It seems that the distribution of applications in APKs has its days numbered, and it is that Google will start to replace this format in favor of the new standard Android App Bundle that the company launched in 2018, and that during all this time they have implemented over a million apps, including most of the thousands of the most popular apps.
Dom Elliott, Product Manager at google play, informs us via the developer blog that the future of Android application set is already there, announcing that APK will be replaced as standard post format.
New applications can no longer be distributed as APKs
To drive the new standard for application delivery and for more users to benefit from its benefits, Google Play will require new apps to be released with Android App Bundle from August 2021
The advantage of Android application set is that application size is reduced on average 15% compared to a universal APK, since when the user will download an application in Android App Bundle format, an APKM is generated with only the resources necessary for this mobile, such as the version optimized for its processor, its language and graphics resources adapted to the resolution of your screen, thus avoiding installing resources that the user will not use.
Only new apps that arrive on the Play Store from August will need to be released in Android application set. Updates to existing applications are exempt of this change, but that could change in the future, since Google’s goal is for all developers to use the new standard to release apps.
Via | Google
In Engadget Android | Google explains 16 reasons why apps and games should be published in the Android App Bundle format
