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| Android will soon let you archive apps to save space |
Google is working on a new feature for Android called Archive, which will let you archive specific apps to free up space on your device and partially uninstall apps until you need them again.
According to Google, one of the top reasons people delete apps is to free up storage space. To avoid unnecessary uninstalls and help users get the most out of their devices, we've started working on a new feature that allows apps to be archived.
She added, Archiving is a new feature that allows users to restore about 60% of the app's cache by deleting a portion of the app instead of completely uninstalling it. Archived apps remain on the device and can be easily restored to the latest available compatible version while retaining user data.
In a blog post, Google explained that you can partially uninstall an app using this feature, which reduces the app's size by about 60% without removing it completely.
With the upcoming Bundletool release 1.10, Google is taking the first steps to make archiving available to all developers who use app bundles.
For apps built with the Android Gradle 7.3 plug-in, the company first creates a new APK type - an archived APK file.
Archived APK files are very small APK files that store user data until the application is restored.
While Google starts creating archived APKs now, that won't happen until the archiving feature rolls out to consumers later this year.
Once implemented, archiving will bring great benefits to users and developers. Instead of uninstalling the app, users can archive it, temporarily free up space, and quickly and easily reactivate the app.
Android allows you to free up disk space without uninstalling apps
Developers can look forward to fewer uninstalls and fewer steps to get their apps back.
All APK files can be downloaded and verified via the Generated APKs API or in the App Bundle Explorer Play Console.
And since the feature is open source, developers can scan the code. Other app stores can use it as well. Developers can also disable archived APK files.
There are currently no details on how this feature will be available on Android. If you long press on the app icon, it may appear next to the "Uninstall" option.
Archived APKs are designed to be useful to anyone with a large collection of rarely used apps.
Archiving and restoring applications should be much faster than reinstalling. You can use less mobile data when not connected to a wireless network.