Key points:
- Play Shorts is a full-screen, portrait, short-form video feed inside the Play Store, sitting next to normal app browsing.
- Users can install an app directly from the video feed itself, without leaving it to visit a full listing first.
- Rollout as of this writing covers the US and a limited set of developers, per Google’s own reporting, with more markets and developers planned.
- Since June 2026, uploads move through Play Console directly. Google’s own guidance says stop using Google Drive for this.
A scrolling video feed that lets someone install your app mid-clip is a real, new discovery surface. Not a hypothetical one. Google Play Shorts is live, in an early rollout, and it already comes with a real workflow change for how developers manage the videos themselves.
What Play Shorts actually is
Play Shorts sits alongside the Play Store’s normal browsing experience. Full-screen. Portrait orientation. Short clips, one after another, each showing an app or game in action. A user can scroll through them the way they’d scroll a social video feed, and install straight from that feed when something catches their eye. No detour through a full product page required first.
| Question | What’s confirmed |
|---|---|
| Format | Full-screen, portrait, short-form video |
| Where it sits | Next to normal Play Store app browsing |
| Can a user install from it directly | Yes |
| Current rollout | US, a limited set of developers |
| Planned expansion | More markets and developers over time |
The real workflow change: uploads move to Play Console
This is the part worth knowing even before you’re eligible for the feed itself. Google’s own guidance changed how these videos get managed. Before June 2026, some of this ran through Google Drive. Since June 2026, uploading and managing Play Shorts content happens directly in Play Console. Google’s own instruction is direct: don’t use Google Drive for new short-form video uploads anymore.
If your team built any process around the old Drive-based flow, that process is out of date now. The video itself doesn’t change. Where you manage it does.
Real-world scenario: A mobile game studio heard about Play Shorts through a partner’s newsletter and started prepping short clips right away, planning to route them through Google Drive the way an older guide had described. Checking Google’s own current guidance directly showed that workflow had already changed in June 2026. They rebuilt their upload process around Play Console from the start instead of building on a workflow that was already retired.
What to actually do about it
- Check your current eligibility rather than assuming you’re included. Rollout is still limited to the US and a specific set of developers as of this writing.
- Build any upload process around Play Console, not Google Drive. Google’s own guidance is explicit that Drive is no longer the path for new short-form video uploads.
- Treat this as a real production asset, not an afterthought. A feed a user can install straight from deserves the same care as your main screenshots and preview video, not a rushed clip.
- Watch for the expansion Google has already signaled. More markets and developers are planned. Worth checking back on your own eligibility as that rolls out.
AppRankr’s ASO Inspector reviews the parts of your listing already live and searchable today. Once Play Shorts reaches your account, that’s a new discovery surface worth planning for well before it does.