Boost app quality with new Play Console Insights

At Google Play, the team partners with developers to help their app or game business reach its full potential, providing powerful tools and insights every step of the way. In Google Play Console, developers will find the features needed to test, publish, improve, and grow their apps. Google is excited to share several enhancements to give developers even more actionable insights, starting with a redesigned app dashboard tailored to key workflows, and new metrics designed to help improve app quality.

Boost app quality with new Play Console Insights: Focus on the metrics that matter with the redesigned app dashboard

The first thing developers will notice is the redesigned app dashboard, which puts the most essential insights front and center. Google understands that when developers visit Play Console, they usually have a goal in mind—whether that’s checking on release status or tracking installs. That’s why the new dashboard now shows the most important metrics grouped into four core developer objectives:

• Test and release
• Monitor and improve
• Grow users
• Monetize with Play
   

Each objective highlights the three metrics most important to that goal, giving a quick grasp of how the app is doing at a glance, as well as how those metrics have changed over time. For example, developers can now easily compare their latest production release against the app’s overall performance, helping to quickly identify any issues. In the screenshot below, the latest production release has a crash rate of 0.24%, a large improvement over the 28-day average crash rate shown under “Monitor and Improve.”

At the top of the page, the status of the latest release changes is prominently displayed so developers know when it’s been reviewed and approved. For those using managed publishing, it’s also possible to see when things are ready to publish. Based on developer feedback, engagement and monetization metrics now show a comparison to the previous year’s data, allowing for quick comparisons.

The new app dashboard also keeps developers updated on the latest news from Play, including recent blog posts, new features relevant to the app, and even special invitations to early access programs.

In addition to what’s automatically displayed on the dashboard, Google recognizes that many developers track other vital metrics specific to their role or business. That’s why a new “Monitor KPI trends” section has been added at the bottom of the app dashboard. By simply scrolling down, developers can personalize their view by selecting the trends they need to monitor. This customized experience allows each user in the developer account to focus on their most important insights.

Later this year, Google plans to introduce new overview pages for each of the four core developer objectives. These pages will help developers quickly understand their performance, showcase tools and features within each domain, and list recommended actions to optimize performance, engagement, and revenue across all apps.

The redesigned app dashboard

Get actionable notifications when and where they’re needed

For developers who spend a lot of time in Play Console, they may have already noticed the new notification center. Accessible from every page, the notification center helps them stay up to date with their account and apps and identify any issues that may need urgent attention.

To help developers quickly understand and act on important information, notifications about the same issue across multiple apps are now grouped. Additionally, notifications that are no longer relevant will automatically expire, ensuring only what needs attention is visible. Plus, notifications are now displayed on the new app dashboard within the relevant objectives.

Improve app quality and performance with new play console metrics

One of Play’s top goals is to provide the insights developers need to build high-quality apps that deliver exceptional user experiences. Google is continuing to expand these insights, helping prevent issues like crashes or ANRs, optimize app performance, and reduce resource consumption on users’ devices.

Users expect a polished experience across their devices, and Google has learned from developers that it can be difficult to make app layouts work seamlessly across phones and large screens. To assist with this, Google has introduced pre-review checks for incorrect edge-to-edge rendering. Another new check helps detect and prevent large screen layout issues caused by letterboxing and restricted layouts, along with resources on how to fix them.

Google is also making it easier to find and triage the most important quality issues in an app. The release dashboard in Play Console now displays prioritized quality issues from the latest release, alongside the existing dashboard features for monitoring post-launch, such as crashes and ANRs. This addition provides a centralized view of user-impacting issues, along with clear instructions to help resolve critical user issues and improve the user experience.

A new “low memory kill” (LMK) metric is available in Android vitals and the Reporting API. Low memory issues cause apps to terminate without any logging and can be notoriously difficult to detect. These issues are now made visible with device-specific insights into memory constraints, helping developers identify and fix problems. This will improve app stability and user engagement, which is especially crucial for games where LMKs can disrupt real-time gameplay.

Google is also collaborating closely with leading OEMs like Samsung, leveraging real-world insights to define consistent benchmarks for optimal technical quality across Android devices. Excessive wakelocks are a leading cause of battery drain, a top frustration for users. Today, Google is launching the first of these new metrics in beta: excessive wake locks in Android vitals. Developers are encouraged to take a look at the wakelock documentation and provide feedback on the metric definition. This input is essential as Google refines the metric toward general availability and informs its strategy for making this information available to users on the Play Store so they can make informed decisions when choosing apps.

Together, these updates provide developers with even more visibility into app performance and quality, enabling them to build more stable, efficient, and user-friendly apps across the Android ecosystem. Google will continue to add more metrics and insights over time. To stay informed about all the latest Play Console enhancements and easily find updates relevant to individual workflows, developers can explore the new “What’s new in Play Console” page, where features can be filtered by the four developer objectives.