Intent to Extend Origin Trial: GetInstalledRelatedApps API (Instant Apps update)
Matt Giuca
Contact emails
mgi...@chromium.org, mariak...@chromium.org, thil...@chromium.org
Spec
https://github.com/WICG/get-installed-related-apps/blob/master/EXPLAINER.md
Summary
Allow sites to determine whether the user has installed their corresponding app, where the “candidates” to be checked are drawn from the related_applications key in the manifest. A new feature in Chrome 61 allows sites to determine whether their Android Instant App is available, and its experimental status for the current user.
The new feature is motivated by Android developers who wish to run an experiment where their Instant App is promoted to a certain percentage of users who visit their website. To draw conclusions from the experiment, the API lets sites determine which group a given user is in, out of {unable to use Instant Apps, not in the Instant Apps experiment group, user opted not to use Instant App}.
An Origin Trial for GetInstalledRelatedApps started in Chrome 59 and is scheduled to end in Chrome 62. The results from the M59 Origin Trial were summarized in an email to blink-dev. Since the new Android Instant Apps query feature is shipping in Chrome 61, we would like to run a full 3-milestone experiment on that feature, and hence request an extension of the InstalledApp Origin Trial until Chrome 64.
Link to “Intent to Implement” blink-dev discussion
https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/d/msg/blink-dev/0xXsJYdkaWg/2NwHKmZBEAAJ
Goals for experimentation
Does the Instant App API give developers the required statistical information?
Is there sufficient interest in access to this information from Instant Apps developers?
Experimental timeline
Enabled:
2017-09-12: M61 in stable channel.
2017-09-19: Feedback from M60 origin trial (pre-AIA feature).
2017-10-24: M62 in stable channel.
2017-10-31: Feedback from M61 origin trial.
2017-12-12: M63 in stable channel.
2017-12-19: Feedback from M62 origin trial.
Disabled:
2018-01-30: M64 in stable channel. Experiment ends.
2018-02-06: Feedback from M63 origin trial.
Any risks from changing the API mid-experiment?
No. The new functionality is enabled by referencing a special app ID in the manifest that was not previously valid.
Any risks when the experiment finishes?
No.
Reason this experiment is being extended
https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/d/msg/blink-dev/j-e8iI-WWg8/OjoJbm_zCgAJ
This is essentially a trial for a new feature (Android Instant Apps query) and deserves a full 3-milestone trial. Since it is intrinsically coupled to GetInstalledRelatedApps (that is currently in an origin trial), it doesn’t make sense to add a new origin trial, just extend the current one.
Ongoing technical constraints
Relies on specific features of Android, so is only available on that platform at the moment.
It’s possible that we want to ship GetInstalledRelatedApps in Chrome 62 or 63 (after the original 3-milestone origin trial completes). In that event, we will keep the Instant Apps extension gated behind this origin trial. Alternatively, we could just end the origin trial early and push both features together.
Will this feature be supported on all five Blink platforms supported by Origin Trials (Windows, Mac, Linux, Chrome OS, and Android)?
No. This feature is specific to Android.
OWP launch tracking bug
Link to entry on the feature dashboard
Chris Harrelson
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