Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Google has released a new design for the Play Store.
- The redesign removes the explore bar from the top of the page and gives the store a dedicated explore page accessed from the new explore tab at the bottom.
- Some users didn’t get the explore tab after the redesign, making it harder to explore for specific apps.
It’s rare that we see the look of the Play Store change, but Google recently released a redesign. After rolling out the redesign, some users have been left without a direct way to explore for apps.
First spotted by 9to5Google, Google has added a dedicated explore page to the Play Store that can be accessed by tapping on the new explore tab located at the bottom of the page. In turn, for adding the explore tab, it appears Google has taken away the explore bar that used to appear at the top of the page.
This proceed makes sense as having a explore bar and a dedicated explore page would be kind of redundant. However, this breaks the encounter if the user doesn’t have a explore tab to tap on.
Some users, including myself, appear to be missing the explore tab altogether. You can see an example of the missing tab in the images below. The image on the left shows what the Play Store should look appreciate and the image on the right shows the Play Store without a explore tab. Interestingly, it appears you’ll still see a explore bar when you tap on the Books tab.
If you’re missing the explore tab, you can still explore for apps, but it will take a few more steps. Tapping on the arrows on the right of the screen will take you to a recommendations page that should have a explore icon you can tap on. A explore icon will also appear when you tap on any suggested app. You can also try clearing the Play Store app’s data, but this should be a last resort as doing so can create other problems.
It appears Google is slowly rolling out the redesign, so you may not have seen it yet. Hopefully Google will fix the issue soon before the redesign reaches more users.
