{"id":596836,"date":"2026-07-21T13:37:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T13:37:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/596836\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T13:37:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T13:37:13","slug":"the-play-store-can-now-add-widgets-from-new-apps-automatically","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/596836\/","title":{"rendered":"The Play Store can now add widgets from new apps automatically"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img class=\"e_3g\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"eager\"  title=\"Google Play Services System Services\"  alt=\"Google Play Services System Services\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1784641033_955_Google-Play-Services-System-Services-scaled.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Aamir Siddiqui \/ Android Authority<\/p>\n<p>TL;DR<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Google has updated Play Services and Play Store with new features.<\/li>\n<li>The Play Store will give users the option to add an app\u2019s widgets to the home screen during installation.<\/li>\n<li>Google will also soon roll out the ability to display a phone\u2019s IMEI number on the lock screen.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Play Services update brings IMEI to your lock screen<\/p>\n<p>The latest version of Google Play Services (v26.28) is here, and users can now choose to display their device\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/google-personal-safety-imei-on-lock-screen-apk-teardown-3621253\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">IMEI number on the lock screen<\/a>. This can be helpful for lost or stolen phones. However, prominently displaying a phone\u2019s IMEI number can also allow malicious actors to track or clone the device. Fortunately, it seems Google will leave it up to users to decide whether they want their IMEI displayed on the lock screen when the feature rolls out.<\/p>\n<p>IMEI on the lock screen seems to be a server-side rollout. As such, it\u2019s not yet available on several of our devices, even with the latest version of Play Services.<\/p>\n<p>Other new additions with the Google Play Services update<\/p>\n<p>The Play Services update also adds a couple of other quality-of-life improvements: apps can now ask for audio permissions in WebViews. This can be useful when a user taps a link that opens in a WebView within the app. Previously, if the linked webpage required audio permissions, it couldn\u2019t request them, so it wouldn\u2019t work properly.<\/p>\n<p>On <a href=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/projectivy-cleanest-android-tv-launcher-not-google-3684205\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Android TV<\/a>, the new update adds support for the Android Credential Manager. This will let users easily access saved passwords and passkeys on their TV. It also gives the option to use a phone for passkey authentication.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s the full changelog for Google Play Services v26.28:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Account Management\n<ul>\n<li>[Phone] This update adds support for audio permission in WebViews.<\/li>\n<li>[Phone] This update adds support for device manufacturers to launch storage management and subscription flows.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Developer Services\n<ul>\n<li>[TV] Add TV support for the Android Credential Manager, making it easier to use saved passwords and passkeys, including the option to use your phone for passkey authentication.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Device Connectivity\n<ul>\n<li>[Auto, Phone, TV] With this update, additional quality logging is now available.<\/li>\n<li>[Phone] Bug fixes for Device Connections related services.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Safety &amp; Emergency\n<ul>\n<li>[Phone] You can now find your device IMEI on the lock screen.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Wallet\n<ul>\n<li>[Phone] You\u2019ll return to your previous screen after you complete, cancel, or encounter an error in My Account instead of the Wallet home screen.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>What\u2019s new in the Google Play Store<\/p>\n<p>The Google Play Store is also being updated to version 52.4, and it brings a couple of notable changes. The Play Store now displays natural language queries. It also expands the search suggestions and search input box to two lines.<\/p>\n<p>The Play Store will also give users an option to add an app\u2019s widgets to the home screen during app installation. This could prove useful for people who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/best-android-widgets-not-google-2026-3681518\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">love using widgets<\/a>, or while installing widget apps.<\/p>\n<p>The update also introduces limited mobile data usage for restoring apps in India, Nigeria, and Indonesia. These features are also currently unavailable on our test devices and are likely to be server-side rollouts as well.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s the full changelog for Google Play Store v52.4:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>[Phone] With this update, we show natural language queries.<\/li>\n<li>[Phone] This update expands search suggestions and the search input box to 2 lines.<\/li>\n<li>[Phone] Limited mobile data usage for restoring apps in India, Nigeria, and Indonesia.<\/li>\n<li>[Phone] You\u2019ll now have the option to add an app\u2019s widget to your home screen during app installation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You can update your phone to the latest Google System Services by heading over to <strong>Settings &gt; Google settings &gt; All Services &gt; Privacy and security &gt; System services<\/strong>. You can also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/android-google-system-services-setting-update-3575493\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">enable automatic updates<\/a> to ensure your phone is always running the latest available version of Google\u2019s System Services.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you for being part of our community. Read our\u00a0<a class=\"c-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/android-authority-comment-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" data-stringify-link=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/android-authority-comment-policy\/\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\">Comment Policy<\/a> before posting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aamir Siddiqui \/ Android Authority TL;DR Google has updated Play Services and Play Store with new features. The&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":596837,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[257],"tags":[18,823,29616,8780,19,17,279,82],"class_list":["post-596836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mobile","tag-eire","tag-google","tag-google-play-services","tag-google-play-store","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-mobile","tag-technology"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116958242715901816","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=596836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/596837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=596836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=596836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=596836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}