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Late last year it was revealed that Google could be gearing up for a service it would offer called Play Pass, in which it would offer users the ability to pay a small fee every month to get access to hundreds of premium apps and games. Turns out, Google is now testing Play Pass with users and it costs $5 a month, according to screenshots obtained by Android Police.
It’s not clear how wide the test is or how many users are included, but the service is what it sounds like. It’s a subscription service that allows you to get access to tons of premium apps and games that would normally cost you money to have to buy. Think about that $7 game which you’ve gone back and forth on purchasing from the Play Store. With Play Pass, you would simply have access to play it without having to buy it, plus, you’d have access to loads of other paid games too.
Since this is just a test there’s a chance that Google could change the cost, so while it’s $5 a month right now it may not always be that way. That doesn’t necessarily mean that it would go up though as the cost just as easily decrease too. If saving money on the game purchases isn’t enough, Play Pass doesn’t just free you from the initial app and game purchase. It also unlocks in-game and in-app premium content.
For those included in the test it looks like Play Pass is available with a 10-day free trial before the first monthly payment is required, giving users the ability to try things out before committing to the service.
With a free trial users may be more receptive to checking things out and seeing how much they actually make use of it, and nearly two weeks should be enough time to make that decision which is probably why the trial is ten days and not a full month. The trial is likely to stick around for other users once the test is over and the service goes live as well.
Now Google isn’t just going to give users access to any premium app or game that you can find. The games and apps that are included in the monthly subscription are curated by Google. This means you may not find what you were hoping to get for free, and this is why the trial period is sure to be extremely useful as you can check out what Google has added before deciding to pull the trigger.
As to be expected Play Pass also gets rid of any ads, so for the single monthly fee you can open and use paid apps and games with no ads and get access to the in-game and in-app purchases that they offer. Keep in mind those purchases are likely to be curated as well. Like Play Music subscriptions Play Pass will also have an available Family Plan so if there are multiple people on your Play Store account, this will allow them to use the service too.
Google is just testing the Play Pass service right now so there’s no word yet on an official rollout, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see it go live sometime before Summer is over.
