As you may have already noticed, the Google Play Store keeps track of all the apps you installed on your old devices. In general, this information is of no use. Worse, all this data could complicate the management of your smartphone. We will see how to hide your old smartphones and tablets in the Google Play Store..
Remove your old Android devices from the Play Store
Each Android smartphone or tablet must have a Google account to access the application library in the Play Store. Once this prerequisite has been acquired, it is then easy to download applications and make purchases on the Google platform.
This system also offers the possibility of installing an application remotely from the web browser of a PC or Mac. This option is particularly useful, especially when you want to deploy the same application on different Android devices..
The installation is then carried out automatically on each of the previously selected devices without any intervention on your part as if by magic. Obviously, this is only possible if your smartphones and tablets have the same Google account.
And this is where the problems begin. Indeed, if you are used to changing your mobile regularly, you may end up with a long list of terminals in the Play Store. By force it risks becoming difficult to manage..
To no longer see your old phones appear on the Play Store
Should we worry about it? Not really. Because even if Google does not offer options for removing a smartphone or tablet from the Play Store, there is a trick to hide old devices that you are not using. Here's how to do it
- Stand in front of your PC or Mac
- Launch your favorite web browser. Chrome, Firefox or Safari, whatever
- Open the Play Store web page available at the following address: https://play.google.com/store/apps?hl=en
- Press the connection button at the top right of the window
- Enter the email address and password of the Google account you use on your different mobile devices
- Click on the gear in the upper right corner of the window
- Select the Settings option
- You will be automatically redirected to a page called My devices. There you will find the complete list of all smartphones and tablets linked to your Google account.
- Select your mouse the devices you no longer want to appear in the Play Store
- Uncheck the visibility box
As you can see, this method is relatively simple and effortless. You can even reconnect your old devices if you change your mind.
Rename a device in the Play Store
When installing an application remotely from the web browser, the Play Store will ask you to choose from the list the device or devices on which the program will run. Unfortunately, the names used on the Google store are sometimes not very explicit.
Indeed, the Play Store has taken the bad habit of identifying mobiles and tablets by the references given by the manufacturers. For example, the Samsung Galaxy S4 appears under the code name Samsung GT-I9500 and the S6 under the surname of Samsung Exynos 7420. Difficult to navigate.
Fortunately, it is possible to change the name of a device in order to identify them more easily. We explain below how to proceed
- Open the settings page of the Play Store site
- Find in the list the device to which you want to give it a new name
- Press the Edit button at the end of the line
- Enter a new name for example David's S8 or simply Samsung S8
- Press Update to validate the modification
This will make it easier for you to download an application from a computer. With this tip, there is no longer any risk of installing a game or software on the wrong device.