Android App Bundle Format


What is Android App bundles or .aab?

It is a publishing format which includes all the app’s compiled files and resources, and defers APK generation and signing to Google Play.

Why use new .aab vs existing .apk format?

Google wants us to use it. It will deprecate .apk soon. Lets talk about advantages now:
  • One artifact instead of multiple APKs
  • Smaller apk sizes. Build and serve apk optimised for per user’s device.
  • On demand feature delivery. Deliver feature at runtime instead all of it at install time.
  • Increase speed new feature delivery. Modular apps makes code robust and easy to build.
  • Improved build times. Gradle support modular apps resulting in smaller build times.
  • Google Play Instant experiences. Let user experience app without installing it.

Build project using .aab format (most of these might not be applicable for new app launches)

  • Default project created using Android Studio can serve as a starting point for App Bundle.
  • Use single versionCode. Set a new version code when new app is updated.
  • Code shrinking should be done from the base module’s build.gradle file.
  • To control which configurations APKs to generate - Use android.build block of gradle file. In most scenarios you might not require to change the defaults values of the block.
  • To provide custom language configurations, you can disable language configuration APKs generated using App Bundle by setting android.bundle.language.enableSplit property to false.

Restrictions with App bundles

  • Compressed download size is restricted to 150 MB. Addition of new features come under this restriction.
  • APK Expansions files are not allowed. But with App bundles devs might not require expansion files.

Android App Bundle Format














Resources

https://developer.android.com/guide/app-bundle
https://developer.android.com/guide/app-bundle/app-bundle-format
Location: India

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