If you don't have the Play Store installed on your phone, you don't have access to a huge app store for mobile devices. Only in the official store you will find huge amount games, programs and updates for them. Don’t let the word “store” scare you; a significant portion of applications are available for free or “shareware”.
Usually, when you buy a phone or tablet from a well-known brand, the Play Market is already installed on the device. But it happens that if you buy a device from a less popular manufacturer, you won’t find the app store icon. Then you will need these instructions for installing it on your Android.
Step 1: Installation
To install Play Market on your device, you first need to provide the device with Internet access.
Then you need to download the file “Play_Market_7.4.09_install.apk”. Do this via the link https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bw7wAPK2PGTlOXNOZEthaWN5a3c/view.
To install it on your phone or tablet, go to “Settings”, select “Security” and check the box next to “ Unknown sources" By this action you agree to download the file.
Next you need to find the downloaded file. It is usually located in the "Downloads" folder of your device. Run “Play_Market_7.4.09_install.apk” and follow the instructions on the screen to install the Play Market on your Android. You can read how to launch apk files in our separate article.
Step 2. Registration
There is very little time left before downloading games and programs from the official application store. You need to register with Google. If you have an account, skip the second step and simply log in.
To register an account, find the icon that appears on the device’s desktop “ Play Market" Click on it.
The first step is to come up with a unique name (login) for your Google account.
The second action will be to enter a password. Write it down or remember it. It should not be simple, contain only small or large letters, repeated characters, or all of the above. For example, passwords like “sasha1991”, “qwerty123456”, “Aa12345” are very light. But the combinations “o8mbXslT” or “RoMZqXcj6GPa” will be difficult to find, which dramatically increases the security of your account.
Step 3: Use
After completing registration in the Play Store, we recommend restarting your phone and waiting 5-10 minutes for the necessary files to be downloaded to automatic mode. Installation complete! Now millions of entertaining and educational applications are available to you!
According to data at the end of 2012 in Google Play About 800,000 programs and games have been collected. Finding useful and interesting applications among this sea can sometimes be difficult. However, using a number of tools and following simple rules, you can significantly facilitate and simplify the search process. Especially when it comes to games.
As a rule, an Android user chooses for himself gentleman's set programs he needs for everyday needs and rarely changes it. Another thing is the game. Fresh projects appear on Google Play every day and get boring just as quickly. Therefore, it is important for lovers of mobile games to regularly update their collection by downloading new and interesting games.
It doesn’t matter what the user is looking for - games or programs, the first thing he does is open home page Google Play. The search giant doesn't update it often, but you can immediately see from the banners located on it which apps are worth paying attention to.
The next stop for those looking for new items is the TOP paid and demon paid applications. It should be noted right away that, unlike App Store, there are not three, but six TOPs on Google Play. New applications are hosted in three recent tabs. The first three are not updated as often, but they also contain previously unnoticed nuggets. The same goes for Google’s personal TOPs - “Editor’s Choice” and “Google’s Choice”.
Besides Google Play apps can be searched in alternative stores. For example, in the recently launched Yandex.Store, GetJar, AppBrain, Handango, etc. They have their own ratings of programs and games that can be used to select suitable applications.
When it comes to finding new games, the best solution there will be an applicationFetch
.
It allows you to search for similar projects by scanning already installed applications, includes its own ratings and powerful search tools.
Using Fetch, for example, you can find all 2D free platformers on Google Play. Or paid 3D RPGs. Or complex popular puzzles. And so on and so forth. The possibilities for sorting games are practically endless.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about programs - Fetch poorly understands the realities of Russian Google Play and does not take into account regional versions of applications.
Android tablet users will find it usefulTablified Market - it contains all programs and games optimized for large screens.
In addition to the listed sources, when searching for new applications, you can rely on reviews of thematic sites like ours. We try to regularly talk about interesting new products from the world of Android.
The article discusses some features of the search for applications in the Google Play store.
Google rarely publicly discusses its search technologies, but in 2013 at the Google I/O 2013 conference it explained what influences the ranking of applications in the Google Play store.
Our team made a summary of this presentation with their comments and examples from practice. Video in English link, Help Guide Data Management for Google Play .
Google Play is a store where mobile applications, books, music, films.
The stated development vector is store personalization. Google Play strives to display content in the store that is of interest to a particular user. Based on past experience, preferences, context of use and recommendations from friends.
The following are the main sources of organic installations:
1. Search in Google sections Play
This concept combines several scenarios when a user finds and discovers new applications on Google Play:1.1. Ratings(lists) of applications on Google Play (Top free, Top paid, Bestsellers, Top new free, Top new paid, Gaining popularity).
1.2. Personal recommendations. Blocks with applications that Google Play creates based on the recommendations of your friends.
1.3. Related/Cross Selling. Blocks “More applications from the developer”, “Install with this application”, “ Similar apps».
Here we do not consider manual selections from Google Teams Play, called “featured” in slang.
