New filtering chips on Play Store will help you see app behavior your device

Android began as a mobile operating system for phones, but it quickly grew to support various form factors. The best tablets currently available, as well as TVs, watches, laptops, foldable PCs, and of course phones, all support Android apps. All of these form factors are supported by the Google Play Store, but it also means that browsing for new apps on one device may not always give you a complete picture of what is available on another. New filtering chips for app listings may be useful in this situation.

The Google Play Store is experimenting with a new row of chips at the top of the installation options on program listings, as @AssembleDebug on Twitter has noted. You can choose from a variety of form factors, including Chromebooks, tablets, TVs, watches, and phones. Whichever you select, the listing modifies slightly. The screenshots are filtered to only display those that are pertinent to your chosen form factor, and the average star rating will only be compiled from reviews on the selected device type.

To improve the use of the “Install on other devices” capability, @AssembleDebug hypothesis that this is yet another feature addition. You can install an app on one or more devices at once by accessing it by tapping the down arrow next to the install button on a Play Store listing. Deciding can be simpler if you can immediately determine whether an app will run smoothly on your tablet or Chromebook. The chips allow you to filter similarly to the new other devices option that is accessible for select users in the Play Store home screen.

The filtering chips in the app listings don’t currently appear to be live or widely deployed. They were probably turned on with secret development flags, along with most of the other stuff that @AssembleDebug finds, giving us a sneak peek at impending features. Although there is never a guarantee that unannounced options will really emerge, we would anticipate the feature to launch generally sooner rather than later given that the buttons and filters are functional.