- The Google Play Store could soon start highlighting apps optimized for large-screen devices like tablets and compatible with cars.
- These are likely the result of the Google Car-ready mobile apps program announced at Google I/O 2024 that aimed to bring tablet apps to car infotainment screens for use when the car is parked.
Center consoles in cars came with mechanical buttons and knobs in the analog era, but these days, most cars practically have a giant tablet housed there. This tablet-like center console is used to control car functions, but through Android Auto or Android Automotive, it can also run apps for navigation and music streaming that are optimized for distraction-less control. Since this center console is pretty much a tablet, it should also be able to run other standard apps when the car is parked. Google had the same idea, and it will soon start highlighting apps designed for tablets and compatible with your car in the Google Play Store.
An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.[/alert]