Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Google is adding a new functionality to the Play Store to automatically open apps after installation.
- The feature will appear as a toggle underneath the Open button on Play Store listings as soon as you select Install.
- The Play Store will also push a notification with a 5-second timer before the app opens.
The Play Store will soon be able to open freshly installed apps automatically. Google is adding a new toggle for this feature to app listings, allowing users to choose if they wish to open an app after installation. We first spotted this toggle in a teardown of a previous Play Store release this June, and we’ve now enabled it before the official rollout to give you an early look.
An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.
As you can see in the following video, the feature adds a new “Turn on Auto-open” toggle underneath the Open button on Play Store listings after you select Install. Once enabled, the toggle’s description changes to “Automatically open after install,” and the Play Store opens the current app as soon as the installation is complete.
Once the download reaches 100% and the Play Store begins installing the app, it also shows a notification highlighting the time remaining before the app opens automatically. Code related to the feature suggests that this notification will show a 5-second timer in all cases, making it easy for users to anticipate how long it will take for the app to open after the notification pops up.
The feature appears fully functional in Google Play Store version 42.5.15, so it shouldn’t be long before it reaches users. We’ll update this post as soon as it starts rolling out.
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