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App sizes are out of control

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Re: App sizes are out of control

#11

Post by Xorlev »

ghostly_s wrote: post #4

There were a few articles with actual content on this topic covered on Daring Fireball in recent months. Not sure what this blog blurb is adding to the conversation. 1. https://sensortower.com/blog/ios-app-size-growth 2. http://blog.timac.org/?p=1707 3. https://blog.halide.cam/one-weird-trick-to-lose-size-c0a4013...

It's a blog, the content doesn't have to be novel. That said, the author would improve the post by replicating your context links.

Re: App sizes are out of control

#12

Post by potatolicious »

anonacct37 wrote: post #9
rootlocus wrote: post #3

Six apps, six embedded web browsers.

Does that add up to much in terms of app size? I was under the impression most embedded web browsers used platform web view components?

You're right - there should be minimal (if any) size bloat because of the use of browsers on iOS.

You're not allowed to include your own browser, and can only use the platform's web view, which is not duplicated on a per-app basis.

There are many culprits for app bloat, but using a browser is most certainly not one of them.

Re: App sizes are out of control

#13

Post by fulafel »

tomjen3 wrote: post #10
peapicker wrote: post #2

This is definitely getting to be a major problem. I've removed several apps for this reason as well. Code bloat = lost users

I think it is unlikely that most people care and the improved analytics and development speed is probably worth it. My android is connected to wifi almost 24/7, so it doesn't matter how long it takes up update.

Most people have small flash and can't fit many apps this size in the space that is left over from the OS and photos/media.

Re: App sizes are out of control

#14

Post by cybrjoe »

I was comparison shopping something this week and wanted to check Best Buy, so I went to the app store. 100+ MB and needed to be on wifi to download. What in the Best Buy app could be over 100 MB?

On another note, I just went to check some of my apps and iOS 11 got rid of the size from that view. You now need to dive into each app to see the size.

Re: App sizes are out of control

#15

Post by custos »

I have a cheap phone, and due to this I can only have like 6 apps installed at a time.

I'm constantly removing Facebook/Messenger for situations like when I had to download Ticketmaster app for a concert ticket.

And with all these apps disallowing you from moving them to SD card, I can't even really use my 32GB SD card for them.

Re: App sizes are out of control

#16

Post by kutkloon7 »

I never understand where this increasing size comes from. For videos or hi-res photographs, I understand.

There is however no reason that code, either compiled to a binary format or in a textual format, uses so much data. Heck, the memoirs of Casanova spans 3000 pages, and is 6,5 MB. People don't understand how incredibly large a megabyte is for simple code.

Surely the 275 MB isn't all useful data (I wonder what compression ratios you get on 'apps'), and it should be possible to cut it down to a few MB.

Re: App sizes are out of control

#18

Post by TeeWEE »

Normal apps are around 10 to 20mb, which is still big. But the reason for this is support for different screen resolutions. Images of different sizes are bundled with the app, even though the phone only needs on of them.

Vector graphics will solve this, but is not mainstream yet.

The facebook android app is 88MB (zipped), i did check the APK of why its so big:

90mb of code 30mb of assetes (javascript, metadata, librtc, big json files (animations)) 30mb of resources (images)

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