Google wants to help Android users avoid poorly optimized apps with a new Play Store warning

Have you ever installed an app from the Google Play Store and found out that it doesn’t work well on your device? Maybe it crashes frequently, freezes and hangs for seconds at a time, or drains your battery at an abnormal rate. If so, you’re not alone – many apps are not optimized for all the different types of Android devices out there, and some may have problems with specific hardware or versions of Android.

To help users avoid these frustrations, Google is testing a new warning system in the Play Store that will alert you before you install an app that may not work well on your device. This warning is based on “recent data from similar devices”. Don’t forget that you can also see the user ratings and reviews for the app on your device type which may differ from the overall ratings and reviews globally.

“Recent data from similar devices show that this app may stop working on your device”.

Play Store warning for poorly optimized apps

You can still install the app if you want to, but of course, you may be in for some issues if you’re unlucky. Google hopes that this new information will help users make informed decisions and avoid wasting time and money on poorly optimized apps.

This is a part of Google’s ongoing efforts to improve the quality and performance of apps on the Play Store. Google has also set thresholds for app crashes and freezes, and it will penalize apps that exceed them by lowering their visibility or ranking in the store. The company also encourages developers to use the Android App Bundle format, which allows them to optimize their apps for different devices and reduce their size in the process.

This new feature was spotted by Felixlix45 on Telegram and reported initially by Mishaal Rahman on Twitter. He shared a screenshot of the warning on an app called “CarX Street”. If you want to avoid these kinds of issues on your Android device, you can also follow some tips from Google, such as checking for Android updates, clearing space on your device, troubleshooting apps for slowness, checking for app updates, and closing apps you’re not using. You can also simply uninstall apps that you don’t need or use anymore, but clearly, this new tip from Google takes other factors into account outside of these variables and is a welcome additional foresight.