Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Google is working on a Download Manager feature for the Play Store, which could list your recently downloaded apps.
- We managed to activate the feature to give you an early look at the Download Manager.
The Google Play Store remains the premier destination for downloading and installing apps on practically all Android flagships. Apps can be downloaded and installed at the click of a button, but this seamless process often makes it difficult to recall apps you have recently installed but not yet opened. Google could remedy this with a Download Manager within the Play Store that could help you keep track of your recently downloaded apps.
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.
Google is working on a Download Manager feature for the Play Store. We spotted several strings in v42.9.16-31, which point to the feature but don’t really tell us much about what it does, apart from some options to sort the apps in this view:
Code
AppOpenDownloadManager__enable_play_download_manager
AppOpenDownloadManager__enable_recent_downloads_sorted_by_install_time
AppOpenDownloadManager__enable_recent_downloads_sorted_by_schedule_timeWe activated the feature in v43.2.16-29, giving us a better look at it and an idea of what it does. The Download Manager within the Google Play Store shows all apps that are currently downloading and all the recently installed apps that you haven’t opened yet. When you open the apps you can see in the list, the app exits the list, giving you an updated view of what you have yet to open. Take a look at the Download Manager in action in the video below:
Further, you will see the download count of the recent apps and games you have downloaded as a badge at the top of the app details page.
Here are some more screenshots of the Download Manager within the Google Play Store:
The usual expectation from a download manager is the ability to pause and resume downloads, but we haven’t yet seen that within the Play Store’s Download Manager. Given that app and game sizes keep increasing, some users may appreciate the ability to pause a download and resume it later, especially if they are on a metered connection with daily limit refreshes.
For now, the Download Manager within the Play Store merely lists the apps you have downloaded and not opened yet. It will be handy for people who download multiple apps in one go and forget about opening up.
This feature is not currently live in the Play Store, and Google hasn’t shared anything about its existence either, so it may or may not be released in the future. We’ll update this article when we learn more.