APK file size after latest updates (this issue was already reported but they're marked as closed)

[AmyrAhmady]

Hey 👋
this issue was already reported multiple times but they're marked as closed.

The thing is, universal apk file is like 27mb now, which was around 7mb before for a clean react-native project.
even they added new architectures support such as arm64-v8a and x86_64, that doesn't mean it should go this much high.

Before latest updates it was around 7mb while it was supporting both armeabi-v7a and x86. and for separated apk files, they were only 3mb and 5mb. but now after these latest updates they all changed and now even x86 and armeabi-v7a are more than 7mb (which was the universal apk file size!)

Might be helpful if someone who knows what to do to reduce release builds file size help us with it so others can find a way for it.
Yes I know you can generate separated apk files for each architecture. but they have bigger file size now as well, like I mentioned above.

related issues:
#24763
#23575

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[janicduplessis]

I'm not sure exactly what caused the size increase but we did update JSC and added new architectures so it could be related to this. There might also be a regression and things we can improve so if someone can investigate what is causing the APK size to have gone up that would be great.

In the meantime I suggest looking at https://developer.android.com/platform/technology/app-bundle to ship more optimized bundles, this will help remove the extra architectures that were added.

[AmyrAhmady]

Just to let you know, on RN 0.58.6 which only supports armeabi-v7a and x86 (means new architectures support wasn't even there to cause the size increase), release build file is +16mb (talking about universal app)
things that changed after 0.57.x version:

buildToolsVersion = "28.0.2"
compileSdkVersion = 28
targetSdkVersion = 27
supportLibVersion = "28.0.0"

it used use 27 ver on 0.57.x

and also about gradle stuff:

dependencies {
        classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:3.2.1'
        ..........
}
...
...
task wrapper(type: Wrapper) {
        gradleVersion = '4.7'
        ..........
}

which used to use com.android.tools.build:gradle:3.1.4 and gradleVersion was 4.4 back then on 0.57.x

I just compared 0.57.x with 0.58.6, things I mentioned are changed in 0.59 as well.
Don't know if these stuff can cause the size increase, just some info that might be helpful

[radeno]

You can use Analyze APK in Android Studio to see how native packages changes size and which ones are significant.

[lsancheztapia]

Is this solved ?

[dulmandakh]

Please use App Bundle, see https://developer.android.com/platform/technology/app-bundle

[lsancheztapia]

Using App Bundle doesn't reduce significantly the size of the output file, for a clean project I have an .apk with size around 31MB, and compiling with : ./gradlew bundleRelease I get .aab with size around 28MB

[radeno]

@lsancheztapia it doesn't matter how large is AAB. It is distribute for every platform independent. If you build it for 4 platform support. You should divide final size by 4 in average.

[AmyrAhmady]

@radeno which is still too much? and apk for each architecture has a size around 10mb, so its not just dividing by 4.
RN 0.57.x was supporting two architectures only and the universal apk was only 7mb
4mb for x86 and 3mb for arm7

and why is this issue closed? we are not even closed to solved status.
And no one knows the actual reason yet