Android 12 Might Let You Play Games Before They Are Completely Downloaded

With the advancement in technology, gaming in smartphones has become more graphic intensive. Games such as Call of Duty, Fortnite, and PUBG made their way to mobile phones. These games are very large. Downloading such a big file can be difficult. They consume extensive internet data for downloading, and they are time taking too.

So, some companies like Blizzard and EA will let you play games even before they are completely downloaded, and expecting this functionality to come to a later version of Android.

With the future version of Android, maybe Android 12 (Android S), this functionality might arrive. Google is working on a new file system, which would allow the applications or games to be performed while its binary and resource files are still downloading.

XDA Developers spotted this evidence that is under development by Google called Incremental File System.

According to the Linux Kernel submitted by Google, “Incremental FS is a special-purpose Linux virtual file system, which allows execution of a program while its binary and resource files are still being lazily downloaded over the network, USB, etc.”

Presently, to play a game or view any app, users have to download them completely. The purpose of this feature is to let big size games and Android apps execute before they are completely downloaded. In application, this feature is similar to that of Instant App from Google, which will let the user experience the application or game before downloading it. But the only difference is that the Incremental File System will also download the app or game simultaneously.

As the implementation of the new file is in the kernel, developers need not put extra effort as they had to do it for Instant Apps.

However, users might face some freeze while executing the app or game with the Incremental File System as the next set of data will get downloaded.

As of now, Google is testing out this feature on Google Pixel 4 XL for over a year. However, the functionality is still in its early stage of concept, and it will take time to hit the smartphones. We are anticipating seeing this feature in Android 12 at its earliest.