The Play Store will speed up app installs by learning how you use your apps

Get ready for speedier installations from the Play Store.

What you need to know

• Google is preparing the Play Store for “app install optimization.”
• The new feature will collect certain usage data to help speed up app installations.
• No identifying data will be collected, but users could opt-out of the service when it goes live.

Owning an Android smartphone means there’s a good chance you know how to install Android apps. It also means that with the more feature-rich apps being developed, installing and getting started on a new app can take a while, especially when using some of the best cheap Android phones. Google has been working on getting users into their favorite apps quicker, and the latest effort could come soon to the Play Store.

9to5Google spotted references in the latest version of the Play Store to a new feature coming to the Play Store called “App install optimization.” According to an associated support document, the service will crowdsource data on how users first interact with apps and adapt ways to make the installation process faster.

If app install optimization is turned on, your device tells Google which parts of the app you accessed and in what order when you first open the app after installing. This information is combined with data from other people who use the app to find trends and identify which parts of the app are most important to everyone.

According to Google, this will help apps not only install faster but open and run faster, too, reducing CPU strain on your smartphone. And while the feature may sound invasive, Google ensures that it does not collect specific identifying information about users running this feature. It also won’t collect data about other apps or any user-related content, and users will have the option to turn the feature off at any time.

The feature is not live, but the references and the support doc indicate that it may not be long before this feature debuts in the Play Store.