The newest version of the Play Store was broken down and analyzed by 9to5Google, with the teardown revealing a large number of changes that are hinting at many upcoming features, including changing the name of the built-in Verify Apps feature to Play Protect. While no other changes seem to be coming to Verify Apps, code strings in the Play Store seem to be pointing to a number of exciting new features rolling out fairly soon, such as Instant Apps, a built-in app and game discovery service, and a way for developers to reward users for pre-registering for an app or game.
Play Protect will seemingly continue all of the functionality of Verify Apps, including protecting users against malware and issuing warnings when installing something from outside the Play Store, but a new name could mean that extra features are on the horizon. Instant Apps, meanwhile, would allow your device to actually get into an app or game and use certain parts of it without having to download it. This feature appears to be getting close to being ready for primetime, and the new code strings related to it that were found in this teardown indicate that users will be able to pick which Google account they want to use to sign in and even what account or card they want to use for in-app payments. This implies that the feature could end up functioning as a trial service for paid apps. Users can also opt out of Instant Apps if they so choose, which will remove any data associated with the solution that they’ve used.
Pre-registration rewards are mentioned briefly in the newest Play Store APK’s code, but the feature isn’t elaborated on in any way. Pre-registration are already a fairly common practice, so much so that there are dedicated apps for it, and some games provide pre-registered users with in-game rewards upon downloading and launching them on release day. The Google Play App Discovery Service, meanwhile, is a bit more detailed, as it seems that the feature will at the very least allow developers to hook into the platform and show viewers relevant apps from within their own app.