Unlike an app update, it is not often that we take a note when Google’s Play Store receives an update. Most of these updates are incremental and bring about subtle changes. It has been a while since we have had a radical change in the Play Store, but a report in Android Police outlined that a new version of Google Play is now available for download. This update would take Play Store to version 4.6.16 and brings about some really interesting features. While the update will definitely be hitting your Android phone OTA, we will be adding few mirror links for those who cannot wait. Let’s quickly look at some of these new features in a bit more detail.
Once you have installed the new update, you can check the new Play Store version by going into the Store and checking the same in Settings which is now in the sidebar pullout where you had ‘My apps’ section. This in itself is a new feature.
Within settings too, there are several things of note:
Add icon to Home Screen has replaced Add Widget to Home Screen because essentially that was an error on Google’s part. You will also see that there is an option now which would ask you to input your Google Account password in case you make an in app purchase. This is a useful feature and you could set a time based on your preference.
Apart from that, the New Google Play also supports batch installation of files from the My Apps section. This is really useful when you are migrating from one phone to another with the same Google account so that you do not have to sit and install one app at a time. Simply long press the apps you wish to install and press the install button.
In case you have more than one account configured on your device, you now can see them all in the sidepull bar without the settings and other options disappearing.
The count of G+ received by an application is also exact now, instead of a round figure that we had previously.
It is also now possible for you to auto update the Play Store on your device, by simply going into the settings of the app and clicking on the Build Version. If a newer version is available, it would be downloaded and installed automatically.
