What you need to know about changes to the Google Play Store

Google presents a major change in the way apps work on Android and while the changes aren’t too visible to consumers, it’s important to be aware of what’s going on and why, if you are a user of the system. Google mobile operation.

Beginning in August 2021, developers wishing to release new Android apps to the Google Play Store will have to change the way these apps are packaged together: rather than the traditional APK (Android app package) format that has been in place for decades. Years, software makers are going to have to use the AAB (Android app bundle) framework instead.

We’re not going to go into the detailed technical details of the difference between these two standards – unless you’re a developer, it won’t change the way you work with your apps – but one of the main reasons for the change is the huge number of devices that Android is running on.

One of the main advantages of AAB is that it only provides the parts of an app that you really need for your device. If you’re using a phone, for example, you don’t need the larger graphics designed for tablet screens, so the app can be smaller and lighter. Rather than having to code and package separate APKs for separate devices, or pull everything together into a single stack, developers can use the AAB route to have this handled automatically.

It also gives developers more flexibility when it comes to delivering specific features (like augmented reality add-ons, perhaps) to specific devices – users don’t have to download everything at once, in other words.

This can also be used with games: higher levels of a game don’t necessarily need to be downloaded immediately, which means users can get started at lower levels faster without being frustrated by excessively loading times. long. Again, this all translates into a smaller download and a more agile app.

Via the Play Store, Google is responsible for dividing the main Android application set into a series of APKs specific to each device that requests one. On average, according to Google, these newly optimized APKs are 15% smaller than before.

AABs were introduced with Android 9 in 2018, but Google is now pushing developers to switch to them, at least for new apps. Apps that are already on the Play Store may continue to use APKs for now, although the trend is only one way: Google says most of the top 1,000 apps now use AABs, and more than one. million applications use the bundled format. .