The hype in the Android community over the last few weeks has been squarely focused on the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL smartphones. These two pure Android devices are designed to compete with the best devices out there including the iPhone X and Galaxy Note 8. Because of all of this Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL hype, a lot of cool Android-related things have kind of fallen through the cracks. One of those things is the new “Try Now” button on the Google Play Store.
In case you missed it, the Try Now button is a feature being added to the Google Play Store in order to support Android Instant Apps. These are apps that users will be able to try before they buy. It’s a very cool idea on Google’s part and may help both developers and consumers. Basically, eligible apps will have a Try Now button in the Google Play Store which allows users to experience that app without downloading or installing it. Obviously this is beneficial for consumers who get a chance to see how an app behaves and if they like it before they take the step of downloading it and potentially spending money on the app. However, developers benefit as well. They will be able to get their app in front of new users with almost no actual commitment from the user other than a little bit of their time. This may help developers sell app purchases to customers who, otherwise, would have never tried their app.
The Try Now button is also just a very cool feature, period. Trying an app before you download it? I’m really interested in checking out the feature just to see what it’s like and, who knows, maybe they will sell me an app download in the process.
For now, there are only a few eligible apps so you may not see the Try Now button on all apps while browsing the Google Play Store. It also appears that Google has not completely rolled out the feature to all users yet so you may have to wait until the Play Store banner updates for you. Hopefully it will come sometime this weekend.
As I said, the feature does not work for all apps. As of right now there are just a handful of apps like RedBull TV, Buzzfeed, Skyscanner, and a few more.
What do you think about the Try Now button in the Google Play Store? It looks like a great solution for consumers to help them make better decisions when downloading and purchasing apps. You get to test drive a car so why not take your next app purchase for a test drive? Let us know if you have tried the feature already and what your initial thoughts are by commenting below.
