Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- An APK teardown has revealed that Cubes is now called Collections.
- Collections will initially only be available in the US.
- A toolbar and shortcut have been added to the feature.
Google started working on a Play Store feature codenamed Cubes back in January 2023. The feature has been in development since then, but we got our first look at it a few months ago when it accidentally went live while it was still in the internal testing phase. Our APK teardown has now revealed a few more details about this experience.
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.
When Cubes was first discovered, there wasn’t a whole lot of information to go on. However, we learned it was a Play Store-powered experience; it has Watch, Listen, Read, Games, Social, and Shop categories; and the user could select a category to be shown relevant content from their apps in one space. The content shown in these sections would come from apps that have partnered with Google.
In our APK teardown of the Google Play Store (version 41.6.26), we found that Cubes is now known as Collections. Strings of code also reveal that the feature is headed to the US first with more countries to follow later on.
Right now Collections is only available in the United States. We’ll announce when we expand to more countries and access is available.
If you’re in the US, try signing in to Collections with a different account
You can see a few screenshots of Collections in the images below.
It appears Google made a few changes to the feature since the last time we saw it. While the widget isn’t new, the toolbar you see in the image above is. Additionally, the firm also added a shortcut for Collections as well.
It seems like Collections is being fleshed out, but is still very much a work in progress. It’s unclear when the feature will launch for real.
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