What you should know about the Google Play Store

Google is introducing it an important change in that way apps run on Android—And while the changes aren’t too noticeable for consumers, it’s important to know what’s going on and why, if you’re a user of Google’s mobile operating system.

Starting in August 2021, developers who want to launch new Android apps in the Google Play Store will have to change how these apps are packaged: rather than the traditional APK (Android app package) format over the years, the AAB (Android app bundle) framework should be used instead by software makers.

We won’t go into specific technical details on how to distinguish these two standards (if you’re not a developer, it won’t change the way you work with your apps), but one of the main reasons for the change is the sheer number. Devices used by Android.

One of the key advantages of AAB is that it only offers parts of the apps you really need for your device. If you’re using your phone, for example, you don’t need larger graphics designed for tablet screens, so the app may be smaller and lighter. Instead of encoding and packaging separate APKs for separate devices, or combining everything together, developers can use the AAB route to manage this automatically.

It also gives developers more flexibility when it comes to specific features (e.g., augmented reality add-ons, perhaps) when it comes to accessing specific devices – users don’t have to download everything at once, in other words.

Another way that can be used with games is that higher levels of the game don’t necessarily need to be downloaded right away, which means users can start faster at lower levels without frustrating loads for long periods of time. Again, all of this becomes a smaller download and faster application.

Through the Play Store, Google requires work that divides the main range of Android apps into separate APK sets for each device. On average, according to Google, these newly optimized APKs are 15 percent smaller than before.

AABs were introduced with Android 9 in 2018, but now Google is pushing for developers to go there, at least for new apps. Apps in the Play Store may still use APKs for now, but the trend is only one way: Google says Most of the top 1,000 applications now use AABs, and there are more than a million applications that use batch format.