TL;DR
- Google is rolling out a new badge for official state and federal government-made apps.
- Over 3,000 apps from 12 countries are receiving the badge starting today.
- The Play Store had previously been testing the feature with a small percentage of users.
Knowing whether an app is legit or not can sometimes be a little tricky. To make it easier to tell, at least for apps made by state and federal governments, the Google Play Store is rolling out a new badge.
Starting today, apps made by state and federal governments are getting a new government badge to help users better identify official apps. The company states that at launch, users will be able to see the badge on over 3,000 government apps from 12 different countries. These countries include:
- Australia
- Canada
- Germany
- France
- United Kingdom
- Japan
- South Korea
- United States
- Brazil
- Indonesia
- India
- Mexico
The badge in question is an icon of a building with the word “Government” underneath it. If you navigate to one of these apps, you’ll see the badge sitting right of the app’s rating. You can also tap on the badge, which will open up a message that says “Official government — Play verified this app is affiliated with a government entity.” Some examples of apps that are getting the badge include NASA, FEMA, and IRS2Go.
Google initially announced this feature in November 2023 as part of its effort to amplify the highest-quality apps on the platform. It has since been testing the feature with a small percentage of users. But now everyone will be able to see the badge starting today.
If you want to see what the requirements are for an app to get the badge, the firm has published a help page that helps to explain.