Over the past several months, the number of daily app and extensions downloads from the Chrome Web Store has more than doubled. We are now seeing millions of downloads per day. Some apps and extensions have grown even faster thanks to inline installation, a feature we launched a few months ago.

With inline installation, you can allow Chrome users who visit your web site to install your apps and extensions directly without requiring them to visit the Chrome Web Store. This creates a smoother experience for your users as it eliminates an extra step where potential users could drop off.

Here are a few examples of the impact of inline installation:

• Chrome extensions Evernote Clearly and Evernote Web Clipper derive 15% and 25% of their Chrome installations (respectively) from their inline installation implementation 
• Rovio implemented inline installation for their Angry Birds Chrome game and saw their install rate jump by almost 10%) 
• Equire, a CRM extension that integrates with Gmail, saw a 66% increase in Chrome user retention after they implemented inline installation. 

Example: Installing Evernote Web Clipper from Evernote’s Site

Implementing inline installation is very easy:

1. Provide a link to your Chrome Web Store item.
2. Write some script to check for whatever client-side capabilities your app requires (support for WebGL, the Web Audio API, etc). Modernizr is a great library to use for this. 
3. Call a JavaScript function to initiate the install process. 

The user sees the same Add To Chrome dialog prompt that they would on the store, confirm the install, and they're done – all without leaving your site.

The full details and documentation for using inline installation can be found here. If you have any questions, you can reach us on our developer forum.

Posted by Joe Marini, Developer Advocate