As tablets and smartphones are getting faster and shipping with more storage, people are doing more and more with them. For some time now, the maximum file size that developers could make their apps on the Google Play Store has been 50MB, not including expansion files. The company has announced on their Android Developers blog that they are increasing the APK (application) file size from 50MB to 100MB. Users will now see a warning when the app exceeds 100MB and not 50MB, and – for those worried about their data plans – the default update setting for larger applications will remain set to auto-update over WiFi only.
Google reminds developers that even though they can make their app bigger, doesn’t mean they should:
- Mobile data connectivity: Users around the world have varying mobile data connectivity speeds. Particularly in developing countries, many people are coming online with connections slower than those of users in countries like the U.S. and Japan. Users on a slow connection are less likely to install an app or game that is going to take a long time to download.
- Mobile data caps: Many mobile networks around the world give users a limited number of MB that they can download each month without incurring additional charges. Users are often wary of downloading large files for fear of exceeding their limits.
- App performance: Mobile devices have limited RAM and storage space. The larger your app or game, the slower it may run, particularly on older devices.
- Install time: People want to start using your app or game as quickly as possible after tapping the install button. Longer wait times increase the risk they’ll give up.
As a developer, are you excited about the new APK size limit? As a user, what do you think about potentially having bigger app file sizes to download? Let us know in the comments below, or on Google+, Twitter, or Facebook.
[button link=”http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2015/09/support-for-100mb-apks-on-google-play.html?linkId=17389452″ icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: Android Developers Blog[/button]Last Updated on November 27, 2018.
