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Google Play Store will now show actual app sizes

Written by Saad Mughal ·  53 sec read >

How many times have you come across the “Insufficient storage” error on Google Play Store? At most times, we seem to have the storage space available for an app but still, Google persists on telling us that we do not have enough storage. Why is this so? Because Google only displayed the size of the APK file for the app. Now, Google has changed the way this works. Google Play will now display the actual size the app (or an update) will take so that you know exactly how much space do you need.

Apart from the actual sizes for the whole app, you will also be able to check the size of the latest update for installed apps as well. Moreover, Google is also tweaking its Play Store algorithm to make updates concise and efficient. Most Android apps download changes to the current APK files and merge new files with the old ones. Now, the Play Store will only feature new files in each update, this is expected to reduce the size of updates by over 50%.

Google Updates

You will also be able to check the size of the latest update for installed apps as well.

Lastly, Google is also improving its compression algorithms for apps and games to reduce the amount of data that needs to be downloaded for installing a large-sized app. These subtle changes may not be affect users with high-end phones but they will make a huge difference for users that have budget devices with limited internal storage.

Written by Saad Mughal
Tech-savvy, gadget geek, love doing analysis on smartphones and hardware. You can reach out to me at saad@techjuice.pk. Profile