The information about the new algorithm appeared on Android Developers blog, together with tips on how app developers can reduce the size of their APK.
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Google is in the process of rolling out a change to the Play Store which means actual download sizes are displayed for apps, and for those that are already installed, the size of the available update is listed instead.
Google has recently announced that they will be making improvements to the Play Store in the form of a new algorithm that will further reduce app update sizes. According to Google, approximately 98% of updates over the Play Store only download changes to APK files. The updated algorithm will make those updates up to 50 percent smaller.
The blogpost advises users to remove unnecessary data like like unused resources and code from the APK to reduce its size. If you already have an app, you will only see the update size. Google claims that applying this tool to initial downloads shrinks them by 12%, and updates are chopped by an impressive 65%.
The blog provided an example of Google Chrome, whose latest major update from M46 to M47 had a patch size of 22.8MB, which was reduced using Bsdiff to 12.9MB. To insure that the frequent fixes don’t affect user cellular plans, the Play Store has several new features to reduce and be more transparent about data usage.
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Users who own high-end Android smartphones with massive memory cards and usually connect to Wi-Fi networks might not see much of a difference with these Google Play Store updates. Users can view the actual download size, not just the APK size.
