Google is working on a crowdsourced app install optimization feature
- Google is working on an optimization function for the app installation for the Play Store.
- The most frequently used parts of an app are identified with the help of crowdsourcing.
- Google will then use this information to optimize the installation of apps.
Today’s Android apps can be pretty big downloads that will consume your mobile data when you don’t have WiFi and also drain your storage space. It turns out that Google is working on an interesting solution to this problem.
9to5Google discovered that Google is working on a so-called feature to optimize app installation for the Play Store (Menu> Settings> App installation optimization). It uses crowdsourcing information to find out which parts of the app are used first.
“If enough people do this, Google can optimize the app so that it can be installed, opened and run faster for everyone,” said the company on a support page for the feature.
Why would you want to use this?
This could be useful for something like a social media app 9to5Google indicates that the browsing experience will initially be offered without the editing tools. It could also be useful for mobile gaming, as we’ve seen on consoles that have the first layers installed so that you can be up and running quickly.
It’s unclear whether the least-used parts of the app are downloaded in the background or only when needed. But hopefully the former is true because the last thing you want is to be unexpectedly forced to download part of the app via your mobile data.
Google has also tried to address privacy concerns with this feature. The search giant said it does not collect any personal information, does not review any content downloaded or uploaded in its app, and does not look at anything outside of the app.
