How Google Play works

Google Play is Google’s vision for the optimal store experience on Android, connecting billions of users every day to the greatest digital experiences by creating the best discovery and distribution platform.

We’re excited to share the latest on the Google Play ecosystem, including updates to the platform, tools, and resources we provide to developers and the support and protection our users encounter every visit to the store.

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Mobile devices displaying a variety of Google Play Store UI as well as Google Play Protect UI.

2 Billion Reasons to Play.

With more than 2.5 billion global active devices (and growing), Android continues to thrive as an innovative and open mobile platform built for everyone. Developers create amazing digital experiences for Android users across the world. Google Play is where they meet.

2.5 billion

active Android device users.

2+ billion

active monthly Play users.

115+ billion

downloads over the last 12 months.

All are welcome to play and grow.

Our Google Play developer policies help ensure that we forge positive, lasting partnerships with our developers and continue to deliver the world’s most innovative and trusted apps to our billions of users.

Investing in our developers.

As a platform that brings so many apps and games together, we are in a unique position to develop and share resources that help drive developer success. We also invest in our developer tools, launching Google Play Store improvements in 2018 that led to:

65% reduction in app size.

Reduced app sizes have led to increased downloads and fewer uninstalls.

70% lower crash rates.

New tools in the Google Play Console have helped developers drastically reduce crash rates.

30% discovery improvement.

Improvements to the discovery experience have significantly increased Google Play Store visits.

Ranking & discoverability

The right app should be easy to find.

Search functionality is the most important tool for users to find their desired content. Each user gets a unique, personalized Google Play Store experience every time they visit.

Service Fee

Fueling the platform.

While the majority of the games and apps on our platform are free to all, a portion of the revenue generated mainly from in app purchases and subscriptions goes back into powering the platform. This service fee covers everything from essential security updates and the vast array of developer tools to building and maintaining a global marketplace for apps.

Sharing knowledge.

The Google Play Academy for App Success, our free e-learning platform, provides an essential developer framework and best practices. Our Medium page, developer website and social channels and events across the world, help ensure developers have access to the very latest thinking about building successful app and games businesses.

Learn more

Developer success stories.

App and game developers are the engine of the Google Play Store. We're proud to partner with developers who create lasting and meaningful digital experiences for Android users across the world.

Find more developer success stories here

Accessible to all.

We believe that everyone should have equal access to the benefits of mobile devices, and that nothing should prevent that, so we're constantly working to make the Google Play experience smarter and more accessible.

Levelling the playing field.

The World Health Organization estimates that 15% of the world’s population — roughly one billion people, experience some form of disability. Many disabilities impact the way people interact with technology, as well as with the world around them.

Developing for good.

The platform everyone counts on.

The Google Play Store fosters an environment of trust, not only by being more open, but by protecting users from malicious apps and taking privacy seriously. We believe that a safe experience is a right, not a privilege; that’s why we’re focused on building powerful security features into every device.

Google Play Protect is Google's built-in malware protection for Android—always improving in real time to bring the best of Google security to our users’ devices. Over 50 billion apps are scanned and verified every day by Google Play Protect.

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People + Machines for a safer experience.

With the unique combination of people-powered programs like the Google Play Security Rewards Program, human reviewers, and new machine learning models and techniques, we can catch 99% of abusive apps, from impersonation and fraud to inappropriate content and malware.

More control in users hands.

We’ve reinvented mobile app permissions to give users more control. Users can now decide which apps have access to their data throughout user experience, not just when they download them.

All in for families.

We’re building on our existing efforts to help parents find family-friendly content through the Designed for Families program and empowering them to set healthy digital ground rules with Family Link parental controls.

New layers of protection.

We’ve introduced additional protections for children and families, through new policies for all apps that include children in their target audience.

Building safe apps and games for families.

Learn more

Parental controls with Family Link.

Learn more

Family certified Ad Networks .

Learn more

Thank you for playing.

As content and our devices evolve, so will the Google Play Store, and we look forward to bringing developers and users the very best digital discovery and store experience. Thank you for taking this journey with us. Read the full report for more details on the State of Play.

Download the report