An early verdict on discussion website Reddit:  “New KaiStore update is sick!“.  Here’s what’s new. 

Creative animations to bridge loading time 

Loading doesn’t have to be boring! To keep you engaged before the content is fully loaded, we’ve created various loading animations to make them visually intrigued while waiting. There’re also new animations when scrolling down the app list and across categories, giving you a more interactive and delightful user interface. These new animations are a useful supplement to content and provide meaning to interactions that ultimately improve usability.   

Seeing is believing with app screenshots 

Developers can now add screenshots to their apps in the KaiStore. When you visit an app’s information page, you’ll be able to see what the experience looks like before pressing download. 

We’ve also darkened the banner under the app title and description. With the added contrast, it’s now easier to read this essential information.  

Get results for every search 

Despite our 800+ apps in the KaiStore, sometimes a search came up empty. Not anymore.  

You now get suggestions related to your search if there are no results. This creates another opportunity for you to discover all the great content available in the KaiStore. 

Discover even more with You May Also Like 

The recently launched You May Also Like page is already one of the most popular destinations of the KaiStore. To introduce you to even more great content, developers can now promote their apps using a new advertising slot^* in this section of the KaiStore. 

Go check out these updates for yourself in the KaiStore right now. They’re available on most KaiOS-enabled devices worldwide. 

^*This feature is now in closed beta and will be available to all soon. Please stay tuned!

The post What’s in Store? Four more KaiStore improvements appeared first on KaiOS.

How does it work?
When someone browses through the KaiStore on their smart feature phone, a set of three recommended apps will appear below the app description. Whether a user looks at a specific app or checks search results, a new section – titled “You May Also Like” – shows up at the bottom of the page. The only exception is the ad-driven app view, where we display no recommendations.

An intelligent recommendation engine looks at browsing and usage patterns across our entire app ecosystem to select three “You Might Also Like” apps. From this data, plus the characteristics of the current app someone is looking at (e.g., category, popularity), three recommendations show up at the bottom of the page.

Apps that offer high-quality content and great user experiences will be placed more frequently within the “You May Also Like” recommendations, rewarding developers for producing great work.

Expanded app descriptions

Besides app recommendations, we’ve also added more details to the app descriptions:

We’re seeing reputable KaiOS app developers gaining recognition and trust from KaiOS users. For this reason, the publisher name helps people identify apps from their favorite developers.

App size shows how much impact the download of the app will have on someone’s data plan. It’s never a lot – since all KaiOS apps are incredibly light – but it’s useful information nevertheless.

We believe these additions will build further trust in our ecosystem and help remove any remaining hesitation a user might have before downloading an app. Together with our new app recommendations, KaiOS users can find more great apps and feel confident to download them!

The post KaiStore upgrades: Recommendations and expanded app descriptions appeared first on KaiOS.

Search

With the growing number of apps in the KaiStore—over 700!—we thought it was time to implement a search feature.

For users, the search feature makes finding apps easier. Now, instead of endlessly browsing for what they’re looking for, all they need to do is enter a keyword in the search field.

The search function then filters across app names, categories, publishers, and descriptions to display best-matching results. This works in all languages and accommodates partial keywords and even misspellings.

For developers, the new search feature improves app discoverability, especially for apps that support multiple languages and have clear and accurate descriptions.

Automatic Updates

With the latest release, the KaiStore is automatically updated by default. Users will no longer see notifications about updating to newer versions.

For the KaiOS developer team, not having to support older versions of the KaiOS app store means more time for building even more exciting features.

What’s Next

The new KaiStore is currently being tested in select countries. We’ll be rolling out the update globally soon.

The post KaiStore gets major update appeared first on KaiOS.