Instant Apps Development: How to Create One for Business
Google instant apps are not a new concept in the Android ecosystem.
The giant introduced the technology in
2015. Six years later, Android instant apps have gained popularity.
However, many businesses still haven’t discovered the real power of such
solutions and the benefits they can get.
Instant apps in Android are a type of native apps that don’t require
installations to run. They combine the power of native applications and the
accessibility of web apps.
At the first glance, instant applications
look like traditional native applications. They are very different when it comes
to their technical part.
Instant applications are created by
turning some functionality of a native app into a standalone module. The rest
of the application’s features are not available to users. They would need to
download and install the whole native app to access it. As soon as users close
an instant app, it disappears from their mobile device.
Users can access an instant app by
following a URL. When Google Play receives a request for a URL, it looks up for
an instant app that matches it. After it identifies such an app, Google Play
sends the necessary code file to the user’s mobile device. The device
automatically opens the file and runs the app. As soon as the user closes the
app, it’s deleted from the smartphone.
Instant applications are often confused with another innovative technology
– progressive web applications.
PWAs were also introduced by Google and
combine features of native apps and web solutions. You can use them offline
without the need to download the app.
ANDROID INSTANT APPS EXAMPLES
There are a number of Android instant apps examples.
You might have even used some of them in the past without suspecting that they
have an instant app version. If you haven’t, you can check them out to see how
the technology works in real life:
·
NOS.nl – the leading news and sports company in the Netherlands uses Google
Play Instant to generate more app installations.
·
Vimeo – American video hosting
and sharing platform managed to increase session duration by 130% with instant
applications.
·
Dotloop – a leading transaction
platform increased engagement with Google instant apps by 62%.
·
Strike
Force – a game by Marvel that uses instant apps to increase the number of
app installations.
·
Evino – an eCommerce application
that attracts new customers with an instant app.
As you can see, instant app examples
are numerous and can benefit companies from different business spheres. Jump to
the next chapter of the article to learn how such solutions can benefit your
business.
HOW TO CREATE AN INSTANT APP
FOR ANDROID
Now that we successfully explored the benefits of instant apps, let’s find
out how to create an instant
app for Android from
a technical point of view.
Do
you already have a mobile application? You can turn it into an instant app in
no time.
If
you don’t have one, include this task in the list of all the tasks for your
development team.
Instant
app development is
not difficult since developers don’t need to create a new codebase. They can
use the existing code, API and project.
The
image below demonstrates the key steps needed to create Android instant apps.
Let’s review each of them in more detail.
1. SDK INSTALLATION & ENVIRONMENT SETTING
The first step of instant app development comes down to accessing the Google Play Instant Development SDK. You
can use this Android instant apps development SDK with Android Studio 6.0 and
higher and an Android emulator that runs on Android 6.0 or higher. After you
have set up an environment, you can move on to the next step.
2. CODE ADDITION TO A FEATURE
MODULE
At this step, you will need to move the app’s code to the feature
module. This action will create a minimal app module.
3. MODULE BUILDING
At this stage, you need to know which functionality you want your
instant app to have. After you decide on the features, you will need to build
the APK module. This action will turn the app’s functionality into a smearable
feature module.
4. INSTANT APP MODULE CREATION
Use a single feature APK to create an instant app module. At this
step, you will turn the app’s functionality into one that can be accessed as an
instant application.
5. APP LINKS DEFINING
At the final stage of instant apps development, you need to create
a relationship between a website and the app. Such a link will set up the
instant app runtime. Users will use the URLs to launch your instant application
on their mobile devices.
Now you know how to create an instant app for Android. As you can see, you need to have a sufficient level of technical
knowledge to turn a native app into an instant one.
Learn more about Instant App Development.
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