Google to reward foldable-friendly apps with better Play Store visibility from next year

Developers could gain a competitive advantage on Google Play by reworking their apps for foldable phones and other large-screen devices, as Google plans to make app quality on these form factors a factor in store visibility from next year.

The announcement, made at the Android Dev Summit, signals a push to make applications more adaptable to devices that offer more screen space than conventional smartphones. Google is expected to outline the conditions developers must meet later this year.

Many Android applications are still designed around the dimensions of standard smartphones. When opened on foldable devices, these apps may simply stretch across the expanded display instead of rearranging their interfaces to suit the available space. Google’s planned initiative aims to encourage developers to address such limitations.

It remains unclear how the company will determine which applications deserve better placement. Google has not said whether apps that fall short of its forthcoming criteria could lose search visibility, or how much optimisation will be required to qualify for preferential treatment.

The Play Store initiative is part of a broader effort to make Android applications work across a wider range of devices. Google is updating its development tools to help developers adapt existing apps instead of building and maintaining separate versions for different platforms.

The updated Compose adaptive skill can assist AI coding agents in reviewing mobile interfaces and modifying them for larger screens. Developers can use it to introduce features such as keyboard shortcuts, hover interactions, pointer cursors and tooltips, which are suited to desktop-style use.

The tool also supports changes to camera and media interfaces for foldable phones used in tabletop configurations. Its scope extends to tablets, laptops, cars and extended reality (XR) devices.

Google is pairing these capabilities with updates to its development framework. Navigation 3 v1.2 is among the announced improvements, while the forthcoming Compose 1.13 release will include stable support for Grid and Flexbox, helping developers create more responsive interfaces.

By linking app quality to Play Store exposure, Google could make large-screen optimisation a more immediate priority for developers. Whether that translates into noticeably better experiences for foldable users will depend on the criteria the company eventually publishes and how widely developers adopt the changes.