Experience report from the Holidu team with best practices. Andrei Boeru

1. ANDROID INSTANT APP
Andrei Boeru
16 April 2018
Android GDG Meetup @ Holidu, Munich

2. ANDREI BOERU
software engineer @ Holidu
developed first versions of the Android apps for:

3. TALKING ABOUT
• what is an instant app and why should we care
• how to use an instant app
• real world use case: instant app @ Holidu: biz insight
• limitations apply, or how are instant apps different from
installed apps
• converting an installable app to an instant app
• how to shrink the app

4. –Carrie Fisher
“Instant gratification takes too long.”

5. INTRODUCING INSTANT APPS
• instant apps first announced at Google I/O 2016
for a limited set of companies
icon list from https://developer.android.com

6. INTRODUCING INSTANT APPS
• development open for all developers starting with Google I/O ’17
• March 2018: special Google Play category for games

7. INSTANT GAMES
• 19 March 2018: Google Play category “Instant Gameplay: Try now
install later”
• apk size limited to 10MB

8. HOLIDU BIZ INSIGHT

9. HOLIDU BIZ INSIGHT

10. HOLIDU BIZ INSIGHT:
SEASONALITY

11. HOLIDU BIZ INSIGHT:
SEASONALITY

12. HOLIDU BIZ INSIGHT:
SEASONALITY

13. REMOVING UNUSED APPS

14. THETEST NOW BUTTON

15. THE INSTANT APP BANNER

16. GOOGLE SEARCH RESULTS
http://newsredefined123.blogspot.com/2017/08/

17. GOOGLE SEARCH RESULTS
http://newsredefined123.blogspot.com/2017/08/

18. OPENVIA LINK

19. INSTALL POPUP

21. LIMITATIONS APPLY
apk size: maximum 4MB
app permissions
BILLING
ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION
ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION
ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE
CAMERA
INSTANT_APP_FOREGROUND_SERVICE only in Android 8.0.
INTERNET
READ_PHONE_NUMBERS. (API level 26).
RECORD_AUDIO
VIBRATE
push notifications are not supported
however a notification can be displayed by the instant app

22. TIPS: HOWTO SHRINK
• use vector drawables icons:Android Studio builtin svg
convertor
• use proguard to remove unused code from the compiled
app
• use lint to find and remove unused resources
• where vector drawables fail: use the webp format - support
for webp with transparency starts from Android 18 (4.3).
for the Holidu app converting all the png files to webp
brought a 22% size improvement

24. APP LINKS

25. APP LINKS

26. APP STRUCTURE

27. APP STRUCTURE
https://developer.android.com/topic/instant-apps/getting-started/structure.html

28. RELEASING AN INSTANT APP

29. RELEASING AN INSTANT APP

30. QUESTIONS