How to upload apk to play store that is having more than 100 MB size?

Question

I want to upload apk and size is more than 100 MB. I have find some tutorials / blog for that. But I am still not clear what to do with that.

Do I need to create expansion files or it will accept the apk directly?

I have checked one application 'Gears & Guts' on Play Store having 313 MB. And I don't think there is any expansion file in that.

Can anyone guide me?

Any help will be appricated.

Solution

This is as per the official document .https://developer.android.com/google/play/expansion-files.html

1. main- are those files without this your application will not going to run
2. patch- are those files which are additional, without this your application can run
3. expansion-version- version that you are giving to your apk, so that Expansion files of different version will not conflict

If your app needs more than 100MB of memory, you can use expansion files to store additional APK assets. You can store two expansion files per application. Each expansion file can be up to 2GB in size.

APK files have a maximum file size, based on the Android version your APK supports:

100MB - APKs that target Android 2.3 and higher (API level 9-10 and 14+)

50MB - APKs that target Android 2.2 and lower (API level 8 or lower)

Tip: Users must run Play Store version 5.2 or higher to install 100MB APKs.

Expansion files are hosted at no additional cost. When possible, Google Play will download expansion files when apps are installed or updated. In some cases, your app will need to download its expansion files.

If your expansion files are larger than 100MB, users will see a warning dialog suggesting that they use Wi-Fi to download your app. For more detail click here.

Note: The patch expansion file is semantically the same as the main expansion file—you can use each file any way you want. The system does not use the patch expansion file to perform patching for your app. You must perform patching yourself or be able to distinguish between the two files.

JOBB tool to encapsulate and encrypt a set of resource files and subsequent patches for that set.

Comments

[Jay Rathod RJ]

I know that, but how to manage expansion file ? Please give snippet / steps instead of copying paste from that site.

[Maheshwar Ligade]

Follow the same steps that are in document.

[Jay Rathod RJ]

If I am having 500 images, without that, my app will not work properly, how can I manage? (FYI, I don't want to show images directly from the server. That means it should be work offline.)

[Maheshwar Ligade]

@JayDroider 1st time download it & keep it in cache, why you want to keep 500 images is in APK. When app is installed download it and put it in diskcache. There is no need to use the patch file as well.

[Jay Rathod RJ]

Yes this is a considerable way for last option. Thanks :).