Google is adding a rating filter to Google Play search results to make it easier to search for apps and get actual high-quality listings.
With this feature active you could search for podcast apps and then filter the results by star rating. Allowing you to only see results that have a 4.0 or 4.5 star rating and above.
There’s also going to be an option to filter results by the Editor’s Choice tag. So if you really want good results, you’ll get apps in the search findings that were hand-picked by a Google Play curator. These apps are generally very good offerings. Or they wouldn’t have this label in the first place.
The Google Play rating filter is currently being tested
Technically Google already added the rating filter into the Google Play app. According to 9To5Google the new filter options are already being tested with some users.
This will be a slower rollout which means that not everyone is going to see these new options right away. The update that needs to be applied is a server side update so Google has to flip the switch.
With this being the case users interested in applying these filters when they search for apps or games should simply keep an eye out for them to appear. If you open the Play Store regularly for instance, maybe try and apply the filters any time you do a search.
There’s also a “new” filter
There is one more filter being added and it’s the “new” tag. So once again if you search for something like podcast apps, you can then filter it by new so you only see results which are new podcast apps.
You can even apply all the filters at the same time so you can really narrow down the results. And it can be a combination of the filters if you want a sort of mix.
With these additional filters being put in place, it should be a whole lot easier for users to find and try out better quality apps, games and other content. Even more so if you’re wanting to look for new apps. Because you can apply the new filter and the 4.5 star rating filter. Then you’ll get results of only new apps that have a pretty high rating.
In the end it’ll help cut down on how many results pop up for users when they do a search. Which means less time spent sifting through content and more time actually giving content a try.