{"slug": "google-play-store", "name": "Google Play Store", "category": "other", "category_name": "Other software", "description": "", "recommenders": 2, "commenters": 8, "warners": 5, "score": -2.641, "rising": -0.65, "first": "2025-12-18", "latest": "2026-09-24", "why": "App Store search was so bad compared to the Play store (and f-droid, at least back then)", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 2, "neutral": 1, "compare": 0, "warn": 5}, "spark": [0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], "listed": false, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "App Store search was so bad compared to the Play store (and f-droid, at least back then)", "icon": false, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Google Play Store"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 752828707, "item_id": 47051794, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47051794", "by": "strcat", "date": "2026-02-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "we recommend using the sandboxed Play Store", "excerpt": "Firefox 147 doesn't provide site sandboxing or even basic content sandboxing on Android. They enabled multi-process support by default but still don't provide any form of sandbox for the separate processes. They enabled the separation part of site isolation which is partially implemented for Firefox desktop and now mobile but do not have content sandboxing and partial site sandboxing as they do for the desktop browse", "context": "GrapheneOS developer/team", "use_case": "obtaining apps unavailable directly", "switched_from": "", "story": "GrapheneOS \u2013 Break Free from Google and Apple"}, {"id": 741170577, "item_id": 46323161, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46323161", "by": "teekert", "date": "2025-12-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "App Store search was so bad compared to the Play store (and f-droid, at least back then)", "excerpt": "When I switched to iOS from Android it took me a while to realize why App Store search was so bad compared to the Play store (and f-droid, at least back then). It was because the first option was never wat you wanted. The highlighted app at the top was always an ad, never relevant. I immediately lost some respect for Apple \u201cso this is the expensive luxury platform people talk about?\u201d I hate that \u201cwe\u201d focus on the sec", "context": "switched from Android to iOS", "use_case": "app search", "switched_from": "", "story": "2026 Apple introducing more ads to increase opportunity in search results"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 787441635, "item_id": 49215102, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49215102", "by": "terhechte", "date": "2026-08-07", "stance": "warn", "quote": "For any horrible web administration UI:", "excerpt": "For any horrible web administration UI: - Apple Appstore Connect (gazillions of forms of metadata to release an app) - AWS - DigitalOcean - Google Play Store Whenever I dread logging in because I know the simple sounding task requires me to click through countless menus I use an agent browser. With confirmations of course. However, while the agent clicks through these (oftentimes dog slow) UIs I can do other things. ", "context": "", "use_case": "publishing apps", "switched_from": "", "story": "Kitesurf: Agent-first browser that runs in V8 isolates"}, {"id": 787163680, "item_id": 49197730, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49197730", "by": "remuskaos", "date": "2026-08-06", "stance": "warn", "quote": "The play store is pretty bad.", "excerpt": "The play store is pretty bad. About half the time I search for an app, BY NAME, without any way to confuse it with another app, the top result is a scam or copy cat, or adware. And always, without fail, they are paid-for ads instead of real search results. How can it still be somehow advantageous to trick your users into installing an app they clearly don't want. I wish there was a real alternative to the play store.", "context": "", "use_case": "app store", "switched_from": "", "story": "Meta Ran Ads That Contained AI-Generated Child Sexual Abuse Imagery"}, {"id": 787036448, "item_id": 49189778, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49189778", "by": "ryanjshaw", "date": "2026-08-05", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Google Play Store showed my child an ad of a bloody body on a bed for a murder mystery game.", "excerpt": "Google Play Store showed my child an ad of a bloody body on a bed for a murder mystery game. The game was rated 18+ and the account had my daughter\u2019s correct single digit age. I reported the ad and a week later it was still there. I switched to Apple.", "context": "parent of a young child", "use_case": "app store for child", "switched_from": "", "story": "Meta Ran Ads That Contained AI-Generated Child Sexual Abuse Imagery"}, {"id": 780152177, "item_id": 48759511, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48759511", "by": "Zak", "date": "2026-07-02", "stance": "warn", "quote": "The Play Store still has a problem with shady apps years later.", "excerpt": "The only time I've actually seen Android malware in the wild, it was because my mother installed a homescreen flashlight toggle widget from the Play Store that also displayed ads on the lockscreen. That was forbidden under Play Store rules, but there it was. I replaced it with something from F-Droid. The Play Store still has a problem with shady apps years later. If Google wants to be more like Apple, they should sta", "context": "", "use_case": "Android app store", "switched_from": "", "story": "A new Android malware from Google"}]}], "who": [{"by": "strcat", "context": "GrapheneOS developer/team", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47051794", "date": "2026-02-17"}, {"by": "teekert", "context": "switched from Android to iOS", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46323161", "date": "2025-12-18"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["app store", "banking and vendor apps", "publishing apps", "app store for child", "android app store", "obtaining apps unavailable directly"], "compared": [{"slug": "f-droid", "name": "F-Droid", "co": 8, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 1}, {"slug": "aurora-store", "name": "Aurora Store", "co": 4, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "grapheneos", "name": "GrapheneOS", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "app-store", "name": "App Store", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "accrescent", "name": "Accrescent", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "obtainium", "name": "Obtainium", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49187977", "title": "Meta Ran Ads That Contained AI-Generated Child Sexual Abuse Imagery", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49831968", "title": "F-Droid 2.0", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49208393", "title": "Kitesurf: