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Google Play Store to Offer Tailored Local Content Recommendations

Posted on by darion

The Google Play Store may soon offer local content recommendations based on the approximate location of your Android device. The ability to recommend local or regional content is an advanced and improved version of “regional locking.”

Google asks for approximate location permission for new feature

The Google Play Store remains the most popular destination for apps, games, services, and subscriptions on Android devices. Google is now unlocking “local recommendations” in the Android app store.

As the name suggests, local recommendations will suggest content and services near your Android device. Needless to say, this feature will require users to grant the “Approximate Location” permission.

According to Mishaal Rahman, Google has enabled local recommendations features on a handful of Android smartphones, likely for testing purposes. The feature asks the user for permission via a pop-up prompt in the Google Play Store.

The prompt asks if the user “would like to see local recommendations on Google Play.” The popup also states that “Play may use your device location to recommend apps, deals, and other local content that are relevant to your area.”

Clicking “Continue” brings up a window with permissions to access the approximate location of your device. This permission allows Google to determine the location of your device within a radius of about 1.2 square miles (3 square kilometers).

What local recommendations will the Google Play Store offer and how do I opt out of them?

The support page for the new feature notes that the Google Play Store will also use the device’s approximate location to enforce local content and distribution guidelines.” This process of restricting content is called regional locking.

The local recommendations feature is not the opposite of region locking. It will help users discover content that is close to them. Google has not specified what content the Play Store recommends, but it could include local promotions or region-specific apps and services.

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Opting out of the local recommendations feature is easy. Android users need to go to the Play Store Settings page > General Settings and switch Use device location off.

To permanently disable local recommendations, users can also remove Play Store access to their device location. This setting is available in the main Android settings app.