The Play Store in cars with Google built-in is getting a redesign, and it finally resizes itself to fit the screen it is actually on.
On Tuesday, Google announced the Play Store's layout will automatically adapt to the size and orientation of a car's display, instead of cramming a phone-style grid onto whatever screen the automaker shipped. The homepage will surface featured apps for one-tap installs. A new "streamlined navigation" menu lines up Apps, Games, Search, and More along the left edge on horizontal screens, or across the top on vertical ones. Google says the update starts rolling out in the coming weeks, with no word on pricing or new app categories.
Cars that run Google built-in use Android as the actual operating system, not a mirrored phone screen like Android Auto or CarPlay. Dashboard screens come in wildly different shapes and sizes, and a storefront that cannot adapt to that is one of the small but real reasons drivers end up defaulting back to their phones instead. Fixing that is table stakes, not a breakthrough feature.
It is a modest update dressed up as an announcement, but modest is what an app store needs to be when the competition is just unlocking your phone.