New Google test drops app ratings in favor of download sizes in the Play Store

Some Android users have spotted a change in the Play Store. Since time immemorial, Google has shown star ratings in app listings and search results -- because that’s one of the ways in which users decide what to download. But for some people this has changed.

Rather than a star rating, apps are now listed with their download sizes. For the Android user who is worried about running out of space this is arguably a useful change, but it's not something that most people will regard as a step in the right direction.

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The change was noted on Reddit, where users questioned the sense in what Google is doing. Common sense would dictate that most people would be more concerned about installing a quality app that has received a decent rating from other users rather than one that is a particularly size -- although that's not always going to be the case.

For people with phones with limited storage, app size is an important thing to factor in -- be that through having lots of photos and apps occupying space, or having started off with limited storage on a cheaper handset. Download size is also an important metric for anyone with a slow connection, or a limited data package.

Android Police notes that the people reporting the change are in India -- a region in which highspeed data connections are far from universal. At the moment it appears that the change is only a test, but people are already questioning why Google can't simply show app size and rating to everyone.

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