Google Play Store: APK teardown shows app distinction for tablets, cars

Users can run navigation and music streaming apps through Android Auto with a tablet
An undated image. — Deposit Photos
An undated image. — Deposit Photos

Gone are the days when it was an automotive tradition of centre consoles in cars coupled with mechanical buttons and knobs, as cars nowadays have replaced those buttons with a giant tablet, simplifying it for users to control car functions.

Car controlling apps in Android Auto, Android Automotive

Their functionality gets a revamp and lets users run navigation and music streaming apps through Android Auto or Android Automotive, ensuring distraction-free control. 

As the centre console bears immense resemblance with a tablet, it ought to be able to run other standard apps with your vehicle parked, something Google has been considering and is reported to soon highlight Google Play Store apps designed for tablets and compatible with your car. 

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Referring to an APK teardown, Android Authority highlighted some features on the horizon of the Play Store in light of the work-in-progress code.

The publication also gave a fair degree of attention to the possibility of such features not making it to a potential public release.

References to these features were spotted in Google Play Store v43.0.18-31, suggesting that Google is eyeing to simplify the identification of tablet-optimised apps compatible with cars.

It was iterated in the report that apps designed for tablets will work on that surface in a tablet-suited layout as cars typically feature a tablet-like centre console.