Google launched the Android App Bundle (AAB) on the I/O 2018 occasion, enabling builders to construct their purposes as bundles as a extra environment friendly manner of delivering them to customers. Courtesy of this transformation, Google Play Retailer solely downloaded the precise parts it wanted on smartphones and different units throughout app set up, probably saving cupboard space. Nevertheless, this solely utilized to these apps downloaded through 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 on account of current modifications 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 could 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 individuals 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 totally unexpectedly, and solely bundles will likely be out there any further.
To my data, 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, resembling Cut up APKs Installer (SAI). As per the claims, most of the apps will solely be out there in a bundle format, requiring customers to obtain these instruments earlier than with the ability to set up the APK on their machine.
Why It Issues
In line with Google, fats APKs carried compatibility for a number of units relying on their display measurement, CPU structure and extra. This enabled builders to create a single package deal file as a substitute of getting to launch a number of packages for numerous machine sorts. Whereas bundling all the pieces 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 machine which might have been used for alternate functions.
This drawback is claimed to be tackled by Google’s AAB. As an alternative of cramming necessities for all units in a single fats APK, Google Play Retailer solely downloads a portion of the file it must run this system on that exact machine, resulting in a discount within the area occupied by the appliance.
