Android App Size Reduction: Analysis and different methodology

Abstract

Android App size and its performance optimization are the key for any successful App. These keys are essential for increasing the install rate and also ensures it's reachability to low-end devices. Google has come up with solutions like dynamic delivery and bundle etc. to reduce the app size but with some constraints. This paper focuses on new size reduction concepts and methods that override these constraints and help in size reduction effectively. These size reduction methods will not only help in reducing the app size but also will help in app dynamicity. Images contribute heavily towards the increase in app size. Nowadays, device resolution has evolved drastically and those devices need to use high-resolution images which directly add a significant rise in App size. This has been addressed a little bit by the creation of an App bundle based on device density, but it still requires keeping few versions of image resolution in the native App. Is it possible deliver all images of the screen (or all images of the App) as a bundle and integrate it with the App in runtime? Our main goal is to keep the code and images independent of each other in such a way that they can be delivered separately. We will keep the code in the native App which will be downloaded as a base App while all the images will be downloaded from the distributed system once then App has been installed. There is no direct mechanism to achieve it as the image id is generated at the time of compilation but we can override it. In this dynamic era, all Apps need to be dynamic and their content/view need to be updated without any new app update unless it has major changes involved. So far, all methodology revolves around native app rendering and hybrid (web view/App) rendering. WebView has its rendering mechanism across different devices which consists of mapping of web components and native OS components. We want to keep the native rendering while also allowing to change the UI at any point in time to support App dynamicity. This will not involve any App update but requires back-end releases that redirect App UI change. This will also reduce the number of XML files that are responsible for App layouts.