Google’s Play Store Now Lets Users Remotely Update And Uninstall Android Apps

All Googled out yet? I can’t blame you if you are, but it seems that the company has been even busier than their two hour press conference let on.

In addition to pushing the Android version of their Chrome browser out of beta, Google has also added some new app controls to the “My Android Apps” section of the Google Play Store.

Users have been able to remotely install apps from the web version of the Google Play store since the old Android Market days (specifically since early 2011), but now they can also remotely uninstall most of the apps on loaded on their Android devices. I say “most” of them because the page now also displays System apps and carrier loaded apps that can’t be reinstalled without a fight. Appearing right next to the remote uninstall button is an update (when applicable, of course) and pushes the latest version of an app onto the device in question.

It’s certainly a useful new trick, but I can’t shake the feeling that it could have been even more useful — say, by allowing people to transfer apps from device to device by dragging icons to the list of hardware that lives along the top rail. Or, if I may be so bold, by allowing users the option to uninstall preloaded apps from a device that they own, though that in particular is a real pipe dream.

For all that Google’s been up today, it seems like a few things are slipping through the cracks — this entry on the Google Play support page still says that “there is no way to remotely uninstall items from play.google.com.” We’ll see how long that lasts.