Update 10/17/14: Play Store 5.0.32, a small bump over 5.0.31, is now available for download.

Update 10/31/14: Play Store 5.0.37, a bump over 5.0.32, is now available for download. It comes with at least one new change - a new permission bucket called Wearable sensors/activity data to help explain permissions for apps that can grab data from wearables, such as heart rate monitors.


Of course, as I have to pick up my son from daycare, breaking news had to hit, and Google had to start pushing out the Play Store 5.0 update (5.0.31, to be exact). We'll start looking at every corner in just a bit. In the meantime, a few things are immediately obvious. One, it looks like the app in our exclusive early look from mid-September. And two... well, let's just jump into the What's New section and find out.

Before we get started, it's worth noting that users of the L developer preview have been experiencing issues. Apparently, this is to be expected for now.

What's New?

[play_store_downloads]

Brand New Icon

As you can see at the top of the post, the Play Store icon has been revised. The new look resembles the flat design style found in many of Google's newer iconography, and fits in well with the Material guidelines. Kirill Grouchnikov, a User Interface Engineer at Google, posted a history of the Play Store icon's evolution, starting at the very beginning when it was still called the Android Market.

Moar Material Design

What's New moves to the top

The What's New section is now highlighted green, and while it's still truncated after 4 lines on the main app screen for installed apps, once you click on it, you no longer have to scroll all the way down, which made no sense in the previous 4.9 update. Hallelujah, someone at Google listened!

New Icons for Widget Suggestion

Remember the new ic_launcher files we saw last time? It looks like this is where they are used. If you add a Play Store widget to your home screen, you'll see these new icons when selecting which content you want on the widget.

New Notification Icons

File Size History

  • com.android.vending-4.0.27.apk 5.89 MB (6,181,458 bytes)
  • com.android.vending-4.1.6.apk 5.75 MB (6,036,474 bytes)
  • com.android.vending-4.1.10.apk 5.76 MB (6,040,792 bytes)
  • com.android.vending-4.2.3.apk 5.76 MB (6,046,580 bytes)
  • com.android.vending-4.2.9.apk 5.84 MB (6,129,144 bytes)
  • com.android.vending-4.3.10.apk 5.75 MB (6,036,657 bytes)
  • com.android.vending-4.3.11.apk 5.75 MB (6,038,575 bytes)
  • com.android.vending-4.4.21.apk 5.84 MB (6,126,172 bytes)
  • com.android.vending-4.4.22.apk 5.84 MB (6,126,834 bytes)
  • com.android.vending-4.5.10.apk 6.62 MB (6,951,714 bytes)
  • com.android.vending-4.6.16.apk 6.21 MB (6,520,554 bytes)
  • com.android.vending-4.8.19.apk 6.85MB (7,015,533 bytes)
  • com.android.vending-4.8.20.apk 6.69 MB (7,015,601 bytes)
  • com.android.vending-4.8.22.apk 6.69 MB (7,016,172 bytes)
  • com.android.vending-4.9.13.apk 7.18 MB (7,538,155 bytes)
  • com.android.vending-5.0.31-80300031-minAPI9.apk 9.01 MB (9,453,198 bytes)
  • com.android.vending-5.0.32-80300032-minAPI9.apk 9.01 MB (9,455,091 bytes)
  • com.android.vending-5.0.37-80300037-minAPI9.apk 9.05 MB (9,493,814 bytes)

Download

The APK is signed by Google and upgrades your existing app. The cryptographic signature guarantees that the file is safe to install and was not tampered with in any way. Rather than wait for Google to push this download to your devices, which can take days, download and install it just like any other APK.

File name: com.android.vending-5.0.37-80300037-minAPI9.apk

Version: 5.0.37 (Android 2.3+)

MD5: 4e240dc9d30a43a136ed9932d6d67c0e.

Thanks, Eduardo Pratti!