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Google App Streaming Now Live For Many Apps Via Try Now Button

Google App Streaming is now live in the Android Google App search results. You can preview apps directly from the search results before downloading them.

Barry Schwartz on February 19, 2016 at 10:48 am

In November 2015, Google prototyped app streaming on a few select apps. It now seems to be available for many apps in the Google mobile search results.

The same requirements apply: You must be running Android L or greater and must be on WiFi when you do your search within the Google Search App. Then, if you see an app come up, it may have a button next to the green “Install” button that says, “Try Now.” When you click on the “Try Now” button, the app streaming happens right on your device — in real time.

App streaming lets you try an app without installing the app to your device.

Here is an example for a search on [word search]:

When you click on “Try Now,” it launches the app streamer that lets you use the app for a limited period of time:

As you can see, at the bottom, it says, “App streamed by Google (beta).” Then, if you click on that banner at the bottom, you will see the option to install the app, learn more about app streaming, go back to the Google search results or close out the window.

The user interface looks a lot like the examples from November, but it does now seem to work for many apps under the conditions mentioned above.

To learn more about this, see our Google app streaming story.

About The Author

Barry Schwartz

Barry Schwartz is Search Engine Land's News Editor and owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on SEM topics.