How to enable and use Android Instant Apps

Google has launched a new feature for Android, this one allows you to use apps even without installing them in your smartphone's memory

We've already talked about Android Instant Apps, which are the apps that Google allows you to launch on phones with its own operating system without the need to install them on your smartphone. After a few months of testing the feature is finally available, here's how to activate Instant Apps on your smartphone.

Instant Apps is nothing more than a preview, saved in the cloud, of an application. Thanks to this system, you can use just a few features without having to install it on your smartphone. And we will do it without consuming data for downloading (especially if we are not at home or if we don't have Wi-Fi at home) and without using space in the memory. Instant Apps, in fact, take up only 4MB in the smartphone's storage, data that are freed as we exit the application itself. Instant Apps are activated directly from the Google Play Store. And they work with Android Marshmallow 6.0 or higher operating system.

How to enable Instant Apps

Although Instant Apps have been officially available since February 2017, not all users have managed to try them yet. This is because the feature is only automatically enabled in the new Android Oreo 8.0 version. In all other cases we have to be the ones manually enabling it. Fortunately, this is a very simple operation. First, let's go to the Settings of our Android smartphone. In the menu that appears we have to scroll until we find the item Google, and then click on it. Under the Services section look for the heading Instant Applications and move the slider to ON. Having done this, via pop-up message, we will be asked if we accept the terms of use, let's click on Yes. At this point the game is done. Being a new feature it is possible that on some smartphones it is still not displayed. Google has stated that there are currently 55 applications that take advantage of the instant service, but soon there will be many more.

How to use Instant Apps

Instant Apps are very simple to use. To try them out, just click on a link in your web browser or in the Play Store.

At the moment almost all Instant Apps are designed for the US market, and among the most used are BuzzFeed, Wish, Tasty, NYTimes, Periscope, Vimeo, Crosswords, Citymapper, OneFootball and Jet.com. But soon Android developers will also be betting big on Instant Apps for the European market. To find an Instant Apps and use it just do a Google search. If we search for the name of an app on Mountain View's search engine those Instant Apps will be marked by the word Instant next to the logo. In this case we can choose whether to try the app or go to the Play Store and download it directly.