Google launched the Android App Bundle (AAB) on the I/O 2018 occasion, enabling builders to construct their functions as bundles as a extra environment friendly method of delivering them to customers. Courtesy of this variation, Google Play Retailer solely downloaded the precise parts it wanted on smartphones and different gadgets throughout app set up, probably saving cupboard space. Nevertheless, this solely utilized to these apps downloaded by way of the Play Retailer, with sideloading apps nonetheless requiring the set up of fats Android Software Packages (APKs). A current declare on social media means that the method of sideloading might have gotten a bit extra tedious attributable to current adjustments made by the corporate.
Sideloading Android Apps
In a put up on X (previously Twitter), Artem Russakovskii, the founding father of APK internet hosting platform APKMirror, claimed that Google had stopped producing fats APKs for a lot of apps. This implies customers who want to set up APK recordsdata might want to obtain bundles. Whereas fats APKs may be put in by merely downloading a big APK file from the official web sites or third-party sources, bundles usually require an additional step.
FYI since folks e mail @APKMirror about this a number of occasions a day… appears to be like like Google stopped producing fats APKs for a lot of apps solely unexpectedly, and solely bundles shall be obtainable any longer.
To my information, there’s nothing we are able to do about it.https://t.co/OrcKXDA7Kc
— Artem Russakovskii (@ArtemR) August 4, 2024
To put in a majority of these packages, third-party instruments will now be required, similar to Cut up APKs Installer (SAI). As per the claims, most of the apps will solely be obtainable in a bundle format, requiring customers to obtain these instruments earlier than with the ability to set up the APK on their gadget.
Why It Issues
In accordance to Google, fats APKs carried compatibility for a number of gadgets relying on their display screen dimension, CPU structure and extra. This enabled builders to create a single bundle file as a substitute of getting to launch a number of packages for varied gadget sorts. Whereas bundling every part in a single fats APK was mentioned to make it simpler for customers to obtain, it led to unused content material occupying a piece of cupboard space on the gadget which may have been used for alternate functions.
This drawback is claimed to be tackled by Google’s AAB. As a substitute of cramming necessities for all gadgets in a single fats APK, Google Play Retailer solely downloads a portion of the file it must run this system on that exact gadget, resulting in a discount within the house occupied by the applying.
