I can’t believe Google is killing this one feature I barely use. Perhaps, that's the point. The brand is officially discontinuing Android Instant Apps in December 2025 because you're not using enough of it. The feature launched in 2017 and allowed users to quickly open lightweight versions of apps without a full installation.
The company is now shifting focus toward more modern tools, and of course, artificial intelligence. By the end of the year, they'll remove Instant Apps completely from the Play Store, along with all related APIs. Additionally, Android Studio tools for creating the apps will phase out with an upcoming Otter update.
Android Studio’s Otter update will retire Instant Apps
The Otter Feature Drop is the next major update to Android Studio, particularly with the version number 2025.1.2 and codenamed Narwhal. The update formally pulls support for Instant Apps from the Integrated Development Environment (IDE) where developers create and ship applications.
After Otter, developers won’t be able to build Instant App modules in Android Studio anymore. If you're using the feature, it’s time to plan migration to Progressive Web Apps or other modern solutions Google offers. It's possible that tapping on links that used to launch them will instead prompt full app installations in the future.
It was developer Leon Omelan who first spotted the deprecation notice in Android Studio.
Instant Apps support will be removed by Google Play in December 2025. Publishing and all Google Play Instant APIs will no longer work. Tooling support will be removed in Android Studio Otter Feature Drop.
That discovery was then reported by Android Authority and later confirmed by The Verge, citing Google spokesperson Nia Carter.
Usage and engagement of Instant Apps have been low, and developers are leveraging other tools for app discovery such as AI-powered app highlights and simultaneous app installs.
Related: Google Will Nerf Your Pixel 6a Battery
You had to know Instant Apps existed to use them
Originally, Android Instant Apps were created to provide users with a “try before you install” experience. Instead of downloading an entire app. You would access a lightweight version that was typically under 15 MB and would load immediately when you clicked a link.
This way, you could access specific functionality on the spot, such as making a purchase, reserving parking or browsing part of an app, without any installation or storage commitment.
Beyond convenience, the feature combined the best features of web and native experiences. From a developer's standpoint, they offered a clever strategy to boost discoverability and encourage adoption. You could showcase key features of your software directly to users, and those who liked the experience could then choose to install the full version.
There were many things that went wrong with Android Instant Apps. For one, developers had to modularize and maintain a separate, slimmed-down version of their app. That means stripping down essential features and according to Reddit users, it wasn't worth it because “we already have a perfectly fine instant delivery system called the web”.
On the user side, awareness was almost nonexistent because people didn't even notice that it was ever there. When they finally did try it, the experience was inconsistent. You could tap the same link on two identical devices and have one load successfully while the other failed.