Agent-first browser that runs in V8 isolates", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48755965", "title": "A new Android malware from Google", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47045612", "title": "GrapheneOS \u2013 Break Free from Google and Apple", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46680974", "title": "Apple testing new App Store design that blurs the line between ads and results", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-01": {"warn": 1}, "2026-02": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {"warn": 1}, "2026-08": {"warn": 3}, "2026-09": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 797320308, "item_id": 49832519, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49832519", "by": "silverbluep", "date": "2026-09-24", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I need play store for them", "excerpt": "I use droid-ify as frontend; and it's been fine to use f-droid repos for most of my needs. I try to install my apps from there in general. Biggest issue for me is android auto capability usually requires the app to be installed from play store (CoMaps) and my music player app (GoneMAD) has a companion unlocker that is from paid app store. I need banking and bunch of vendor related apps. I need play store for them; so", "context": "", "use_case": "banking and vendor apps", "switched_from": "", "story": "F-Droid 2.0"}, {"id": 787441635, "item_id": 49215102, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49215102", "by": "terhechte", "date": "2026-08-07", "stance": "warn", "quote": "For any horrible web administration UI:", "excerpt": "For any horrible web administration UI: - Apple Appstore Connect (gazillions of forms of metadata to release an app) - AWS - DigitalOcean - Google Play Store Whenever I dread logging in because I know the simple sounding task requires me to click through countless menus I use an agent browser. With confirmations of course. However, while the agent clicks through these (oftentimes dog slow) UIs I can do other things. ", "context": "", "use_case": "publishing apps", "switched_from": "", "story": "Kitesurf: Agent-first browser that runs in V8 isolates"}, {"id": 787163680, "item_id": 49197730, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49197730", "by": "remuskaos", "date": "2026-08-06", "stance": "warn", "quote": "The play store is pretty bad.", "excerpt": "The play store is pretty bad. About half the time I search for an app, BY NAME, without any way to confuse it with another app, the top result is a scam or copy cat, or adware. And always, without fail, they are paid-for ads instead of real search results. How can it still be somehow advantageous to trick your users into installing an app they clearly don't want. I wish there was a real alternative to the play store.", "context": "", "use_case": "app store", "switched_from": "", "story": "Meta Ran Ads That Contained AI-Generated Child Sexual Abuse Imagery"}, {"id": 787036448, "item_id": 49189778, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49189778", "by": "ryanjshaw", "date": "2026-08-05", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Google Play Store showed my child an ad of a bloody body on a bed for a murder mystery game.", "excerpt": "Google Play Store showed my child an ad of a bloody body on a bed for a murder mystery game. The game was rated 18+ and the account had my daughter\u2019s correct single digit age. I reported the ad and a week later it was still there. I switched to Apple.", "context": "parent of a young child", "use_case": "app store for child", "switched_from": "", "story": "Meta Ran Ads That Contained AI-Generated Child Sexual Abuse Imagery"}, {"id": 780152177, "item_id": 48759511, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48759511", "by": "Zak", "date": "2026-07-02", "stance": "warn", "quote": "The Play Store still has a problem with shady apps years later.", "excerpt": "The only time I've actually seen Android malware in the wild, it was because my mother installed a homescreen flashlight toggle widget from the Play Store that also displayed ads on the lockscreen. That was forbidden under Play Store rules, but there it was. I replaced it with something from F-Droid. The Play Store still has a problem with shady apps years later. If Google wants to be more like Apple, they should sta", "context": "", "use_case": "Android app store", "switched_from": "", "story": "A new Android malware from Google"}, {"id": 752828707, "item_id": 47051794, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47051794", "by": "strcat", "date": "2026-02-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "we recommend using the sandboxed Play Store", "excerpt": "Firefox 147 doesn't provide site sandboxing or even basic content sandboxing on Android. They enabled multi-process support by default but still don't provide any form of sandbox for the separate processes. They enabled the separation part of site isolation which is partially implemented for Firefox desktop and now mobile but do not have content sandboxing and partial site sandboxing as they do for the desktop browse", "context": "GrapheneOS developer/team", "use_case": "obtaining apps unavailable directly", "switched_from": "", "story": "GrapheneOS \u2013 Break Free from Google and Apple"}, {"id": 747149408, "item_id": 46696838, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46696838", "by": "0xTJ", "date": "2026-01-20", "stance": "warn", "quote": "it has been enshitified to withing a centimeter of its life", "excerpt": "Ah, great, they're copying the worst part of the Play Store. I use Android, and avoid opening the Play Store unless I already know exactly what I'm looking for, it has been enshitified to withing a centimeter of its life. I would actually spend through the Play Store if it wasn't such an awful user experience.", "context": "Android user", "use_case": "app store", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple testing new App Store design that blurs the line between ads and results"}, {"id": 741170577, "item_id": 46323161, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46323161", "by": "teekert", "date": "2025-12-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "App Store search was so bad compared to the Play store (and f-droid, at least back then)", "excerpt": "When I switched to iOS from Android it took me a while to realize why App Store search was so bad compared to the Play store (and f-droid, at least back then). It was because the first option was never wat you wanted. The highlighted app at the top was always an ad, never relevant. I immediately lost some respect for Apple \u201cso this is the expensive luxury platform people talk about?\u201d I hate that \u201cwe\u201d focus on the sec", "context": "switched from Android to iOS", "use_case": "app search", "switched_from": "", "story": "2026 Apple introducing more ads to increase opportunity in search results"}]}