Android Instant App is a new feature available for developers since may 2017 but only now getting some real traction. After media giants like BuzzFeed, The New York Times, or video streaming service – Vimeo used the feature, more and more brands are seeing the advantages of fast, accessible way of testing their app by the user.
Why does it matter?
Users can access the Instant App directly in the search engine or Try It Now button in the Google Play store. The idea is to give a user a taste of the product in the fastest way possible – to do that, the module available in the instant feature has to be light with a user-friendly interface. For example, after typing New York Times Crossword in the Google search engine on their Android device user will be presented with the possibility of running a part of the Crossword app in their browser without installation. In addition, when the user is done, system can erase the code.
Use Case: E-Commerce
Instant Apps are a great feature for e-commerce business. The case of RedMart – an Online Grocery and Delivery system confirms it. After building an Instant App module, a fairly simple process that can take from a week up to a month, the statistics in Google Play showed an increased Adoption Rate. Combined with the Android Pay integration – this solution is perfect for e-Commerce business.
Use Case: Media
After launching the Instant App in may of 2017 Vimeo has increased session duration by 130%. You can learn more here. All they had to do was to reduce the size of the initial app from 14MB to a 4MB module. Vimeo made it possible by using the APK analyzer, removing unused libraries, and replacing their image caching library with a smaller library. Integrating the Smart Lock technology had enabled automatic authentication, users could leave comments and save videos for later. With the use of Branch.io, after installing the app, user was taken back to the same exact video – bypassing the onboarding making the experience truly seamless.
Use Case: Games
Building a demo of your mobile game might significantly decrease a drop out rate and increase downloads stats. It lowers the entry threshold making the product more accessible. The biggest challenge is to reduce the size of the game to the required maximum of 10 mb. For some of the products it might be impossible. But with the creative approach to saving – most of the mobile games might have its instant equivalent available.
How to build an Instant App?
At a very basic level, apps have at least one feature or thing that they do: find a location on a map, send an email, or read the daily news as examples. Many apps offer multiple features. Instant app let us provide the user with just a part of the application(some feature), to test/ check it out. To provide this on-demand downloading of features, you need to break up your app into smaller modules and refactor them into feature modules. It doesn’t require writing a lot of additional code, but require a proper application modules structure and configurations.
