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According to the documentations, an Instant App is downloaded via Google Play and launched on the fly. It is not installed but is rather cached in the Android system. As a developer and user, I would like to validate this behaviour.

I have tried running Clash Royale by hitting the "Try now" - that is when a splash screen is shown with a progress bar (assuming that's when the feature APK is downloaded?) and it launches soon. On exit, there is no application icon which is expected.

In the device storage I looked for trace of the APK but with no success. Do I need ROOT permissions to see this? Is there a way to inspect and verify?

Vadim Kotov
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ZakiMak
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2 Answers2

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There is still an APK installed.

For O+ devices, run adb shell pm path com.supercell.clashroyale after TRY NOW

And you'll see:

package:/data/app/com.supercell.clashroyale-CUaYOumzCbUDNAdv1MRtRg==/base.apk
package:/data/app/com.supercell.clashroyale-CUaYOumzCbUDNAdv1MRtRg==/split_split_2_tutorial_battles.apk

Do it again after INSTALL (for comparison), and you'll see:

package:/data/app/com.supercell.clashroyale-0Dn0s6yq6WqGCRZ9ETT8bA==/base.apk
package:/data/app/com.supercell.clashroyale-0Dn0s6yq6WqGCRZ9ETT8bA==/split_config.arm64_v8a.apk
package:/data/app/com.supercell.clashroyale-0Dn0s6yq6WqGCRZ9ETT8bA==/split_config.en.apk
package:/data/app/com.supercell.clashroyale-0Dn0s6yq6WqGCRZ9ETT8bA==/split_config.xxxhdpi.apk

(For pre-O devices, the first part won't work, but I don't know any other cmd that will do the same)

TWL
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  • The packages only show up for me when I install. When I try checking without installing and using TRY NOW, I do not see any packages listed. – ZakiMak May 04 '20 at 22:04
  • Android OS of the device you are using? pre-O or O+? – TWL May 04 '20 at 22:17
  • It's Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow – ZakiMak May 04 '20 at 22:27
  • Hmm, you're right, I tested this on an N device and didn't see any results after TRY NOW, only until after INSTALL. I had tested that cmd on an O device. I do know that instant apps runs differently underneath between pre-O vs O+ because it wasn't built into the OS in pre-O, but sorry, I don't know of any other cmd to do this in pre-O then. – TWL May 05 '20 at 00:21
  • Thanks for the information. This is an interesting find. – ZakiMak May 10 '20 at 21:27
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You can navigate to Settings -> Apps, and see instant apps there. The App Icon will have Lightning bolt sub-icon at least it looks like that on Samsung Android 12.

Happy Dev
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