Google has been working on improving its Android OS to improve user experience. With the Android 12 release, the company brought a ‘Material You’ design that supports Monet wallpaper theming system. While Google has adapted the function on its apps, third-party apps are yet to ‘fully’ support the feature. Perhaps, another way to improve the user experience on Android, the company has revealed they will soon introduce the Play as you download.
The Play as you download was announced by Google in July last year. It’s a function that would allow users to open apps or games while it’s been downloaded from the Google Play Store. From reports, the much-anticipated function will be making its way to Android 12 devices soon. That wouldn’t be the first time we would see such functionality, as it looks similar to the functionality that has been available on some gaming platforms like PlayStation, Xbox, EA Origin, Activision Blizzard’s Battle.net, and others.
Meanwhile, developers have a role to play for the successful implementation of Play as you download function on the Google Play Store. They’ll have to add support to their application and games by picking critical files necessary for opening a particular application or game while it’s still being downloaded.
How to Play as you download work on Android
According to Google, the Play as you download makes use of Android’s Incremental File System, a “special-purpose Linux virtual file system that allows execution of a program, while its binary and resource files are still being lazily downloaded over the network.” This Incremental File System is exclusive to Android 12, meaning the minimum requirement to support Play as you download is Android 12.
When is Play as you download coming to Android 12 device?
Google said the feature will become available soon on Android 12 devices. The company isn’t specific, meaning there’s no time frame for the arrival. However, considering the work required to implement the function, it might take some time before it becomes available on some apps and games. Yes, ‘some’, because developers might decide not to implement the functionality, perhaps if their app or game has a small download size.
