@capgo/capacitor-android-inline-install

Open the Google Play inline install overlay from your Capacitor app so users can install another app without leaving yours. Useful for cross-promotion in apps that qualify for Premium Growth Tools.

🤖 Building with an AI coding agent? Install Capgo skills so Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Copilot, or Gemini CLI know how to install and use @capgo/capacitor-android-inline-install in your Capacitor app: npx skills add Cap-go/capgo-skills. Then ask your agent: "Add @capgo/capacitor-android-inline-install to my Capacitor app and wire it up." Agent setup guides · Hosted MCP

Key features

• Inline install: startInlineInstall() opens the Google Play install overlay for a package.
• Stay in app: users install without leaving your app.
• Fallback: with fallback on (the default), the plugin opens the full Play Store page when the overlay is unavailable. The call rejects if neither can start.
• Tiny API: one install method, no extra SDK dependency.
• Platforms: Android. Android only, and only for apps that Google enabled for inline install.

Trigger the Google Play Inline Install overlay from a Capacitor app.

[!NOTE] Inline Install is only available to certain apps that qualify for Premium Growth Tools. See eligibility and program details here: https://play.google.com/console/about/guides/premium-growth-tools/

[!CAUTION] When using an app id that is published on the Play Store, but might not necessarily be eligible for Premium Growth Tools, the fallback will be used. (No overlay will be shown.)

Why Android Inline Install?

The only plugin supporting Google Play's Inline Install API - no other Capacitor plugin implements this:

• In-app installations - Install apps without leaving your app
• Premium Growth Tool - Access to Google's exclusive promotion features
• Seamless UX - Overlay install experience keeps users engaged
• Fallback handling - Automatically falls back to Play Store if overlay unavailable
• Cross-promotion - Perfect for app families and ecosystem growth

Essential for apps eligible for Google Play Premium Growth Tools and app ecosystem builders.

Documentation

The most complete doc is available here: https://capgo.app/docs/plugins/android-inline-install/

Compatibility

Note: The major version of this plugin follows the major version of Capacitor. Use the version that matches your Capacitor installation (e.g., plugin v8 for Capacitor 8). Only the latest major version is actively maintained.

Install

You can use our AI-Assisted Setup to install the plugin. Add the Capgo skills to your AI tool using the following command:

npx skills add https://github.com/cap-go/capacitor-skills --skill capacitor-plugins

Then use the following prompt:

Use the `capacitor-plugins` skill from `cap-go/capacitor-skills` to install the `@capgo/capacitor-android-inline-install` plugin in my project.

If you prefer Manual Setup, install the plugin by running the following commands and follow the platform-specific instructions below:

npm install @capgo/capacitor-android-inline-install
npx cap sync

Usage

import { AndroidInlineInstall } from '@capgo/capacitor-android-inline-install';

// Start inline install for a target app by package name
await AndroidInlineInstall.startInlineInstall({
  id: 'com.example.targetapp',
  referrer: 'campaign=my-campaign', // optional but recommended
  // callerId defaults to your app's package name
  // csl_id: 'your-custom-store-listing-id',
  overlay: true,   // default true
  fallback: true,  // default true: open full Play Store page if overlay unavailable
});

Behavior

• The plugin attempts to open the Google Play overlay via an intent that targets com.android.vending with a deep link of the form https://play.google.com/d?id=…&referrer=…&listing=… and extras overlay and callerId.
• If the overlay is not available on the device or for your app, and fallback is true, it opens the full Play Store details page for the target app as a deep link.
• The promise resolves with { started: true, fallbackUsed: boolean } when an intent is started.
• The promise rejects with a descriptive error if neither the overlay nor the fallback can be started, or if required parameters are missing.

Supported platforms

• Android: Supported, subject to Google Play eligibility and device support.
• iOS/Web: Not supported; the method rejects with an informative error.

API

• startInlineInstall(...)
• getPluginVersion()
• Interfaces

Android Inline Install Plugin for triggering Google Play in-app install flows.

startInlineInstall(...)

startInlineInstall(options: StartInlineInstallOptions) => Promise<StartInlineInstallResult>

Start an inline install flow using the Google Play overlay.

Note: Only eligible apps can use Inline Install. See: https://play.google.com/console/about/guides/premium-growth-tools/

Returns: Promise<StartInlineInstallResult>

Since: 1.0.0

getPluginVersion()

getPluginVersion() => Promise<{ version: string; }>

Get the native Capacitor plugin version.

Returns: Promise<{ version: string; }>

Since: 1.0.0

Interfaces

StartInlineInstallResult

Result of starting an inline install flow.

StartInlineInstallOptions

Options for starting an inline install flow.