Google’s New Requirements for App Bundle Sizes and Delivery Optimization

Google Play Bundle Size Regulation is reshaping how Android apps are built, delivered, and ranked on the Play Store. With strict limits on large app bundles and a strong push toward modular delivery, developers must optimize app size, delivery speed, and asset management to remain compliant and competitive.

What Is Google’s New Bundle Size Regulation, and How Will It Affect Developers?

Around the beginning of 2023, Google announced new regulations concerning the size and layout of Android app bundles and delivery methods for Android application packages (APKs) on the Play Store. The primary objectives of the updates include smaller app bundles, improved install times, enhanced overall user experience, and decreased data consumption. As of 2023, Google began enforcing restrictions on the delivery of apps that exceed 150 MB, and apps that fall within Android’s Bundle Size regulations will have improved visibility on the Play Store. With this new update, Google continues its trend of prioritizing speed and efficiency as outlined in a recent McKinsey article (2024).

The New Bundle Size Regulation and Delivery Procedures

• Maximum Bundle Size: Developers of apps still utilizing legacy app bundle formats must ensure that size constraints are met, barring the use of advanced compression technologies and dynamic delivery methods.
• Dynamic Delivery: Google prefers the “modular architecture” approach, in which developers provide code and assets for specific devices, regions, or features. This modular architecture approach will significantly reduce the initial download size of apps.
• Optimized Assets: Android developers should use WebP, SVGs, and Brotli or Zopfli compression to optimize image and file size, and remove unnecessary assets as well.
• Frequent and Smaller Updates: Google prefers smaller app updates that are more frequent than larger updates, facilitating the “freshness” of the app while also providing a quicker download and install.

Visualizing the new regulations, there is a large contrast between legacy apps that apply the large app bundle format and modular optimized bundles. There are large contrasts in speed and size.

Analyzing Impacts On Your Business – Risks and Rewards

The Risks of Leaving Behind

Being non-compliant can cause keyword removal from Playstore, sluggish installations, poor user retention, app ranking losses, and an overall bad reputation for your company. Long and janky apps can lead to even more unhappiness. In fact, McKinsey (2024) states that an app that takes longer than 2 seconds to load will have an engagement rate 30% lower than apps that load quicker. New strategies will keep your apps relevant and your algorithms from eliminating your apps overnight.

The Changes In Challenges

Some advantages can arise from what seem to be challenges at first:

• Retention & Speed: Faster, optimized apps improve and increase retention (Statista, 2023).
• Lower Data Cost: Users will spend less data in order to access regions that are less developed and have more sophisticated user bases.
• Innovation: The ability to change features creates new opportunities for innovation and the possibility of releasing new features more frequently.
• Greater Competition: With first adopter wins, the competition in algorithms for lower ranking, lower bounce rates, and higher CLTV. Google updates become competitive.

What Are Competitors Doing?

• Mobileooud: Applies dynamic asset management to create and deliver optimized, lightweight apps adjusted to device specs.
• Median: Uses asset compression, early trimming, and smart feature toggles to achieve compliance with minimum effort.
• Tapcart: Breaks down shopping features to deliver ultralight, fast commerce apps, allowing e-commerce brands to deliver at lightning speed.

Insight: These early movers utilize Google’s new regulations for rapid delivery, better rankings on app stores, and enhanced user satisfaction.

How Can Twinr Enable You to Meet These Requirements?

No Code, Asset, and Modular Delivery Streamlining

Twinr’s no-code solutions focus on automatically optimizing the assets (images, scripts, and code) that get packaged with the app. With instant config, brands can customize which features or assets are loaded by the target device or region, facilitating compliance with Google’s modular approach.

Built-in Compressed and Lightweight App Bundles

Without sacrificing quality, Twinr employs cutting-edge compression strategies (WebP for images, Brotli for scripts, and minification) to significantly shrink the size of your app. With the intelligent asset management, the app’s core features are loaded instantly, improving the retention of frustrated users and the ranking on the Play Store.