The right choice The categories for the application are important. For example, a user wants to find an alarm clock by browsing a category. He does not enter “alarm clock” into the search field, but goes to the category. Which one? Tools? Miscellaneous? Health and Fitness? If the user goes to the Miscellaneous section, and our application is in the Tools section, he will not find it. Therefore, when choosing a category, it is advised to think as the user thinks.
2. Search for applications
Many people underestimate the second source of installations - search itself. It can be divided into 2 categories.2.1. Category search
When we know which category the application we want to find belongs to. For example, an application with recipes, reviews of restaurants in a specific city, free or multiplayer games.
The user enters into the search the category of the application that will solve his problem (for example, “meat recipes”, “excursions around Moscow”).
2.2. Navigation search
In this case, we know exactly what we are looking for. For example, a friend told us about an application or we heard about it somewhere. We enter the name of this application and find it (for example, “Engry Birds”, “Facebook messenger”).
How important is app search:
- Every day, 12% of active users return to the store and look for new applications.- During the week, 50% of all active users return to the store and look for new applications.
- Users enter more than 6 million unique search phrases per month.
*Please note that these are data from 2013.
Anatomy of proper app design on Google Play
1. Short and clear name of the application
A unique and creative name is encouraged. The title should tell you what the app is about.
The name significantly affects the visibility of the application in searches (affects ASO - App Store Optimization). Therefore, many developers try to put the main keywords, which users will enter when searching.
2. Vivid and functional description
The application description is divided into 2 blocks. Short and basic description. The main message must be contained in a short description.The short description significantly affects the visibility of the application. Google recommends using search engine optimization (SEO) guidelines when writing your app's basic description.
Current screenshots
The screenshots should show exactly what the user will see after installing the application. It is important not to disappoint expectations. If the screenshots and the application are different, there is a risk of receiving a negative reaction.Video clip
A video can show users what the app is all about. Game developers say that video is very helpful in explaining the content of the game to users.We made videos for our non-game applications, but this did not bring any tangible effect when promoting. Video can be a nice addition when doing a review.
Of the minuses: the application interface can change, so the video will have to be redone each time. Often there is not enough time for corrections, so the interface in video and the interface in current version applications may differ significantly!
You need a budget to create a video. And when the video loses its relevance after a month, it’s a pity for that money.
Reviews and rating
On the application page, the user has the opportunity to rate the application and/or leave a review. For Google Play, a high rating is a very serious signal.The impact of statistics on app rankings
Google Play ranks apps based on a number of factors. One of the main ones is the number of app installations. The more installs you have, the higher the app ranks in the store.The peculiarity of searching by application is that Google Play takes into account not only the number of downloads, but also how many people later deleted this application (statistics are available in the Google Play Developer Console). The fewer users uninstalled the application, the better it solves their problem. This means it ranks higher.
It's not uncommon on Google Play to see an app with a lower rating and fewer installs rank higher than other apps that have a higher rating and more installs. In this case, such a factor as the ratio of installations and uninstalls of the application is taken into account.
Long delete
Google PLay distinguishes between when a user deletes an application immediately and when he does so over time (the so-called “long delete”).If an app was used and then removed over time, Google Play does not consider this a negative factor. For example, a user has completed a game, and so that the application does not take up space on the phone, it deletes it.
Engagement
Next important factor- user involvement. How much time a person spends in the application, how often he uses it, etc. This takes into account the category of need that the application solves.If it's a weather information app, a few seconds in the app is enough to solve the user's problem. For gaming applications, this could be minutes or hours. In the case of a game, the longer the user spends time in the application, the higher the engagement.
Therefore, Google Play does not say that one application is bad and another is good. The application task and the category of need are taken into account.
We had a new application that, due to a small number of installations, had a very good install/uninstall ratio. There were hundreds of installations, the rating was 5.0 (again due to the small number of installations). Considering these indicators, Google Play low frequency queries ranked this app higher than others that had hundreds of thousands of installations. Then the performance worsened, and the application dropped lower in the list.
Google Play also builds rankings based on other factors. The preferences of users in a particular region and the type of device from which the search is carried out are taken into account ( mobile phone or tablet).
Hints
An important element when searching for an application are hints. When you enter part of a search phrase, Google Play tries to guess what category of app you want to search for, or even a specific app. In the second case, the icon of this application may also be included in the tooltip.Keep these tips in mind when writing your app description. They show the popularity of a particular search phrase.
Rating table
Google reveals some of the factors that influence rankings. Ratings are formed by country, category, device type.
Different ratings are intended for different users. For example, Top free and Top paid are more suitable for new users or users with new devices. They want basic apps, they want to know what's most popular on Google Play. The Top New Paid and Top New Free ratings are aimed at users who already have basic apps and want to see what's new in the app store.
For paid applications, income is taken into account; for free applications, installations in a few days are taken into account.
Gaining popularity
The purpose of this section is to give users information about applications that are gaining popularity right now. This rating includes all applications - new and old.For each application, Google Play knows the projected growth rate of installs. And if at some point there are significantly more installations than predicted, the application is included in this rating.
Related and Cross Selling
On the application page there are such blocks “More applications from this developer”, “Similar applications”, “Install with this”.For developers, the “More applications from this developer” block is valuable.
