Just like the Play Store, the feature pops up a small authorization window and install button. However, it seems to work only when searching through the Google app for some users and not through the Chrome browser. For quite some time now, links to the Play Store on Android and to the iOS App Store on mobile Safari for iPhone users have been displayed by Google’s mobile search results and prompting users to install an app, if it had relevant content to the user’s search query. This would be the first time that the users would be able to download and install an app without going through a mobile store. However, Android Police reports that the feature is not available to everyone and can be expected to roll out slowly. You can test this yourself by opening the Google app and searching for the name of an app. It will appear at the top of the results with an install button. However, when most people tap it, they are booted into the Play Store. Those with the new feature will see a permission popup message just like they would in the Play Store, then a small Play Store frame appears so that it can be installed. Once permission is given to install the app, a new Google Play-style overlay would appear, with user acceptance of the app’s permissions and the final, install button. Currently, the feature is only visible on the Google app and not found on Chrome. Android Police has had reports of this feature working dating back to about a month ago. However, only recently it has started appearing extensively enough. Last year, Google had introduced app indexing for iOS apps which showed iPod, iPhone, and iPad touch users content from within mobile apps straight from Google Search. However, it is unclear if Google will be able to roll out similar install feature for users via Apple’s App Store.
