Google is testing a new Gemini-powered feature in the Play Store that lets you ask specific questions about an app to get clear, instant answers right on the app’s page. It’s designed to make understanding apps easier and save you time digging through reviews or descriptions.
“Ask Play About This App”
This new feature utilizes a text box that lets users type in a question, but also provides a few pre-filled questions that a user can tap on. This Gemini-powered feature acts like a helpful app-discovery assistant built right into the Play Store. It’s there to answer a user’s questions about an app, whether they are curious about data privacy or features and functionality.
The new feature makes it easy to obtain relevant answers for an app. As an example, on a password manager, one of the pre-prompted questions is “What encryption algorithms are used?”, and Gemini creates the answer instantly. But Gemini doesn’t just pull basic app information, it analyzes app descriptions, ratings, and reviews to give answers tailored to questions. Instead of scrolling reviews or reading an entire description, users can get clear, trustworthy insights right in the Play Store. It also helps users see an app’s strengths and weaknesses more clearly before the user decide to download.
There are absolutely limitations here, one of the most obvious being comparisons to other apps. Gemini won’t provide an opinion or comparison to other apps as it’s purely focused on providing information about the specific app the user is looking at.
Why This Feature Matters For Everyone
This AI-powered tool makes browsing apps faster, more interactive and personal. For users, it means getting answers faster and making decisions with less hassle. For developers, this could mean that users will spend less time on your app’s listing and will likely stress the importance of conversion rates through visuals. Additionally, Gemini is indexing an app’s description to provide valuable information, relevant to the search term or category.
Here’s what developers can do to help Gemini identify key questions:
- AI-friendly descriptions: Be sure that your descriptions are explaining key elements about your app that are relevant to your category. In the case of our password manager, referencing encryption and security is relevant to users, and one of the first things that Gemini highlights about this listing. This can build trust and improve conversion with users in this category.
- User reviews: Ratings/reviews have always been important, but now AI is identifying trends and key points about the app to provide clear information to users. Every developer needs to focus on generating positive app ratings/reviews.
- Screenshots: The idea of Google indexing screenshots has been debated, but based on some of the pre-prompted AI questions, it seems like this is becoming a factor in the pre-prompted questions.
What’s Next For AI and App Discovery?
This is just the beginning. As Gemini and other AI tools evolve, features like this could become standard across more of Google’s (and Apple’s) ecosystem. The future of app experiences isn’t just about discovery, it’s about smarter and more helpful interactions that save time, build trust, and make using apps feel effortless for everyone.
Need help crafting an AI-friendly description? Contact us today for a free consultation!
