Reduce apk size , Delivery apps and features on demand with the Android App Bundle

By publishing your apps using the Android App Bundle, you can reduce the size of your app, simplify releases, and deliver features on demand. Because of its added benefits, the Android App Bundle is the recommended publishing format on Google Play.

How app bundles work

App bundles use a new serving model, known as Google Play’s Dynamic Delivery, to build and deliver APKs that are optimized for each device configuration. By removing unused code and resources for other devices, this delivery model results in a smaller, more efficient app for users to install.

Note: To use app bundles, you must enroll in app signing by Google Play.

for more details: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9D63S4ZRBls

official link :  https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/9006925?hl=en

Difference between apk (.apk) and app bundle (.aab)

App Bundles are a publishing format, whereas APK (Android application PacKage) is the packaging format which eventually will be installed on device.

App Bundles use bundletool to create a set of APK. (.apks) This can be extracted and the base and configuration splits as well as potential dynamic feature modules can be deployed to a device.

The dependencies can look something like this:

The contents of an App Bundle look kind of like this:

Google play store upload bundle replace of apk

Google play store allow apk size 500 MB from 100 MB previously  , Also Google Play console introduce bundle  concept for uploading  android application

An Android App Bundle is a new upload format that includes all your app’s compiled code and resources, but defers APK generation and signing to Google Play.

Google Play’s new app serving model, called Dynamic Delivery, then uses your app bundle to generate and serve optimized APKs for each user’s device configuration, so they download only the code and resources they need to run your app. You no longer have to build, sign, and manage multiple APKs to support different devices, and users get smaller, more optimized downloads.

Additionally, you can add dynamic feature modules to your app project and include them in your app bundle. These modules contain features and assets that you can decide not to include when users first download and install your app. Using the Play Core Library, your app can later request to download those modules as dynamic feature APKs, and, through Dynamic Delivery, Google Play serves only the code and resources for that module to the device.

To build app bundles and support Dynamic Delivery, follow these steps:

1. Download Android Studio 3.2 or higher—it's the easiest way to add dynamic feature modules and build app bundles.
2. Add support for Dynamic Delivery by including a base module, organizing code and resources for configuration APKs, and, optionally, adding dynamic feature modules.
3. Build an Android App Bundle using Android Studio. If you're not using the IDE, you can instead build an app bundle from the command line.
4. Test your Android App Bundle by using it to generate APKs that you deploy to a device.
5. Enroll into app signing by Google Play. Otherwise, you can't upload your app bundle to the Play Console.
6. Publish your app bundle to Google Play.

For more details you can visit google official blog .

https://developer.android.com/guide/app-bundle

YouTube link :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwDqjmSmtMQ