Storage space on our devices is extremely important. When you’ve got something like a 8GB or 16GB device, every app that you install, counts. But when you get into the larger storage devices, or have a device with support for a MicroSD card, you stop worrying as much.
Today, Google has announced a little bit of a change for the minimum size of APK’s that can be found within the Play Store. Moving up from 50MB, the maximum size of an APK is now 100MB.
This may alleviate some of those apps (usually games), that force you to install more information after you’ve downloaded the application from the Play Store. I’m looking at you Leo’s Fortune. If you are developing an application, and run into the minimum file size for APKs, you’ll be switched to making use of those Expansion Files.
Google does warn against developing apps that reach the 100MB limit due to a few different factors:
- Mobile data connectivity: Users around the world have varying mobile data connectivity speeds. Particularly in developing countries, many people are coming online with connections slower than those of users in countries like the U.S. and Japan. Users on a slow connection are less likely to install an app or game that is going to take a long time to download.
- Mobile data caps: Many mobile networks around the world give users a limited number of MB that they can download each month without incurring additional charges. Users are often wary of downloading large files for fear of exceeding their limits.
- App performance: Mobile devices have limited RAM and storage space. The larger your app or game, the slower it may run, particularly on older devices.
- Install time: People want to start using your app or game as quickly as possible after tapping the install button. Longer wait times increase the risk they’ll give up.
This is just a minor update since most of the world has access to Wi-Fi at some point in time. But it’s still worth taking note of if you are on one of those devices with lower storage.
