Google added a new feature to its Google Play app store designed to highlight apps which it considers to deliver “incredible” user experience.

The Android Excellence feature will showcase apps and games adhering to Google’s best practice guidance, and which offer “great design, technical performance, localisation, and device optimisation,” the company said in an Android Developers blog.

“Every day developers around the world are hard at work creating high quality apps and games on Android. Striving to deliver amazing experiences for an ever growing diverse user base, we’ve seen a significant increase in the level of polish and quality of apps and games on Google Play,” Kacey Fahey, developer marketing at Google Play wrote.

Android Excellence collections will refresh quarterly and can be found within the revamped editors’ choice section of the Play Store – which includes app and game reviews curated by an editorial team.

Travel-related apps including Citymapper, HotelTonight and Skyscanner, along with Runtastic Running & Fitness were among the first set of apps chosen as stand-out performers. In the games category, Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes and Golf Clash were featured.

In April, App Annie reported Google Play widened its lead over Apple’s App Store in Q1 2017 to 135 per cent in terms of worldwide downloads, up from a 100 per cent lead in Q1 2016, but iOS performed better in terms of consumer spend in the recent quarter.

Downloads on Google’s store grew 20 per cent year-over-year, fuelled by growth in emerging markets including India and Indonesia, the analytics company said.