Google Play Instant enables native apps and games to launch on Android devices without being installed. By allowing users to run an instant app or instant game, known as providing an instant experience, you improve your app or game's discovery, which helps drive more active users or installations.

Leading the design for a new type of native app experience

Leading the design team for Google Play Instant I collaborated closely across the board with Product, Engineering, partners in Google Play Store and Android.

Developer outreach was another big focus point for this role and I created the developer documentation for the user experience and worked directly with external app developers, including Buzzfeed, New York Times, Citymapper, realtor.com, Zillow and others.

Loading screens

Instant apps and games can launch on a user's device without prior installation. Since their launch requires data to be loaded from the internet there is some latency involved.

To make this experience feel as frictionless as possible we've created different loading experiences for apps and games on Google Play Instant.

Leading the effort I've worked with the Google Play illustration team to create engaging loading UIs that communicated the brand.

Branding

For the initial launch Android Instant Apps was established as developer facing brand, we didn't consider there to be a need on the consumer side. Our expectation was that apps opening instantly is going to become the new normal and didn't need a specific name.

Talking to our users we learned that introducing new interaction models that break with learned behaviors needs better language and explanation though. With the introduction of instant games we launched a new consumer facing brand that works as an umbrella for apps and games and provides a means to address the new technology for users and in our marketing and PR efforts. I established and presented the new brand proposal and shepherded it through the approval process with stakeholders and approvers. 

Android Integration

Prior to the Android Oreo release instant apps shipped as part of Google Play Services. With the O release instant apps have become a real citizen of Android. I worked very closely with Android Settings UX, the Android framework UX and engineering teams to move our product experience into the platform.

Improving opt-in rates

For launch we created a bottomsheet prompting user consent to enable instant apps on their device.  This UI was designed based on legal considerations instead of focus on the present user need. It only saw an acceptance rate around 37%. 

So we ran experiments incorporating the consent step into our existing loading UI, parallelizing both steps (shown center). This increased the acceptance rate to ~75%.

Eventually, we moved the consent language into the Play Store Terms of Services, which resulted in a consent rate in the high 90ies.