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It seems very similar to Android feature called Google Play instant: https://developer.android.com/topic/google-play-instant https://developer.android.com/topic

It seems very similar to Android feature called Google Play instant: https://developer.android.com/topic/google-play-instant https://developer.android.com/topic/google-play-instant.

adwww 7y ago
This (or something like it?) has been available for ages, but the only time I've ever actually encountered it in the wild is with links to a JIRA project.
- code_duck 7y ago
  Zillow has been one app I’ve seen using this - visiting their site resulted in an offer to use the app without installation.
- cryptoz 7y ago
  I think the Weather Channel does / did have an Instant App
- cglong 7y ago
  I have two: CBC News and Yahoo Finance. (You should be able to find them in the list of apps in Settings)
- holoduke 7y ago
  We have this instant app feature in our roadmap for more than 2 years. Every time we start with it, we run into the endless list of difficulties to get it to work. Max size, different modules, shares resources etc. It's hell on earth for most devs. That's why you see almost no apps having it. The idea is nice from a Google perspective. I would rather just add a link to each app in the playstore which goes to the app website. Up to the developer to create a web version of it. But of course this gives zero control to goole
- beatrobot 7y ago
  Vimeo has one
- eythian 7y ago
  A local news site uses it, however as that's in a (distant) second language for me, and I discovered their app doesn't let me select to copy-paste words into a translator, it wasn't useful. Probably just an issue with their app implementation however.
  - agustif 6y ago
    Screenshot -> OCR -> Translate
dheera 7y ago
These shenanigans make me wonder why they don't just focus on making HTML5 apps a better experience. If they provided better widgets (e.g. including swipe gestures, which Angular/Polymer/MDL don't) and access to native hardware we'd be set. HTML5 is just 100X easier and nicer to program with than that abomination of Android Studio followed by aligning, keysigning, and other steps. The HTML5 hello world is <html><body>Hello World</body></html> The native hello world is no less than 74 files of garbage, Gradle configurations, and other nonsense.
- diggan 7y ago
  It requires three things that are famously hard for Apple (and Google and many others too, not just Apple, to be fair) to achieve: - Work with others on standards - Expose things on a open platform that won't allow you to have full control over what's possible for developers and users to do and use - Admit that sometimes you're wrong and you have to change according to others
  - dheera 7y ago
    If all you want to do is deviate from standards on purpose, just change <html> to <apple_ml> and base64 encode the .html file (for no reason) and call the resulting file .iapp. Done. Standards broken. Proprietary status achieved with minimal effort. Change ".css" to ".bss" if you want to go the extra mile. and leave everything else as-is? Sounds like a win-win for both developers and biz dev.
    - giancarlostoro 7y ago
      This is partially what the Fitbit Ionic is doing actually hah.
    - saagarjha 7y ago
      > .bss Sadly already taken: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.bss https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.bss
      - 7y ago

It seems very similar to Android feature called Google Play instant: https://developer.android.com/topic/google-play-instant https://developer.android.com/topic/google-play-instant.

adwww 7y ago

This (or something like it?) has been available for ages, but the only time I've ever actually encountered it in the wild is with links to a JIRA project.

code_duck 7y ago
Zillow has been one app I’ve seen using this - visiting their site resulted in an offer to use the app without installation.
cryptoz 7y ago
I think the Weather Channel does / did have an Instant App
cglong 7y ago
I have two: CBC News and Yahoo Finance. (You should be able to find them in the list of apps in Settings)
holoduke 7y ago
We have this instant app feature in our roadmap for more than 2 years. Every time we start with it, we run into the endless list of difficulties to get it to work. Max size, different modules, shares resources etc. It's hell on earth for most devs. That's why you see almost no apps having it. The idea is nice from a Google perspective. I would rather just add a link to each app in the playstore which goes to the app website. Up to the developer to create a web version of it. But of course this gives zero control to goole
beatrobot 7y ago
Vimeo has one
eythian 7y ago
A local news site uses it, however as that's in a (distant) second language for me, and I discovered their app doesn't let me select to copy-paste words into a translator, it wasn't useful. Probably just an issue with their app implementation however.
- agustif 6y ago
  Screenshot -> OCR -> Translate

dheera 7y ago

These shenanigans make me wonder why they don't just focus on making HTML5 apps a better experience. If they provided better widgets (e.g. including swipe gestures, which Angular/Polymer/MDL don't) and access to native hardware we'd be set. HTML5 is just 100X easier and nicer to program with than that abomination of Android Studio followed by aligning, keysigning, and other steps. The HTML5 hello world is <html><body>Hello World</body></html> The native hello world is no less than 74 files of garbage, Gradle configurations, and other nonsense.

diggan 7y ago
It requires three things that are famously hard for Apple (and Google and many others too, not just Apple, to be fair) to achieve: - Work with others on standards - Expose things on a open platform that won't allow you to have full control over what's possible for developers and users to do and use - Admit that sometimes you're wrong and you have to change according to others
- dheera 7y ago
  If all you want to do is deviate from standards on purpose, just change <html> to <apple_ml> and base64 encode the .html file (for no reason) and call the resulting file .iapp. Done. Standards broken. Proprietary status achieved with minimal effort. Change ".css" to ".bss" if you want to go the extra mile. and leave everything else as-is? Sounds like a win-win for both developers and biz dev.
  - giancarlostoro 7y ago
    This is partially what the Fitbit Ionic is doing actually hah.
  - saagarjha 7y ago
    > .bss Sadly already taken: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.bss https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.bss
    - 7y ago