Dynamic Content and Feature Management

Twinr’s dynamic approach is aligned with Google’s size policies and is highly supportive of rapid iteration. This dynamic approach to feature toggling and on-demand module delivery, allows you to remove non-essential features to your app on install time and later add features through remote updates. It also allows you to optimize existing features as you launch new ones.

Live Sync and Seamless, Frequent Updates

Twinr is the only platform that eliminates lengthy Resubmits due to its incremental updates with live sync that only push the updated assets or code. This responsiveness keeps your app fresh, competitive, and always within size constraints.

Analysis and Optimization of Size and Delivery Monitoring

Twinr dashboards help you understand metrics related to app size, upload time, and delivery speed, and helps pinpoint areas that can be optimized before an app is released. In addition, specific A/B testing on the app helps you understand which assets and modules affect size and performance the most.

Success story: A leading retailer in the app size reduction by 35% with Twinr, which resulted in 20% more installs and a top ranking on Google Play. They set a new standard for fast and lightweight shopping apps.

Best Practices to Stay Ahead of Google’s App Delivery Rules

1. Design With Modularity

Using Twin’s modular system, split your app into early, lightweight, and region-specific modules. With modular architecture, only the requested resources are loaded for each user. This keeps you compliant with Google’s delivery requirements.

2. Regularly Optimize and Compress Assets

Over time, app resources can become redundant and uncompressed. Automation in Twinr can help solve this and further reduce app size. Twinr can be set to utilize WebP over PNG, SVG sticks over font icon, and trim any redundant resources. With these adjustments, you can maintain optimal resource compression and overall app performance.

3. Continue to Test and Make Adjustments

Using Twinr to preview changes before publishing allows your team to make modifications in real-time. This helps you release small, frequent updates to optimize delivery speeds and reduce bundle size, all while improving your team’s development speed to provide new features.

4. Optimize for Specific Devices and Locations

With Twin’s geotargeting, you can customize and optimize your app to provide lower resolution images and assets for users in Africa while providing high resolution for users in Europe. This will help you to effectively reduce the overall app size for the majority of your users while maintaining quality for your core offering.

5. Make Adjustments Simultaneously

Use Twin’s features to monitor user feedback, delivery speed, app size, and bundle size. This will help you to adjust features that are in your app based on the metrics that Google provides, as well as the metrics that your competitors are leaving unutilized.

Rules are Your Competitive Advantage

Android development is moving towards smaller and smarter tools. Google’s rules are helping to make the App Delivery and Bundle size of apps compliant with the development of the future.

Those who learn to work with these updates will gain better rankings, more satisfied customers, and increased profits.

Twinr enables businesses of any size to streamline asset compression, automate app delivery, and rapidly adapt. This turns compliance from a burden into a source of positive change. With Twinr, you can create lean and effective apps that comply with all of Google’s criteria and excel in the app stores.

Are you ready to secure your app strategy for the long-term?

Start your free Twinr trial today and find out how straightforward it is to make Google’s latest regulations a growth engine for your business!

FAQs:

What is the impact of Google’s new app bundle size limit on my existing apps?

You will need to reconfigure existing apps to avoid app removal using Twinr’s compression tools, and also to incorporate modular delivery for improved performance.

Can I optimize my app with no coding experience?

Certainly. There is no need for a developer, Twinr’s no-code platform automates asset compression, modularization of features, and management of dynamic delivery.

How frequently do I need to update my app to remain compliant?

In order to comply with Google’s constantly changing criteria, small updates should be made on a weekly or bi-weekly basis for continued optimization and rapid delivery.

Will these rules affect how users experience my app?

Definitely. Apps that are smaller and more optimized load faster. This results in fewer drop-offs and more engagement. Also, lighter apps use less data which gives you a larger potential market.

How can Twinr help in managing assets that are specific to a region and a device?

With Twinr, you can have geo-targeted assets. This means you can provide region-targeted assets that are smaller and faster. These are optimized for each user segment.