Sometimes you just want to try out an app to see if it’s worth spending time or money (or both) on. Google’s now taking advantage the world outside of mobile webpage search with its new experiment. Google Search is introducing app streaming on Android devices. Search results for sites like Chimani and HotelTonight will give you access to streamed versions of their mobile apps without having to download the app to your phone. But Google cautions you need good Wi-Fi connection for this.
Google’s reasoning is sometimes the searches you do have answers that are within apps. Google already has over 100 billion deep links into apps in their index such as those from Facebook, Airbnb, Instagram, and Pinterest. And according to them, 40 percent of what people search surface content within apps. Before this, they’ve only been able to show those that match web content. Now, they hope to give you access to “app-first” content as you use Search. Google’s working with a handful of partners at the moment but they hope to expand this.