The Google Play Store is becoming more personalized with local recommendations

The Google Play Store is where most Android users go to download new apps and games. While many of the most popular apps and games are available globally, some software is only available in certain regions, a practice known as region locking. This is possible because the Play Store checks what country you’re in to serve you region-specific content. Beyond that, though, the store doesn’t check whether you’re in a particular city or state before recommending content. However, that could soon change as the Google Play Store is rolling out a feature that uses your device’s location to recommend local content.

When I opened the Google Play Store app on my Galaxy Z Flip 6 the other day, I was met by a pop-up that asked me whether I “want[ed] to see local recommendations in Google Play.” It continued: “Play can use your device location to recommend apps, offers, and other local content that are relevant in your area.”After tapping Continue, Android asked whether I wanted to grant the Google Play Store app access to my device’s approximate location, a rarely-used permission that was introduced back in Android 12. Apps that are granted access to a device’s approximate location are given an estimate of the device’s location that’s accurate to within about 3 square kilometers (about 1.2 square miles), according to Google’s documentation. This level of location accuracy should be more than enough for Google Play to provide locally relevant information.