If you didn’t know, Google has had a limit on the file size of any APK – that is, the standard Android installer file type – you would like to put out on the Google Play Store. That limit has stood at 50MB for a while now, which explains why you have to download additional files if it goes beyond the limit – like for that Hearthstone game you’re addicted to, which has almost 1GB of additional files. Google has made the announcement that it is increasing the limit, not by much, but it should help.
The limit for APK’s now stands at 100MB, double the size of the past limit. Google says that the reason for this is “to support the growing number of developers who are building richer apps and games on Google Play”. This means that developers can now publish installers up to 100MB in size. Anything above 100MB and the developer will have to use the “expansion files” we mentioned earlier.
Google warns, though, that just because you can do it doesn’t mean you should. They warn that a 100MB download will still be a big struggle for people who only have mobile data connections in their parts of the world, and not yet on LTE. Mobile data connections also have data caps, and a 100MB hit on a user’s cap is still big. Also, Google warns that a 100MB installer will take more time to install – also depending on the processing power of the user’s phone.
So while we can expect better-looking and better-performing apps from this, there are some caveats, and developers will need to balance their payloads to get the best out of their apps.
SOURCE: Google
