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Google recently updated the mobile web version of the Play Store with an “Open In Play Store App” button, a self-explanatory shortcut for navigating to the dedicated app of the largest digital Android marketplace on the planet. The button itself can be seen in the screenshot below but it may be a while before you encounter it in person seeing how the mobile version of the Play Store usually only opens by mistake or can be accessed if you’re actively seeking it; even forcing the Chrome Android app to render the Google Search results like it would on a desktop and tapping a Play Store listing from them should still automatically open the dedicated Android app, and the same goes for the vast majority of popular mobile browsers.
The newly added button is seemingly already live on a global level and Google’s server-side switch reportedly encompassed all mobile web versions of the Play Store as some users are reporting that the shortcut is even showing up in Safari on an iPad, though it presumably doesn’t do anything when tapped. The Alphabet-owned company hasn’t announced the change in any official capacity and is unlikely to do so at all seeing how the new feature is a relatively minor addition to the version of the Play Store that wasn’t designed for frequent use anyway. The button itself is of the permanent variety, with all browsers rendering it near the bottom of your interface where it will stay even as you scroll through the Google Play Store listing, thus being extremely hard to miss.
It’s currently unclear when the Mountain View, California-based tech giant initially introduced the new web shortcut, with some users claiming that they originally saw it a couple of weeks back but had it disappear in the meantime. Hitting the button should be a quicker method of installing an Android app than using the “Install” shortcut near the top of its listing as you’ll be able to proceed with the download immediately instead of simply being greeted by a message that the app you selected will be “installed soon” and having to wait for the download to trigger.
