But it was then, and it is now. Today, an increasing number of mobile applications are functionally identical to the mobile websites they are intended to replace, and the absorption of instant applications has been minimal. Even in 2017, loading an application instead of a website had a limited utility. As a result, most of us have probably encountered instant applications only a few times in every year, it was an option for developers.
To use the feature, which was delivered to practically all Android devices by Google Play Services, the developers had to create a “instant” special version of their application which was less than 15 MB. The additional work to obtain an application in front of a subset of new users meant that it was always going to be a steep climb, and Google is struggling to encourage developers to adopt new features. In addition, there is no way to collapse in a generative AI! It is therefore not a shock to see Google withdraw the functionality.
This feature is currently listed in the Google services collection in your phone settings like “Google Play Instantnané”. Unfortunately, there are not many examples available if you are curious to know what instant applications looked like: the Finnish publisher Ilta-Sanomat is one of the few that still offers it. Make sure that the settings change for instant applications are activated if you want a small dose of nostalgia.
