Google announced today that it is working on a new archive feature in Android. The announcement was made to its third-party partners providing the groundwork for developer adoption
Google aims that this tool will help multiple consumers archive apps to free up a significant amount on a user's storage device.
The archive tool will remove certain parts of the app to give back more storage capacity. Note that the user's data and storage will still remain despite the app being archived.
Google's Android Archive Feature
Most users uninstall apps from their devices to free up storage space. Google explained that they will design this feature to shrink apps up to 60 percent without uninstalling the app.
Earlier this year, Google began developing a new feature that would allow users to archive apps, thereby reducing the number of unnecessary uninstalls and allowing them to get more out of their devices.
As reported by 9to5Mac, the feature will make it possible to regain approximately 60% of app storage space by removing only certain parts of the app rather than completely uninstalling it thanks to a new feature called "archiving."
The app will still remain on the user's device even if they archived the app. The archived app can be easily restored to the most recent compatible version while still retaining all of the user data that was previously saved.
The implementation of this feature to Android devices will be possible by creating a new type of Android package (APK).
An APK file extension is a file format used to distribute and install applications for Google's Android mobile operating system. Thus, APKs contain all of the components that an application requires in order to properly install it on your device.
As reported by The Verge, Google is taking the first step toward making archiving available to all developers who use App Bundles with the upcoming release of Bundletool 1.10. Archived APKs will be generated for apps built with the Android Gradle Plugin 7.3, which will be used by developers to distribute their apps.
However, while developers will begin creating archived APKs immediately, they will not be functional until archiving is made available to consumers later in the calendar year.
Benefits of Android Archive
Once it is implemented, archiving will provide significant advantages to both users and developers. Instead of uninstalling an app, users would be able to "archive" it, which would allow them to temporarily free up storage space while still being able to re-activate the app quickly and conveniently.
Developers and users alike can also benefit from fewer uninstalls. They will be able to save a significant amount of time from uninstalling and installing their favorite apps due to reaching maximum storage capacity.
As in the past, all APKs generated will be available for download and inspection through the Generated APKs, API, or in the Play Console under the App Bundle Explorer section.
Furthermore, since Android Archive is open-source, developers are able to verify the code, and other app stores will be able to take advantage of it as well.
However, as stated, Android users will still have a long wait since the release will only be available at the end of the year.
