Back at Google I/O 2016, Google previewed Android Instant Apps, a new lightweight means of accessing mobile content in a rich app-like format without really having installed an app.
Like most other stuff announced at I/O 2016 like Android Wear 2.0 which comes out next month, we’ve had little about Instant Apps since then. According to Google it has since signed up a small number of developers (with reported interest from thousands more) whom it has worked closely with in order to make Instant Apps a reality and it’s time the public got a glimpse.
Users of services like Periscope and readers of sites like Buzzfeed will be able to get the same immersive experience as their counterparts who have installed the two respective apps without actually installing those apps. The end result on the part of the user is saved time and space (no application package that takes up valuable internal storage).
Since Instant Apps will be accessible to users not just on Android 7.x Nougat but even those on versions of Android going as far back as 2012 (Android 4.1), many can expect to get the full Instant Apps experience going forward as more and more developers update and optimise their apps.
