New Google Play Store feature could make choosing the right app so much easier

Google is working on a new feature for its Play Store that could save you loads of time when looking for that ideal app.

Noticed by Android Police, the feature is called Compare apps. It shows up when you open an app's page on Play Store and scroll down beyond the "Ratings and reviews" section. It lets you scroll through a host of similar apps, comparing their main features.

Currently, the feature is in testing, and it's not showing up for everyone (I couldn't get it to work on the Android phones I had at my disposal). When it does show, it appears to be limited to certain apps, such as media players.

Still, if implemented widely, it could be the proverbial life-saver. Nearly every time I've needed to find an app for a certain task, I've ended up wading through a forest of similar apps, unsure about which I should choose and why. I mean that literally — right now, the Play Store shows a list of "Similar apps," which is just a long list of app names and icons.

In contrast, the Compare apps feature gives grades for ease of use, shows how many times an app's been downloaded, and offers some additional info about each. In Android Central's example of media players, features such as video quality, offline play, and streaming are listed.

There's no word on when, if ever, this new feature will start showing up for everyone. Populating those data fields for every app is likely a chore, even for Google, which likely has a ton of data from users' app reviews. Hang in there. It might be a while before we see a wider release.