Key Elements
Google plans to make how well an app performs on foldables, tablets and other large-screen Android devices a factor in where it appears in the Play Store, starting next year, the company said at its Android Dev Summit. The company has not yet published the criteria developers will have to meet, and is expected to spell them out later this year.
The move would give developers a direct commercial reason to rework interfaces that were built around the dimensions of a conventional handset. Many Android apps today simply stretch across a foldable’s expanded display rather than rearranging their layouts to use the extra space.
What remains unsettled is how Google will judge which apps qualify for better placement. The company has not said whether apps that miss the forthcoming benchmarks could lose visibility in search, nor how much optimization would be needed to earn preferential treatment.
Tooling aimed at one codebase
The Play Store change sits inside a wider push to make Android apps work across more form factors without separate builds for each. Google is updating its development tools so teams can adapt existing software rather than maintain parallel versions for phones, tablets and other devices.
An updated Compose adaptive skill can help AI coding agents review mobile interfaces and adjust them for larger screens. Developers can use it to add keyboard shortcuts, hover interactions, pointer cursors and tooltips, features associated with desktop-style use. The tool also covers changes to camera and media interfaces for foldables used in tabletop configurations, and its scope reaches tablets, laptops, cars and extended reality devices.
Those capabilities come alongside framework updates. Navigation 3 v1.2 is among the announced improvements, and the coming Compose 1.13 release will include stable support for Grid and Flexbox to help developers build more responsive layouts.
| Component | What it does |
|---|---|
| Play Store visibility | App quality on foldables and large screens becomes a ranking factor from next year |
| Compose adaptive skill | Lets AI coding agents retune mobile interfaces for larger displays and desktop-style input |
| Navigation 3 v1.2 | Updated navigation component announced at the summit |
| Compose 1.13 | Adds stable Grid and Flexbox support for responsive layouts |
Note: Google has not published the qualifying criteria or said whether underperforming apps could lose search visibility.
The summit also brought a separate expansion of Google’s AI surface. The company previewed a Connected Apps Platform that lets a developer integrate an app once and offer its functions in both Google Search and Gemini, the company said in a blog post. More than 50 connected apps are already available across productivity tools, event ticketing and health and fitness.
Developers register apps in a Google Connected Console, test the functions and then apply for review, choosing whether to serve Search, Gemini or both. Integrations draw on standards including the Model Context Protocol, which links AI systems to outside services, and after launch teams can monitor usage, response speed and error rates. Partners already live in Gemini include Adobe, Experian, Localiza and Peloton, with plans to extend those services into Search in the coming weeks and to add the meditation app Calm to both products.
The platform will open in stages, with more developers and regions added over the coming months and more Google products brought into the program.
“Developers can build once and reach high-intent users across both Search and the Gemini app,” the company said in the post.
Why it matters
Tying app quality to store exposure turns large-screen optimization from a design nicety into a distribution question. For developers, the calculation is straightforward: better foldable and tablet layouts could translate into more installs, while neglect could leave an app buried. For Google, the policy is a way to push the Android ecosystem toward devices that compete with tablets and laptops without asking developers to maintain a second codebase.
How much foldable users actually gain will hinge on the criteria Google eventually publishes and how quickly developers adopt the new tooling. The company has left both questions open, and until the rules are known, developers have little basis for judging how much work will be required to qualify.
