The nature of the various things offered through Google Play's services have changed over time given the particular history of the Android operating system.

[6] It has been the subject of multiple issues concerning security, in which malicious software has been approved and uploaded to the store and downloaded by users, with varying degrees of severity.

[8][9] Google Play allows developers to release early versions of apps to a select group of users, as alpha or beta tests.

[61][62] In July 2017, Google expanded its "Editors' Choice" section to feature curated lists of apps deemed to provide good Android experiences within overall themes, such as fitness, video calling, and puzzle games.

[71][72] In July, Google introduced an interface with a focus on featured content, more search filters, and (in the US) book sales and movie rentals.

The update also saw small UI tweaks to the Google Play Store site with the reviews section now opening to a dedicated page and larger images in the light box viewer.

It provides access to content on Google Play, including apps, books, magazines, music, movies, and television programs.

[122] In 2020, Google decided to rewrite the Play Store app's UI code using Jetpack Compose, which was in pre-alpha at the time.

It stated that the "existing code was 10+ years old and had incurred tremendous tech debt over countless Android platform releases and feature updates.

[156][157] In 2020, Google Play awarded Disney+ as the top app of the year for users in the US, and SpongeBob: Krusty Cook-Off taking the honors in the gaming category.

[160][161][162] In October 2016, Google announced a new detection and filtering system designed to provide "additional enhancements to protect the integrity of the store".

The new system is aimed to detect and filter cases where developers have been attempting to "manipulate the placement of their apps through illegitimate means like fraudulent installs, fake reviews, and incentivized ratings".

[166] The company later clarified that, in exceptional cases, certain apps may be subject to an expanded review process, delaying the publication by seven days or longer.

[167][168] In 2023, Google imposes strict guidelines for personal loan apps on Play Store from 31 May that make the customer's data vulnerable.

Google released a statement:[172] On Monday, several applications that enable tethering were removed from the Android Market catalog because they were in violation of T-Mobile's terms of service in the US.

We have notified the affected developers.In April 2011, Google removed the Grooveshark app from the store due to unspecified policy violations.

[182][183] In 2017, the Bouncer feature and other safety measures within the Android platform were rebranded under the umbrella name Google Play Protect, a system that regularly scans apps for threats.

[187][188] In early March 2011, DroidDream, a trojan rootkit exploit, was released to the then-named Android Market in the form of several free applications that were, in many cases, pirated versions of existing priced apps.

This exploit allowed hackers to steal information such as IMEI and IMSI numbers, phone model, user ID, and service provider.

[191] A few days later, Google confirmed that 58 malicious apps had been uploaded to Android Market, and had been downloaded to 260,000 devices before being removed from the store.

The application used a JavaScript exploit to steal contacts, SMS messages, and photos, and was also capable of making the phone open arbitrary web pages or launch denial-of-service attacks.

Nicholas Percoco, senior vice president of Trustwave's SpiderLabs advanced security team, stated that "We wanted to test the bounds of what it's capable of".

"[201][202] In April 2017, security firm Check Point announced that a malware named "FalseGuide" had been hidden inside approximately 40 "game guide" apps in Google Play.

[203] The malware is capable of gaining administrator access to infected devices, where it then receives additional modules that let it show popup ads.

[204][203] After being alerted to the malware, Google removed all instances of it in the store,[204] but by that time, approximately two million Android users had already downloaded the apps, the oldest of which had been around since November 2016.

[203] In June 2017, researchers from the Sophos security company announced their finding of 47 apps using a third-party development library that shows intrusive advertisements on users' phones.

The apps had been collectively downloaded over 100 million times, and consisted of a wide variety of use cases, including health, weather, photo-editing, Internet radio and emoji.

The program, called Tekya, was designed to evade detection by Google Play Protect and VirusTotal and then fraudulently click on ads.

[212] On November 30, 2021, ThreatFabric, researchers explain how they discovered four different malware dropper campaigns distributing banking trojans on the Google Play Store.

When ready to distribute the banking trojan, the threat actor's server will tell the installed app to perform a fake "update" that "drops" and launches the malware on the Android device.