Android’s archive feature will partially uninstall apps until you need them again

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Certain apps should be able to help you free up space on your device, thanks to a tool that is being worked on by Google. A feature in any app will allow you to partially uninstall it, which will shrink the app down by about 60 percent.

The guts that make an app functional on your device are created by creating a new type of APK. When it comes to the size of archives, they are much smaller and save all your data until you restore it. The feature will be available to developers with the Bundletool 1.10 release, but it won't be functional until later in the year.

There are no details on how the feature will be presented on the phone, perhaps it will be next to the uninstall option. If you have a graveyard of seldom used apps and aren't fully committed to letting go of them just yet, archived APKs could be great for you. When you're not on a wi-fi network, restoring an app should be quicker and consume less mobile data.