Google has announced that it will discontinue its Android Instant Apps feature by December 2025. Launched in 2016 and rolled out in early 2017, this feature allowed users to engage with portions of an app without requiring a complete installation through the Play Store. The decision to shut down Android Instant Apps is largely attributed to low adoption rates among developers, who faced significant challenges in creating the smaller, instant-enabled app versions.
While smartphone users prefer mobile apps over websites, the hassle of installing new apps for a trial experience led to Google’s development of Instant Apps. This feature aimed to enhance content delivery, minimize data usage, and optimize the overall mobile experience. However, its limited implementation by developers has prompted Google to retire it.
When users tapped on a link, the Google Play Store would check for an available instant app, which could then run without installation. These instant apps were designed to occupy less storage space than their full counterparts. Notable early adopters of the feature included companies like Vimeo and Wish, which utilized it to attract new users during casual web browsing.
Despite its apparent advantages, supporting Instant Apps proved complex; developers needed to create a specific version of their app under 15MB, a requirement that posed difficulties due to large and intricate app dependencies. This challenge likely contributed to the lack of support from developers over time, making Google’s decision to discontinue the feature more feasible.
Currently, a notice within the latest Android Studio canary build by developer Leon Omelan confirms that Instant Apps support will end in December 2025, alongside the deactivation of all Google Play Instant APIs and tooling support. While Google has not yet updated its online documentation regarding this change, given the feature’s limited usage among developers, most users are unlikely to notice its absence.
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