Google is working on a new feature that will let users “archive” certain apps to free up space.
Currently, users uninstall certain apps to free up space. Google’s app archiving feature will let users free up around 60 per cent of storage of apps by temporarily removing certain parts of the app rather than the whole app. .
“To prevent unnecessary uninstalls and help users get more out of their devices, we started working on a new feature that would enable app archiving,” Google explained in a blog post.
No need to uninstall fully
“Archiving is a new functionality that will allow users to reclaim ~60 per cent of app storage temporarily by removing parts of the app rather than uninstalling it completely. An archived app will remain on the device and can easily be restored to the latest available compatible version, whilst preserving the user data,” it said.
The feature will be available to consumers some time later this year.
It will be making the functionality available on all developers using App Bundles with the release of the upcoming version of Bundletool 1.10.
For apps built with the Android Gradle Plugin 7.3, it will start generating a new type of APK (Android Package) – archived APKs.
“Archived APKs are very small APKs that preserve user data until the app is restored. While we will start creating archived APKs now, they won’t be functional until the archiving functionality is launched to consumers later in the year,” it said.
“Once launched, archiving will deliver great benefits to both users and developers. Instead of uninstalling an app, users would be able to “archive” it – free up space temporarily and be able to re-activate the app quickly and easily. Developers can benefit from fewer uninstalls and substantially lower friction to pick back up with their favourite apps,” it added.
Published on
March 09, 2022
