Google will no longer accept the apk format for the store
The company announced that it will only accept those applications that have the Android App Bundle extension from next August
The Google Play application platform will no longer support that new applications published since August do so in the APK (Android Application Package) format, and will only accept those that use its ‘.app’ extension, Android App Bundle.
The American technology company launched its new type of Android App Bunle applications in 2018, and since then it has spread to reach more than a million applications today, including most of the thousand most downloaded apps and games today.
Google had already anticipated that from August 1st it would only accept new applications with the App Bundle, but now it issued a statement to explain how this open format will replace the existing one at present, APK.
Android App Bundle is a new system with which Google Play allows you to organize in packages optimized for different device configurations and languages, which on average makes apps 15 % lighter than APKs and also faster to install.
Google explained that the change of format does not require a lot of work for software developers, and also pointed out the safety of .aab against APK, since it needs to use separate OBB files for additional resources, which is “not very secure” according to the company.
Instead, the Android App Bundle allows heavy applications such as video games larger than 150MB to replace the use of OBB by publishing the entire game as a single .aab package on Google Play, with benefits such as requiring less storage space and improved compression. and the speed of installation.
This novelty joins other security features that will also arrive on Google Play in August, from when developers will be required to confirm their identity by providing additional information, as well as to use two-factor authentication to securely access their accounts.
K. Tovar
Source: Xataka Móvil
