New Android App Bundles will include a.aab extension. Image courtesy GoogleGoogle will begin to restrict the distribution of Android apps through the Play Store. The company announced this week that developers will be required to publish their apps in a customized Android App Bundle starting in August. This is an alternative to the APK publishing format.AdvertisementHowever, the requirement applies only to new apps. Google stated in its blog that existing apps and private apps available to Google Play users are exempt from the requirement. Developers have approximately a month to convert their apps to the Android App Package or the.aab extension.Google introduced the Android App Package in Android 9 as a way to reduce the amount of app distribution. Shipping code for different language and hardware combinations can result in large apps. It is not difficult to process all the data on a flagship high-end device. Low-budget and midrange devices have limited processing power and storage space, so they struggle to process large amounts of data.The Android App Bundle basically splits the APKs out of an archived file, converting it into a mass number of S plit APKs that can be installed by the Google Play Store depending on the device. Ars Technica provides a detailed breakdown of how S-plit APKs function with different configurations.These Split APKs, as the name implies, are not complete apps. These are parts of an app that each target a specific area for change and combine to create the final app. App Bundles allows you to have a high resolution ARMv8 device that has English locale. The Play Store will then generate Split APKs for that type of device. A set of APKs will be provided for a friend who has a low resolution ARM v7 device that is set to English and Hindi. Google Play can create bespoke APKs, giving each user only the code they require.S plit apps are on average 15 percent smaller than standard app packages. Developers have the option to modularize features within their apps so that they are only installed when necessary and ready for use.As there is always a caveat when technology companies tighten their software distribution policies, there is one. This is Google's method of verifying apps before they are installed. To be unbundled, it must go through the Play Store. App bundles are open-source, but they depend on cloud power to handle all the app signing requirements to verify the back-end. Google's offering is the standard because small-time app stores don't have the resources or money to make this happen.AdvertisementSimply put, Android App Bundles gives Google greater control over the apps it hosts on the Play Store. This is fine for the average Android user. They can be assured that their apps are lighter and have been externally verified by Google. For those who are skilled at sideloading and going against-the-grain, it can be annoying, especially if you use a third party without the required signing keys.It is also unclear how this will work on platforms such as Windows 11, which will distribute Android applications through Amazons Store and allow sideloading APKs. Developers should only release.aab files in the future. Otherwise, the APKs published might only contain the parts that the app requires to run. Not to mention that Amazon does not support this file type so those apps will not be available in the Microsoft Store.AdvertisementIt could be similar to what I experienced when I installed app bundles on my Huawei MatePad Pro 12.6, using an app like APKMirror. Although the tablet runs Android apps, it doesn't have access to Google Play Services. It only runs Huawei's version of Android. Sideloading APK files was possible with no problems. However, any app bundle that was packaged would give an error message. I'm still trying to figure out how to do that.This new requirement will be in effect when the mass of app bundles goes live. It will ensure that Android devices are safer and more functional for users who use them as intended by Google. Google would also be able to save bandwidth by not constantly downloading large amounts of data every time a user installs an app. It is a mystery how this will impact the ecosystem as a whole, which has always been open to everyone.
