DAN GALPIN: We introduced Android Go edition last year
with the aim to bring the latest Android improvements to more
entry level phone buyers.
There are now more than 200 Android Go devices
available in over 120 countries.
These devices are not only popular in emerging markets,
such as India, and Brazil, and Mexico,
but in the United States as well.
With more than 100 manufacturers planning to release devices
before the end of the year, this is truly
a global opportunity for your apps to reach a wider audience.
Fundamentally, the Android Go edition experience
is based on three key pillars--
storage, delivering twice the out of box data
storage compared to similarly configured non-Go edition
Android devices; data management,
helping users minimize their data consumption
with features such as choosing content quality in YouTube Go;
and security, offering the same security features as Android 9,
such as Find My Device and malware protection
with Google Play Protect.
Let's take a closer look at how you can optimize
your apps for Android Go.
Start by targeting the most recent Android API.
At the time of publishing this video,
that's Android Pie API 28.
This enables you to gain benefit such as improved memory use
while helping your apps run more efficiently on devices with one
gigabyte of RAM or less.
There's a clear correlation between lower app
size and higher install rates.
This is especially important for Android Go edition users
as they have limited storage capacity
and may incur download data charges.
Therefore, keep your app under 40 megabytes and your game
under 65 megabytes.
The simplest and most impactful thing
you can do to reduce your app size
is to start using an Android App Bundle.
Developers using an App Bundle have
seen size savings of up to 65%.
This works because Google Play uses your Android App Bundle
to build and serve APKs that are optimized for each device
configuration.
This results in a smaller app download for end users
by removing unused code and resources needed
for other devices.
Additional optimizations you can do to reduce your app size
are replace PNG or JPEG files with HEIF or WebP assets.
For vector graphics, use vector drawables.
Replace raw audio format resources such as WAV
with MP3 or AAC resources.
Remove duplicate libraries and, whenever possible,
focus on mobile-optimized libraries.
Shrink and optimize your unused code and resources
with tools such as ProGuard.
You can use the APK analyzer in Android Studio
or from the command line to help understand
how these optimizations impact your APK size.
Another thing to check is your app's Proportional Set Size,
or PSS.
Now this is your app's physical memory footprint
that accounts for both shared and unshared pages used
by your app.
You can easily check this using ADB shell dumpsys meminfo.
Aim for PSS RAM usage below 50 megabytes for apps
and below 150 megabytes for games.
And of course, make sure your app functions without ANRs
and crashes by testing and double
checking on Android Go edition powered devices.
After making the optimizations, it's time to publish.
Now one question you might have is,
do I deliver the same app to all my users
or specifically target an optimized version of the app
to users of Android Go edition?
For most developers, we recommend
publishing the same app to all devices for those
who are using Android and those who
are using Android Go addition.
By optimizing your app to run well on Android Go edition
devices, all your users stand to gain from the performance
benefits.
Another option is to publish two separate apps, your existing
app and a light app that is focused on Android Go edition
devices.
You can target certain countries with a light app
or you can target all devices in all locales.
It's up to you.
Now distributing a second app isn't a decision
to be taken lightly.
You'll need to support and maintain its code separately
and dedicate resources to growing and engaging
a second audience alongside your existing app.
As we mentioned at the start of the video,
Android Go is a tremendous opportunity for you
to grow your app or game business.
To learn more, check out the resources listed
in the video description, including
the Building for Billions Guidelines
where you will find more tips for using memory, power,
and network bandwidth more efficiently in your apps.
Thanks for watching.
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