Android developers working to reduce app update sizes by 65%

Five years ago, Google upgraded the Android Market’s app size limit to 4GB from only 50MB. As more apps were being developed, file sizes were becoming bigger. Half a decade later, apps are way bigger so they take too much space inside any device. Honestly, 8GB or even 16GB isn’t enough for a flagship phone. It’s not really a problem for most Android devices though because they usually have expanded storage.

Google knows how important data are used and managed. With all the billions of apps available on the Play Store, we will never run out of interesting things to download and enjoy. We may never try all in our lifetime but there are many applications and games that you want to use over and over again. Most devs of the top apps we know are diligent in releasing updates to ensure that people are served enhanced security, private data, and relevant content all the time.

The Android team acknowledges the fact that updates take a lot of data to download. The demand now isn’t to make files bigger but to make them smaller. There’s a call now for these app updates to be reduced in size so Google began to make changes by using the bsdiff algorithm. The aim is to reduce the app size by about 47%. That’s been useful alright but there are others ways app files can be reduced. File-by-File patching is a new approach that’s expected to make an app 65% smaller or even up to 90% for some. It sounds impossible but the savings are real.

This change can be seen once you update an app. Google Play will send a patch that shows the differences between the old version and the new version of an app. The idea is that Google will only send “patches” to change whatever needs to be changed. Instead of downloading the app in full, you only need to get the small patches.

Patches are definitely smaller which means they are easier and faster to download and re-upload. The idea will be more useful because downloading the full app or APK takes more time. Not all files are changed so File-by-File patching will make more sense.

The process can be complicated to non-developers and ordinary Android mobile device users but bottomline, Google is trying to save data by making these devs release patches and not the whole app. This way, data are reduced and saved. Using little data as much as possible will be much appreciated by those who are always on the lookout for updates and fixes.

SOURCE: Android Developers