Google Play adds AI discovery tools and free publishing for AI-built apps

Google is rolling out several AI-focused changes to the Play Store. Ask Play, originally launched in 2025 as a per-listing chatbot for questions about individual apps, is expanding into a general search tool that generates app and game recommendations with comparison charts; Gemini will soon get a similar capability. A new Game Finder feature builds a 'Gamer DNA' profile for each user based on usage data from 1.2 billion Android gamers and matches them with players who have similar profiles. On the publishing side, anyone 18 or older can now publish Android apps built with AI Studio to the Play Store without paying the $25 developer account fee; those apps are privately listed and never appear in Play Store search or recommendations. AI Studio generates complete Kotlin and Jetpack Compose projects from a text description, a capability Google added at its I/O conference in May. The Play Store will also soon support private hosting and sharing of apps that users build with AI coding tools more broadly.