Android instant apps: innovation or bullshit?

The Android Instant Apps were presented at Google I / O 2016. I only became aware of this at the beginning of 2017. Only now did I get support for my Moto G4 Plus. But what are instant apps anyway? And do they even work?

Explanation and basic functionality

Android instant apps are not apps in the classic sense. They also do not appear in the normal Appdrawer of your own smartphone. You can only reach this if you open a link to a service via the Google app for which there is also an app and which has been adapted by the developers. An example of such a service is Buzzfeed. Normally, the instant apps should also open on links. Should.

The main thing is: the actual app does not have to be installed on the smartphone itself, although all the features of the normal app can also be used in the instant app. This is useful for these services that you do not use often and therefore have not installed them, but then open them every now and then and you are not a fan of mobile websites. So you can say that the app is running in the cloud.

Application scenarios conceived by Google

Google also thought of the latter. Among other things. At Google I / O 2016 it was mentioned several times that these special apps should help you get to a desired destination in an app yourself more quickly. This was mentioned above all where it was demonstrated how to get into the instant apps via sent links. But I thought about the following: Whether I get a link to a buzzfeed video and open it via Chrome is as fast as opening it via the Instant App. Either way, I land in the same place at a similar speed.

The same applies to the scenario when I just want to open a service. It doesn't matter whether I search the Buzzfeed website in Chrome or open the Instant App via the Google app, because both are equally quick. So I have no idea what exactly Google was trying to achieve with it.

App offer: quite clear

The disappointing news first: there is currently not a single instant app from Google. The group from Mountain View could have shown what you can do with instant apps. I could well imagine an instant app for services such as YouTube or Google Play Films. In addition, the rest of the app offer is currently still very clear. Nevertheless, you will not find a list of all available instant apps on any Google page. You first have to surf the Internet for a few minutes to get a small impression of the variety of apps.

There is also no app drawer. You either have to remember all instant apps that you use or you have to call up the list every time in the settings in the Google menu. So much for saving time with instant apps.

Part of the Instant Apps (Image by: Android Developers)

Commissioning: pretty easy

In order to be able to use this service from Google, you first have to activate it in the settings of the smartphone. You can do that in the Settings, under Google and Instant Apps complete. Then you just have to open a link from a supported service or search for an available service in the Google app and open the entry for the instant app. However, the feature has not yet been activated on all smartphones.

The small Problemish

The latter should actually be like that. It's still not going well for me to this day. There are a few things to say about this that I don't understand. Why are the instant apps only supported on my smartphone if I don't have the appropriate updates from Google Play Services and the Google app? For days I racked my brain about what I was doing wrong, that it wasn't working.

Then links that I have sent to me via various messenger services will not be opened via the instant app. Google, why doesn't it work? And why is it just becoming a shopping app for me Wish an instant app entry displayed in google? There is no entry at all for other apps like Buzzfeed.

One thing is still possible: the performance. For my taste, the instant apps run too slowly. There's the thing that apps download a few more data the first time you open them, the smallest Proproblem In my opinion, everything jerks way too much. Since I only have the entry for the app Wish and was able to test it as the only instant app, I downloaded the normal app as a comparison. The difference was clearly noticeable.

Loading screen for the Wish app (screenshot: © 2017 TechnikNews)

Conclusion: currently still quite pointless

As of today, Google's Android Instant Apps are crap to me. Nothing works right away. And if it should then work, then not properly. This service really frustrated me and I didn't use it that much. Hopefully Google will improve this with updates, otherwise I see no future for this idea. After all, one has to say that it was courageous on the part of Google to implement such an idea at all and proto have beer.

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