Google has confirmed it would discontinue Android Prompt Apps by December 2025, a transfer that’s unlikely to influence most customers as a result of function’s restricted adoption. Prompt Apps allowed customers to check out elements of cellular apps with out putting in them, providing a sooner and extra light-weight expertise.
Launched in 2016 and rolled out in 2017, Android Prompt Apps aimed to scale back friction for customers participating with digital providers. When a consumer clicked on a appropriate hyperlink, the Google Play Retailer would load a light-weight, momentary model of the app — below 15MB — permitting speedy interplay with out taking on a lot house or time. This was particularly helpful for providers like information readers, media platforms, and e-commerce apps, with early adopters together with Vimeo, Want, and Ilta-Sanomat, a Finnish newspaper.
Regardless of its sensible advantages, the function noticed minimal developer help. One main limitation was the requirement to create a separate “instant-enabled” model of the app that met strict dimension and dependency constraints. Trimming apps all the way down to 15MB proved to be a technical problem, particularly for these constructed with advanced libraries. This complexity finally deterred widespread adoption.
The choice to close down Prompt Apps was first noticed by a developer utilizing the canary model of Android Studio, the place a tooltip indicated that help for Google Play Prompt will finish in December 2025, together with removing of associated APIs and improvement instruments within the Android Studio Otter Characteristic Drop. Android Authority has confirmed the presence of this message, though Google’s official documentation has but to be up to date.
Given its low visibility and restricted use, the removing of Android Prompt Apps is predicted to have little influence on the common consumer. Whereas it as soon as confirmed promise as a bridge between app and internet experiences, the dearth of developer engagement made it a low-priority function in Google’s evolving cellular ecosystem.
As Google continues to streamline its improvement instruments and platforms, the retirement of Prompt Apps displays a shift towards extra sensible and broadly adopted applied sciences, particularly in an surroundings the place full app installations stay the usual consumer desire.
