You may soon see Google Play Collections on your phone
Recently, we saw a sneak peek of Google Play's new widget dubbed "Collections". Now, it's rolling out in a server-side update, and users in the U.S. are starting to get it.
This widget basically helps you access a consolidated feed of content recommendations. For instance, if you use YouTube Music, you can get Continue Listening, Your shows (podcasts), Mixed for you, and an option that recommends similar artists to the ones you've been enjoying.
If you go to Watch (for Google TV users) you will see various genres, while YouTube's option shows videos from your subscriptions and trailers. In the Read section, you can choose between "Continue reading" from Play Books and title suggestions based on stuff you've already read. Similarly, Food offers you nearby recommendations from Google Maps, but also recipe videos from YouTube. The Social option shows you posts from your feed (that is if you use Reddit, Pinterest, Tumblr).
Not all apps support Collections at the moment though. Here's the list of apps that have integrated with the Engage SDK:
You can turn off feeds or disable apps by going to the Collections UI, tapping on your profile pic, and then going to Collections settings.
The Play Store now has two widgets to highlight the different layout options, and they are pretty much the same widget depending on how you size it. The smaller one is a bar, and the bigger option takes up your entire display. It provides access to: Watch, Game, Read, Listen, Food, Shop, and Social.
Tapping on one of these options leads to a fullscreen experience with a slew of card carousels, and you get an app tray at the bottom. Also, the "App library" serves as an alternate app launcher, and it has folders for Top used and Recently added, with various categories appearing below.
This widget basically helps you access a consolidated feed of content recommendations. For instance, if you use YouTube Music, you can get Continue Listening, Your shows (podcasts), Mixed for you, and an option that recommends similar artists to the ones you've been enjoying.
- Game: Play Store, YouTube
- Food: Chick-fil-A, Dunkin’, Maps, Play Store, Uber Eats, YouTube
- Listen: Audible, GoodFM, iHeart, Kobo Books, Play Books, Spotify, YT Music
- Read: AlphaNovel, Audible, Blinkist, GoodFM, Kobo Books, Play Books, Wattpad
- Shop: Adidas, AliExpress, ASOS, Best Buy, FARFETCH, Home Depot, Play Store, Sam’s Club, Shop, Walmart, Wish
- Social: Nextdoor, Pinterest, Play Store, Reddit, Tumblr
- Watch: ABC, Amazon Freevee, BET NOW, BET+, Boomerang, Brown Sugar, Cartoon Network, Cooking Channel, Crackle, Crunchyroll, CW Network, Discovery+, Disney NOW, Disney+, Food Network, Fox Nation, Fox News, Globoplay, Haystack Network, Hulu, KOCOWA, Max, MGM+, Movies Anywhere, MUBI, NBC, Paramount+, Peacock, Philo, Plex, Pluto TV, Prime Video, Red Bull TV, Sling TV, Starz, Travel Channel, Tube TV, VH1, Viki, Watch TBS, Watch TNT, XUMO, ZEE5.
You can turn off feeds or disable apps by going to the Collections UI, tapping on your profile pic, and then going to Collections settings.
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Things that are NOT allowed: