Hey, What About App Bundles?
Google’s solution for all of this is the App Bundle.
If you upload an App Bundle, instead of an APK, to the Play Store, Google will deliver only the pieces that a given user needs:
- Instead of all image densities, Google will send down the densities that make sense for the user’s device
- Instead of all the languages, Google will send down the languages that make sense for the user’s device
- Instead of all the ABIs for different CPU architectures, Google will send down the ABI(s) that make sense for the user’s device
In other words, they handle a lot of the optimization described in this chapter for you automatically.
The downside is that Google has to sign your app. Once you do that, you no longer control what Google ships. While Google’s public focus is on what they remove (e.g., unused image densities), Google is perfectly capable of adding or replacing other things in your app… things that you might not want to be added or replaced.
If you trust Google completely and wish to use app bundles, you are welcome to do so. If you do not trust Google completely, ship APKs that you digitally sign and take your own steps to shrink them down to size.
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