Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- The Google Play Store could soon receive a new download progress notification, allowing users to easily keep track of app downloads.
- We first spotted the notification in a teardown earlier this year, but Google has since made some improvements.
- The notification will list up to three recently downloaded apps and games, and let users open the apps right from the notification shade.
The Google Play Store is set to receive a more helpful download progress notification, which will allow users to easily track app downloads and launch newly installed apps directly from the notification shade. We first spotted it in a teardown earlier this year, but it was still a work in progress at the time, with several elements not functioning as intended. Google has since made some noticeable improvements, and we now have a clearer look at what could be the final version.
An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.
The updated download progress notification still shows a maximum of three recently downloaded apps and games. However, instead of a “See more” button at the bottom, it now states how many additional apps and games you’ve recently installed. When a download is complete, the notification now correctly shows a “Recently installed” label underneath the app name, instead of showing “0% of 0MB” like before.
Google hasn’t made any other interface changes in the current release (version 46.8.29-31), but the “Open” buttons now function as intended. We can also confirm that once you open a recently installed app, it’s removed from the notification. You can see it in action in the video below.
This appears to be the final version of the new download progress notification, and Google could start rolling it out to users with a subsequent Play Store update. We’ll update this post as soon as it’s widely available.
