After intermittent testing over the past few years, Google appears to have widely rolled out simultaneous downloads and installations of apps on the Play Store, improving quality of life.
To see it in action, install two apps – choose larger downloads, like Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides – and see how they download and then install simultaneously instead of waiting for one to complete first. You can track their progress in the Play Store and on your home screen, as shown in the screenshots below.
This updated behavior only triggers on new installations, while it only works with two apps at a time. (You can see how a third download remains “Pending” until something from the first pair completes.) For comparison, the iOS App Store can handle three simultaneous downloads and installations.
Currently, Google Play concurrent downloads don’t apply to app updates, which would be more useful since updating is more common than new installs. Hopefully this is just a case of Google Play starting small before expanding. This change will be useful when setting up a new Android phone or tablet.
We’re seeing this change on several Pixel phones and tablets we’ve tested running Android 14 and Play Store version 40.6.31.
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