, likely in preparation for the impending death of Google Play Music.
Also similar to other Google apps, the amount of color has been heavily reduced, and instead there"s a lot of white, with color only being used for some accents. There"s a new Google Sans font being used, separator lines have been mostly removed from lists, and the general iconography around the app has been slightly tweaked. What"s not included, however, is support for the dark mode which is available in many other apps. Dark mode will become a system-wide setting in Android Q, so hopefully, this will be addressed by the time it"s released.
If you"d like to check out the new look, you"ll need to wait for the latest version of the Play Store to roll out to your device, or you can download it manually at your own risk.