- Google is discontinuing its Android Instant Apps feature in December 2025.
- The feature allowed users to try parts of an app without needing to perform a full installation from the Play Store.
- Low developer adoption is the likely reason for the shutdown, as creating the small, instant-enabled app versions required a lot of work.
There are many different ways to interact with a digital service, but the average smartphone user tends to prefer using a mobile app over a website. However, installing a new app every time you want to try a service can be a hassle, which is why Google created the Android Instant Apps feature. Android Instant Apps allow users to try parts of a mobile app without fully installing it, speeding up content delivery, reducing data and storage use, and providing a more optimized mobile experience. The feature was rarely implemented by developers, though, so Google is discontinuing it by the end of 2025.
Google announced the Android Instant Apps feature back in 2016 and began rolling it out to users in early 2017. The way it works is that when you tap on a link, the Google Play Store checks if an instant app exists and runs it without installation. Instant apps are kept on your device temporarily and take up much less space than the full versions of the apps available on the Play Store.