In our applications, we noticed that with the active promotion of one of them, installations on others in our account increase. One of the projects accounted for about 5% of the installations of a neighboring application.
Those. conditionally, if Application A was installed by 1000 people, then Application B received about 50 installations due to traffic to Application A. Most likely, thanks to the “More applications from this developer” block and/or the developer’s page on Google Play.
The same applies to identical applications on different platforms. If we actively promote Appendix A on Android platform, then installations for the same application on the iOS platform increase.
“Similar apps” and “Install with this” are made for the convenience of users. For the app owner, this is essentially advertising for competitors.
External factors and how to get to the main page
For a specific application, more than 80 factors are taken into account, and not all of them are related to Google Play. Signals from the search engine are also taken into account Google systems. All factors are not disclosed. This home page two different users. As you can see, different applications are recommended for them. This is influenced by the past experiences of these users (what applications they searched for, what pages they visited, etc.), the context of the Google Play experience (if you are in New York, you will be offered an application with New York news, not Tokyo ), your device, as well as reviews and ratings from friends.
Category pages are also subject to personalization.
Most reliable way get to Home Page - recommendations from friends. So encourage users to leave reviews of your app and click +1.
We think this is very valuable advice. Everyone wants to know how to get featured by Google. But there is an easier way to get to the user on home screen- this is a recommendation from his friends who are already using our application.
5 tips from the Google Play team after creating a quality application:
1. Adapt the application for tablets. In this case, the application will be available on Google Play for tablet users.
3.Adhere to these mandatory rules:
- Do not create an app name that is close to an existing popular app. This leads to disappointing user expectations.
- Use country and device targeting wisely, taking into account your app's audience.
- Create the correct address for your application (the application link is formed from a parameter such as bundle).
4. The APK of your file should not weigh much. In addition to the fact that users try not to install heavy applications, these applications are also the first to be deleted if the user wants to clear the phone’s memory. Therefore, keep the APK file size smaller.
5. Use viral mechanics to promote your app.
People search with errors
Of the 6 million unique phrases that users enter during the month, 50% contain errors.Very interesting statistics indeed. The fact is that now Google Play does not work with errors the way it works normal search. The results of applications when entering a search phrase with and without an error are different.
Dear users of mobile devices on Android OS!
If you bought paid versions applications on the Market GooglePlay, but then forgot which ones, then here’s some advice on how to look full list purchased applications and licenses ( My orders).
My orders
You need to go to Google Play, log in to your account(if you haven't done this before) and at the top right of the window you will see gear icon. By clicking on it, you get a menu, the first item of which will be My orders. There you will see all purchased applications.
Don't be confused purchased apps with general list ever established applications. The last one opens if you click on the left Applications and then My applications. You will see something like this:
By the way, going back to the gear icon, let's note two more interesting items in this menu.
Devices
This is a list of all mobile devices registered to your account.
Remote control Android
This is an opportunity remote control registered (in the previous paragraph) mobile devices, namely the possibilities:
- ring the device (it gives a long beep), if, for example, it is lying around somewhere at home and you cannot find it
- determine its current location on Google maps
- block its operation in case of loss or theft
- remotely erase all personal information.
True, to perform these actions, the device itself at the time of verification must have Internet access. And for the last two - also be preliminary tuned.
That convenient application, which you deleted a couple of years ago to free up space on your phone, what was it called? Does it still exist? Now that you have a shiny new iPhone, can you redownload it?
Rest assured, you can do it! Android, Windows, and iOS all keep handy lists of the apps you've ever downloaded. As long as an app isn't discontinued or removed from the app store, you can always look at your app history and redownload any apps you might have forgotten about (for free, of course).
Android.
You can see the history of Android applications on your phone or on the store’s website on the Internet.On your phone, open Play Store and press the menu button (three lines). In the menu, tap "My Apps & Games" to see a list of apps installed on your device. Tap All to see a list of all the apps you've downloaded on any device using your Google account.
On the Internet, just click on this link to open a list of applications related to your Google account Play. (You can also get here by going to the Google Play Store website and clicking Apps > My Apps.) You can see all the apps associated with your account, or you can sort them by device.
iOS.
You can see your application history on your phone or in iTunes.On your iPhone, open app Store and click "Updates" in the lower right corner. Tap "Purchased" (if you have a family account, you may need to tap "My Purchases") to see a list of all the apps you've downloaded and those outside of your current device. To view a list of only those applications that are currently not installed on your device, tap "Not on this iPhone."
In iTunes, click on your profile icon and go to "Purchases." You can sort purchased apps by device (iPhone and iPad), and you can see apps that are not currently in your library by clicking on "Not in my library."
Windows Mobile 10 OS.
You can see your Windows 10 app history on any device in the Windows Store app. Open Windows application Store and click on the profile icon (next to the search field) and click the "My Library" button.
You'll see a list of apps installed on the device you're using, but you can click the "Show All" button to see a list of all the apps associated with your account Microsoft. At the top of this list will be the apps that are compatible with this device; Scroll down to see a list of "incompatible" apps associated with your account.
