Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. News

Instant Apps for Android looks like it’s coming soon for most users

Trevor Mogg
By

Google play
Ymgerman/123RF
Google’s time- and space-saving Instant Apps feature may be on the verge of a proper rollout, giving the majority of Android users a much more efficient user experience when it comes to app interaction.

The Mountain View company is already conducting limited testing of the feature, but a recent APK teardown of the Google Play Store by XDA Developers has revealed that work is afoot to finally launch Instant Apps for one and all.

Recommended Videos

The site came across new lines of code apparently directed at making it easier to opt out of Instant Apps, while also revealing that an app’s Play Store listing could come with a symbol of sorts indicating whether it supports Instant Apps.

Related

The Instant Apps feature — unveiled at Google I/O 2016 and designed for Android devices running Android Jelly Bean 4.1 or up — enables an app to run immediately, without the user even having to download it if they don’t already have it. So if, say, a friend sends you a link to a really cool camera accessory on B&H’s site and you tap on it, you’ll be taken to the product page inside the B&H app, even if you don’t have the app installed. This is able to happen because the app has been split into modules and only downloads the part needed to display the relevant information.

Without Instant Apps, tapping on the link would’ve taken you to the web version of the site, likely offering an inferior user experience compared to the slicker app. Alternatively, you could download the app, but that’d take time to do, and also takes up space on your device. Of course, downloading the full app is fine if you’re a regular B&H shopper, but it’s not much use if you’re not.

The official Android Developers site describes Instant Apps as “an evolution in app sharing and discovery” that lets you “experience what you love about apps — fast and beautiful user interfaces, high performance, and great capabilities — with just a tap.” The feature is set to dramatically transform the way we interact with apps on our Android devices, though hopefully the experience will be so smooth we won’t even notice.

The current roster of compatible apps is likely to be limited at the start — Google has already announced B&H Photo Video, BuzzFeed, Medium, Hotel Tonight, Zumper, and Disney as early participants — but it shouldn’t be long before other developers adapt their own software to allow them to function as part of Instant Apps.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Trevor Mogg
Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Nothing just confirmed its next Android phone is coming soon
A person holding the Nothing Phone 2.

British smartphone upstart Nothing is readying a new smartphone that will hit the shelves later this year. The Nothing Phone 2a seems to be a direct successor of the Nothing Phone 1, which is likely targeting a value-centric midrange status.

“With Phone 2a, we’ve really doubled down on the core user needs — performance, camera, you need it,” says co-founder Akis Evangelidis. He further adds that with the Nothing Phone 2a, the company is leveraging the core niceties of the Nothing Phone 2, which chased flagship standards. Nothing confirmed the Nothing Phone 2a's existence in a "Community Update" video uploaded to its YouTube channel.

Read more
Motorola’s newest cheap Android phone looks shockingly good
A render of the front and back of the Moto G Play (2024).

Last year was the first in almost a decade without a Motorola Moto G Play launch of some kind. The last device, the Moto G Play (2023), launched in December 2022 and, well, it was a little disappointing. Thankfully, Motorola heard its critics, and has delivered the Moto G Play (2024) — the biggest upgrade for Motorola's budget range in years.

With a new processor, camera, and various small additions, Motorola hopes the new upgrades are enough to propel the Moto G Play (2024) to the top of lists of the best budget smartphones. But will it? Here's everything you need to know about Motorola's new $150 device, the Moto G Play (2024).
More power and a new camera

Read more
This is Pi — one of the most amazing Android apps I used in 2023
Calling interface of Pi Digital assistant on Android.

“Find me a few books on mindfulness and meditation.” I posed the question to ChatGPT, and it put a list of 16 books with the authors' names divided across the two categories I described. It was a quick, albeit somewhat overwhelming, way to process the flood of information. There’s nothing wrong with being forthright.

But sometimes, we need an additional nugget of knowledge to guide us. After all, we often have questions we never ask but realize we always wanted it when someone dishes out the counsel. I took my query to another assistant named Pi, and it held a conversation with me, just like a real human guide would seek to help you.

Read more