What You Need to Know About Google Play Store's 100 MB APK Size Limit

Google Play Store Max APK Size: What You Need to Know

If you are an Android developer, you probably know what an APK (Android Package) is. It is the file format that contains all the code and resources of your app. The size of your APK affects how fast your app downloads and installs, how much memory it uses, and how much power it consumes. Therefore, it is important to optimize your APK size and make it as small as possible.

But how small can you make your APK? What is the maximum APK size allowed by Google Play Store? And what are the benefits of having a smaller APK size? In this article, we will answer these questions and provide some tips on how to reduce your APK size in Android.

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What is the maximum APK size allowed by Google Play Store?

Google Play Store has a limit on the compressed download size of your app. This means that the size of your APK plus any expansion files must be less than or equal to this limit. The limit depends on the Android version that your app targets:

• 100 MB for apps that target Android 2.3 (API level 9) and higher

• 150 MB for apps that target Android App Bundle format

If your app exceeds this limit, users will see a warning dialog suggesting that they use Wi-Fi to download your app. This may discourage some users from installing your app or cause them to uninstall it later.

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What are the benefits of having a smaller APK size?

The size of your APK has an impact on how fast your app loads, how much memory it uses, and how much power it consumes. One of the simple ways to make your APK smaller is to reduce the number and size of the resources it contains.

Some of the benefits of having a smaller APK size are:

• Faster download and installation: A smaller APK size means faster download and installation times, especially for users with slow internet connections or low storage devices. This can improve the user experience and reduce the likelihood of users abandoning the installation process.

• Improved performance: A smaller APK size means less data needs to be loaded into memory, resulting in faster app startup times and smoother performance.

• Lower bandwidth costs: Smaller APK sizes can help reduce bandwidth costs for app developers, as well as for users who have limited data plans.

• Higher install conversion rates: Smaller APK sizes can help increase install conversion rates, as users are more likely to download and install apps that seem less bulky and more efficient.

How to reduce APK size in Android?

There are several ways to reduce your APK size in Android. Here are some of the most common ones:

Use Android App Bundle format

The easiest way to reduce your APK size when publishing to Google Play Store is by using the Android App Bundle format. This is a new upload format that includes all your app's code and resources, but defers APK generation and signing to Google Play. Google Play then uses your app bundle to generate and serve optimized APKs for each user's device configuration, so they download only the code and resources they need to run your app.

Remove unused sources and resources

Another way to reduce your APK size is by removing any sources and resources that are not used by your app. This includes unused code, libraries, assets, strings, layouts, and other resources. You can use tools such as Android Studio's APK Analyzer or Lint to identify and remove unused resources from your project.

Use vector drawables and WebP images

Vector drawables are scalable graphics that can be defined in XML files. They are ideal for icons and other simple shapes that can be rendered at any resolution without losing quality or increasing size. You can use vector drawables instead of bitmap images to reduce your APK size and improve your app's appearance on different screen densities.

WebP is an image format that supports both lossy and lossless compression. It can produce smaller file sizes than JPEG or PNG formats, while maintaining comparable or better image quality. You can use WebP images instead of JPEG or PNG images to reduce your APK size and improve your app's loading speed.

Use ProGuard and shrinkResources

ProGuard is a tool that obfuscates and optimizes your code by removing unused classes, fields, methods, and attributes, as well as renaming the remaining ones with short names. This can reduce your APK size and make it harder for others to reverse engineer your app.

shrinkResources is a Gradle option that removes any resources that are not referenced by your code or by the AndroidManifest.xml file. This can reduce your APK size by removing unused resources such as images, strings, layouts, etc.

You can enable ProGuard and shrinkResources in your build.gradle file by adding the following lines:

android buildTypes release minifyEnabled true proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro' shrinkResources true

Use SplitApk or APK expansion files

If your app still exceeds the maximum APK size limit after applying the above methods, you can use SplitApk or APK expansion files to split your app into smaller parts.

SplitApk is a feature that allows you to split your app into multiple APKs based on different criteria such as screen density, CPU architecture, or language. Each APK contains only the code and resources needed for a specific device configuration. Google Play then downloads and installs the appropriate APKs for each user's device.

APK expansion files are additional files that you can upload along with your APK to Google Play. They are typically used for large media files such as videos, audio, or images. Each expansion file can be up to 2 GB in size. Google Play downloads the expansion files to the device's shared storage location (usually an SD card) after the APK is installed.

Conclusion

In this article, we have discussed what is the maximum APK size allowed by Google Play Store and what are the benefits of having a smaller APK size. We have also provided some tips on how to reduce your APK size in Android using various methods such as using Android App Bundle format, removing unused sources and resources, using vector drawables and WebP images, using ProGuard and shrinkResources, and using SplitApk or APK expansion files.

We hope that this article has helped you understand how to optimize your APK size and improve your app's performance and user experience. If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to leave a comment below.

FAQs

How to check and compare APK size?

You can use Android Studio's APK Analyzer tool to inspect the contents and sizes of your APK files. You can also compare two APKs to see how they differ in terms of code and resources.

How to test APK expansion files?

You can use the FakeGPS tool to simulate downloading your app from a different location. This will allow you to test how your app behaves when it downloads and accesses the expansion files.

How to use Play Asset Delivery or Play Feature Delivery?

Play Asset Delivery and Play Feature Delivery are new features that allow you to deliver large assets or features on demand to your users. They are based on the Android App Bundle format and offer more flexibility and control over how you deliver your app content. You can learn more about them here:

How to support multiple device configurations with app bundles?

How to support multiple device configurations with app bundles?

You can use dynamic feature modules to add features or functionality that are not required for your app's core functionality, but can be downloaded and installed on demand by users. For example, you can use dynamic feature modules to support different languages, screen sizes, or hardware capabilities. You can also use conditional delivery to deliver different features to different devices based on certain criteria such as SDK version, country, or device features.

How to update an app that uses app bundles?

You can update your app that uses app bundles by uploading a new app bundle to Google Play Console. Google Play will then generate and serve updated APKs to your users. You can also use in-app updates to prompt your users to update your app within your app. 44f88ac181