Google began live testing Android Instant Apps, which enables users to access apps without having to download them first.

Previewed at Google I/O last year, Instant Apps is “an important part of our effort to help users discover and run apps with minimal friction”, Aurash Mahbod, software engineer for Google Play, explained in a blog post.

Google has been working with a small number of developers to refine the user and developer experiences, he said, and by collecting user feedback and iterating on the product, wants to expand the experience to more apps and more users.

Developers will need to update their existing Android app to take advantage of the new functionality, using a modular structure “so part of it can be downloaded and run on-the-fly”. The full SDK will be available in coming months.

Last year, Google said that creating instant apps requires some work from developers – although “this can take less than a day of work, depending on how your app is built”.