Google Play has quietly delayed the start date of its new app discoverability policy to January 31, 2023. This means that Play Store search results will continue to show older apps for the time being.
As many users noted on November 1, ie. the date this policy was originally planned to go into effect, old apps were still visible in Google Play’s search results. Now we know why.
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We don’t know when exactly the support page was updated to mention this delay. An archive of the page made on November 29 doesn’t show the updated text, so it could’ve been anytime in the past 2 weeks.
EDIT: Looks like Google is now sending out emails to developers about this date change. Thanks to Pranav Pandey for the screenshot!