How to Activate Android Instant Apps

This guide details how to enable it. Android Instant Apps, allows you to use an application without downloading it to your device. Google rolled out this exciting feature back in 2016 and it’s available now. With the latest version of Android 8.0 Oreo, more users want to take advantage of Instant Apps.

Downloading an app from Google Play Store takes time and more importantly data. With Instant Apps, you don’t need to download anything as Google provides a cloud-based version of the app.

Instant Apps gives you full access to an app, a beautiful design, interface, performance, and even the experience of controlling it without first downloading it. Google describes it as something of the “try before you buy” (or download) kind of thing. Instant apps are available from a web search or shared link for devices running Android 6.0 Marshmallow or higher.

Google rolled out full support for Instant Apps in February 2017 and claims over 500 million devices have access to it. But the problem is that you have to enable it in settings first. However, it is enabled by default on Android 8.0 Oreo.

How to Activate Android Instant Apps

To find out if your Android device has access to Instant Apps, follow the instructions below.

Once you have completed the steps above, your Android device is now ready to find and use Instant Apps. According to Google, there are more than 55 apps that support Instant Apps and more are coming soon. Now all you have to do is search for a compatible app.

How to Use Android Instant Apps

You can use Instant Apps in several different ways. The easiest is to google one of the supported apps. They also work when you click on a web link, URL or social media post. So if you find something for sale on Wish in a Google search, clicking the product link will automatically open the Wish Instant App. Additionally, you can use the full app, checkout and checkout without installing Wish.

With Instant App support, some of the popular options are BuzzFeed, Wish, Tasty, NYTimes, Periscope, Vimeo, Crosswords, Citymapper, OneFootball, and even Jet.com.

Most Instant Apps give users full access to all options or services. With Wish, you can view your account, browse items for sale, and even complete a secure checkout.

What happens here is that Google has temporarily added the core features of the app from the cloud to your device. When you’re done, everything is removed as if nothing had happened. You didn’t download anything or waste valuable space on your smartphone or tablet while making the experience fast and smooth.

Other details

If you want to download the app after testing it, pull down the notification bar on your device and tap . From here you will see a page similar to the Google Play Store that you can download to your device.

Note that the Android Instant Apps feature is slowly rolling out to all Android devices or has received support from app developers. This means that some may not see the option in settings and some apps may not work immediately.

This is an exciting feature with tons of potential. If the enable option is not yet available, check back in the near future.