Few months ago, Google was trying to push Instant Apps as a way of permitting users to try out apps without download on Google Play. It is now available for paid and upcoming titles. Google hosts an annual Playtime event to announce the latest Play Store features for Android developers. This year, Google Play Instant is adding support for premium and upcoming apps, while In-App Updates and a batch of other analytic features are coming.
This will allows buyers to first try out the demo of an app before purchasing or pre-registering to get notified when it will be launched. The “Try now” button is available to test on Looney Tunes World of Mayhem and Umiro.
Developers can either display a full screen experience that takes users from download to restart, or have the process occur in the background while providing progress notifications. This API is currently in early access and will be available over the next few months.
Additional changes include allowing users to temporarily suspend subscriptions instead of canceling instantly. Developers will be able to send promotions to regain subscribers, with this functionality also in testing.
With the Android App Bundles front, packages will now be 8% smaller on download and 16% smaller on devices running Android Marshmallow and above. No additional developer work is required thanks to support for uncompressed native libraries.
To encourage adoption of the new format, developers can now publish a single app bundle. Previously, they had to maintain both an instant-enabled bundle and a primary app bundle.
Now, you don’t have to maintain separate code. With the Android Studio 3.3 beta release, a developer can publish a single app bundle and classify it or a particular module to be instant enabled. The mixed app bundle is the future of instant app experiences.
