Google Play Store Is Getting Useful Filters For Finding New Apps

The Google Play Store currently offers very simplistic search filters, ones that essentially just help narrow down apps based on how much they cost and what category they fall in. That is changing, however, as Google rolls out more advanced filtering options to its app store, enabling users to look at only apps that have specific score ranges, ones that have been newly added to the platform, and more.

If you hop on the Google Play Store in its current iteration, you'll have the ability to search for keywords ("calendar," for example), then narrow down the results using some basic filters: whether they're free or paid, which apps support your Android devices, and that's about it. The Google Play Store also maintains top charts and 'Editor's Choice' selections, plus users can tap bubbles to narrow down the app's category.

Searching for 'music,' for example, enables users to further narrow down the results by choosing from bubbles with additional options like 'editor,' 'quiz,' and 'kids.' Some users have spied additional filtering options beyond these, ones that narrow down the app results based on quality and age.

9to5Google reports that Google is pushing out options to narrow apps down based on which are new, which have at least a 4-star rating, ones that have at least a 4.5-star rating, and ones that have been given the 'Editor's Choice' designation. Users can choose more than one filtering option.

This is obviously a useful way for Android users to find high-quality apps without having to sort through the long lists of low-quality and poorly-rated apps. The "New" filter, however, enables users to find newly added apps they may not have previously seen and that haven't yet received enough ratings to fall into one of the other two filtering options.