Newsletter
What’s one thing you can glean from literally EVERY Google I/O and WWDC? Well, software developers want to make the user experience quicker and more seamless. Google could bring a feature that makes getting to your brand-new app quicker. The Google Play Store could auto-launch apps right after you install them.
Most of the time, when you download an app, you’re going to be using it right away. There are also those times when we need to download a large app, but don’t feel like sitting there watching the progress bar reach 100%. So, it’d be nice to just set your phone down and have the app launch right after it’s downloaded.
The Play Store could auto-launch apps when they’re downloaded
This potential feature was discovered during an APK deep-dive, so you’ll want to take this news with a grain of salt. There are strings of code found within the latest version of the Play Store (Version 41.4.19) that point to this feature coming out (discovered by AssembleDebug via Android Authority). However, since Google hasn’t officially announced this feature, there’s the chance that it could take it away at a moment’s notice.
Within the app, we see strings pointing to a feature that will automatically open the apps when you download them. We see strings for the UI element, notification, notification duration, and toggle.
We don’t know if this will be an option hidden within the app’s settings. Hopefully not. The strings point to this feature being enabled by default when it launches. If this toggle is buried in the settings, it might be more of an annoyance.
It would be nice to have this feature operate on a per-app basis. This way, if you know that you’re going to use an app right away, you can set it so. However, if there’s an app that you don’t want to open right away, you can choose to not have it open. Chances are that we don’t want ALL of our apps to open right away.