The Play Store will soon offer a streaming try-before-you-buy functionality for apps.

Try now, buy in 10 minutes

Try Now will grant 10 minutes’ free streaming access to paid games available through Google’s Play Store. If the user does not play for a full 10 minutes in a single sitting, they can come back and try it again later—but only up to the total of 10 free minutes.

Once the user’s 10 free minutes are up, they must pay for the app to get continued access.

Practical for users

The Play Store presently offers app buyers a money back option for app purchases. If the user decides to return an app within two hours of buying it, they can instantly initiate a refund process.

The forthcoming Try Now function may be a better solution. It should be less onerous for the user. Its usefulness is based on time spent with the app rather than time elapsed since purchase. The preview requires no outlay. If the user is unimpressed, they simply don’t buy the app. No need for a refund-claim process.

In the Store

Android users know to click a green button on the Play Store if they want to get an app. For free apps, the button is labelled Install. For paid apps, the button is labelled with the price.

The new feature will sit beside those familiar buttons in inverse colours—green print on a white background—labelled with the words TRY NOW.

Still in testing

As yet, there is  no official launch date for the Try Now feature. Currently, it seems to be available only to some users, and only for some apps.

So far, Try Now is only being tested for games. Screenshots have emerged of the Play Store listing for the game Ticket to Ride featuring the Try Now button.

It is unknown whether Try Now will be rolled out across other app types.