Two new features are headed to Google’s Play store app on Android and they are aiming at improving the user experience in different but notable ways. We’re to see a brand new download progress indicator and the option to archive apps.
Currently, if you want to check how much longer you’ll have to wait before that new app gets installed, you’ll have to bring down the quick settings menu. The download progress will be displayed just underneath it, along with your notifications.
While that is great, it is somewhat limiting, as you don’t have a persistent indicator. Having one always-on screen – or the option to enable it – might help out people with limited connection speeds, who need to wait until one download is done before starting another.
Hence, the new download bubble is the upcoming solution. Reportedly, it will hang around on your screen and showcase your download’s progress, allowing you to browse the store or do something else until the installation is done.
If you are one of those folks who aren’t interested in such a feature: don’t worry! If you don’t want to see it, you can never enable it. And if you do, it allows you to move it or dismiss it, so even if you turn it on, you can always quickly send it away.
Great? Great! What’s better? Having options. Another new feature is expected, namely the ability to Archive apps, instead of outright uninstalling them. This one was also officially announced, so it’s not as much of a surprise.
Archiving basically allows you to delete an app, but keep the personal data associated with it. Personal data typically contains your settings, login information, and, for gamers – save data.
This option is meant to help out users with phones with smaller storage capacities. So, if you ever find yourself in a situation where you are running low on space, you could always Archive an app, without having to worry about losing any progress or settings.
At any point, after you’ve Archived an app, you could visit its page on Google Play and hit the Restore button, which at that point would’ve replaced Install. Whenever you do that, the app will download its missing files, allowing you to use it again fully.
Well, given that we’ve got this info thanks to an App teardown, that would mean that these functions are already in there in some capacity. Though that doesn’t mean that they are ready for release, it means that they are being actively tested.
As such, we can expect these features to become available soon to the public. If you happen to notice that you’ve got an update for the Play store pending, you should make a mental note to check for these in your app settings.