Hello!
At the end of 2017, Google added the previously announced ability to launch apps without the need for installation to its app store so that users can try the app and then decide whether to install. A special section has even appeared in Google Play, which is called 'Instant Launch'.
However, among the already small number of applications, there were no games. And now, almost six months later, this opportunity has been implemented for games. There are very few of them at the moment, but Google is committed to increasing the number of such applications and games.
If you are a developer and want to implement a similar function in your game, there is even a special form for this, filling out which you will apply for participation in this project.
But this is for developers.
Now let's consider this functionality from the point of view of the end consumer, that is, the user.
For you to be able to try this feature on yourself, you must have an app store with a version of Google Play services of at least 2.18 installed. Without this, 'instant' will not work. And when you search for the desired game, you will not see the coveted 'Try' button.
If the required update did not happen automatically on your phone, or if you cannot update Google Play services using standard methods, you can always download the necessary software from a third-party resource. I downloaded the required file from apkmirror.com.
We open the site in the browser of the phone, search for the application by keyword, download, install, and, voila, the coveted button appeared.
Well, it's time to start human testing. Click 'Try' and you will be taken to a dialog page, where we are briefly told about what will happen now (they scare, as always).
We pluck up the courage and, without making backups, click Continue.
Nothing terrible happened. A progress bar appeared instead of buttons, and after a five-second wait the game started. Everything turned out to be fast, simple and not scary at all.
And then comes the standard gameplay. I got so carried away that I even forgot about this 'instant'. No text like 'Trial', no watermarks on the screen. You just play and that's it.
You remember that this is a trial version, after passing the first level – instead of the 'Next level' button, the screen prompts you to either replay the level or install the application.
Some games work a little differently – after clicking the 'try' button, you are immediately prompted to either play the trial version or install the application. Apparently, it depends on how the developer implemented this functionality in his game.
Impressions from the innovation are only positive. What users have been asking for for so long is finally here. Now there is no need to spend traffic in order to find out how the game suits you.
Judging by the impressions, the download takes place in a temporary folder and requires very little data. Especially before testing the functionality, I connected myself an Internet option with a traffic package. So, downloading a preliminary version of one game ate as much as 3 megabytes 11 kilobytes! ?
Agree, this is quite a bit compared to the need to download the entire game just to understand whether you like it or not.
By the way, after a test run, I decided to try the game again, and it started almost immediately – there was no waiting for the files to download. We can conclude that the downloaded preview files are stored somewhere on the phone in temporary files and are used for repeated launches without the need for a new download. Savings must be economical.
Conclusion
At first, I was rather skeptical about the news, since I did not see any point in this functionality. The skeptic in me said: well, think, a trial period, what nonsense, Google has nothing more to do, so they come up with innovations from scratch, inventing another bicycle. However, having tried this innovation on myself, I realized that this is actually a useful tool that will help many save traffic and time. Now there is little left to do – so that developers more actively register in the program and modify their games for this functionality.