At last year’s Google I/O 2016 conference, one of the stand-out features that was demoed was Instant Apps. Android devices didn’t have them then, and they still don’t have access to Instant Apps, but 9to5Google has recently discovered some code in the latest version of Google Play Store – version 7.8 – indicating that Alphabet may be ready to roll out the feature very soon.
What are Instant Apps?
Imagine just tapping on a link to a particular app’s functionality, and then accessing it on your Android smartphone without having to download anything. All you need is cellular data or a WiFi, and you’re almost instantly engaged in an app experience when you tap that shortcut.
That’s exactly what Instant Apps are. They’re not complete apps. They’re fully functional parts of apps that you would normally engage with on a native mobile app that you’d download from Play Store. You’ll only be using a portion of an app at any given time, and data from that app will be temporarily downloaded onto your device, which you can later delete.
What Are the Benefits of Instant Apps, and Are There any Disadvantages?
The average user doesn’t use every functionality on every app that they download. That means a lot of wasted space on your device, filled with stuff you never use. Instant Apps cuts through that mess and only offers links to the portions of the app that you do use, saving you a ton of space.
Another benefit is that you can choose what Google account to associate with various Instant Apps. That means, eventually, if you have multiple online banking accounts, you can have different logins for each of those Instant Apps. This helps on shared devices where multiple users access various accounts.
The one disadvantage is that an Instant App can’t use background services, do background notifications, or access unique device identifiers. That’s similar to using a web app through a browser on your device, which is not able to access connectivity control, enable push notifications, install home screen icons and so on.
Are Progressive Web Apps the Same as Android Instant Apps?
As a matter of fact, Google is working another angle as well, and it’s called Progressive Web Apps. With PWAs, the app will gradually start behaving like a natively installed mobile app without the need to download the app itself.
A Progressive Web App is not the same as an Instant App – not even close. As the name suggests, a PWA is a web app, while an Instant App is only a link to a functional portion of a mobile app.
Another difference is that PWAs use what are known as Service Workers to engage with your device’s browser, while Instant Apps cannot interact with your device in the same way.
“A service worker is an event-driven worker registered against an origin and a path. It takes the form of a JavaScript file that can control the web page/site it is associated with, intercepting and modifying navigation and resource requests, and caching resources in a very granular fashion to give you complete control over how your app behaves in certain situations (the most obvious one being when the network is not available.)”
Basically, there’s a proxy server that sits between your device’s browser and the network, but is specific to a particular webpage or website. That’s how it is able to progressively behave like a native mobile app that’s actually installed on the device, hence the name. For security reasons, service workers only run over HTTPS, not HTTP.
You can learn more about PWAs here.
But Instant Apps for Android are Still Cool
Instant Apps are merely links offered to you so you can engage in various app experiences. It’s not at all like a native mobile app, but it’s more convenient and, obviously, easier on your device’s resources.
And what’s the coolest thing about Instant Apps? You don’t need a device running Android Nougat, since this should work with any device running Android 4.0 and higher. That means older devices will eventually get access to Instant Apps as well.
Of course, not all app developers are offering Instant Apps at this point, it may only work on some of the newer devices (for now.) But, eventually, all Android 4.0 devices should be able to access a host of Instant Apps.
To get Google Play Store v7.8.15, you can install it from the APK file, which you can download on this page. Once you’ve downloaded, if your device is eligible, you should be able to see Instant Apps when you go to Settings >> Google, and the option to toggle it on/off.
Instant Apps promise great convenience and ease-of-use, but a lot of users are going to need some time to get used to them. The good part is that you can avoid downloading heavy apps that you don’t need, and only have links to portions of apps that you’re going to be using regularly. That potentially frees up a lot of space for your media files and the full apps that you really want to install on your Android device.
Thanks for visiting! Would you do us a favor? If you think it’s worth a few seconds, please like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter. It would mean a lot to us. Thank you.
