APK size

[IzzySoft]

The APK size meanwhile exceeds 80 MB – while the per-app size limit at IzzyOnDroid is 30 MB. Checking how the size could be brought down, I see that the native libs alone make up for 77 MB – and they are stored uncompressed.

Would enabling legacy compression be an option for you? That would about half their size (at the price that they'd need to be unpacked at install), bringing the APK size down to (hopefully) below 50 MB at least. If you see other options, they're of course welcome as well (e.g. I don't know what it is for, but libembedded_milli.so is by far the biggest egg in the nest, with almost 50 MB size).

Thanks in advance!

[maelchiotti]

Hi! Yes, the APK size is definitely an issue.

It's because of what you outlined: what Flutter calls "native assets". When packages are written with native code, a whole bunch of unneeded code is bundled with them, which is why milli and isar are so big (they both use some rust code or something rather that pure dart code).

Since this is my first app, I realized to late that it would be an issue. Had I known earlier, I maybe would have chosen pure dart libraries instead. But now it's too late...

Anyway, Flutter is working on improving native assets and resolving that issue. Mimir (the package that produces libembedded_milli.so) did switch to the new implementation, so now I should be able to solve that one.

I don't expect isar to make the switch however, the main developer is gone and it is only community maintained. But getting rid of the huge libembedded_milli.so will still be a great improvement!

I'll work on that this month and update you on the APK size I get.

[IzzySoft]

Thanks! Maybe you know them already, but let me leave the links here nevertheless, in the hope they're helpful:

• Strategies To Reduce Flutter App Binary Size
• Reduce your app size

On our website you can find more Useful Links 😉

[IzzySoft]

@maelchiotti is there any news meanwhile? Until a "final solution" can be achieved, maybe at least turn on legacyCompression (which would bring the APK size down by 30 MB or more)? Bundling less fonts would also help saving several MB (Noto & Montserrat are quite big).

[maelchiotti]

Hi @IzzySoft,

I apologize for not keeping you up to date on this issue. I haven't worked on the app for a while, as I'm working on other projects. I do want to fix some little things still, but I don't think this will be one of them.

As I don't want to keep abusing the rules, I think it would be fair to remove the app from IzzyOnDroid. It shouldn't be a problem for users, as it's also available on FDroid, and only a few minor versions will be coming anyway.

[IzzySoft]

So not even enabling legacyCompression would be an option for you? That should be a very easy step. Would be sad having to remove a fine, reproducible app 😉

[maelchiotti]

Well if it's easy indeed, sure, you're right. Will try ASAP!

[IzzySoft]

Any progress yet? Just asking for orientation 🙈 And yes, I know what the "P" in "ASAP" stands for 🤪

[maelchiotti]

Yeah, no worries, you're right I need to get to it. I'm adding that to my agenda for Friday, and I will update you!

[maelchiotti]

Hi @IzzySoft, worked on it sooner that expected! Enabling legacy compression does improve things a lot. I also removed some fonts variants that were not used for a 2-3 Mo gain. From 177 Mo, we are down to 135 Mo (ARM64 target).

Mimir still is the biggest issue. The new version that should solve it required Flutter beta at the time so I couldn't go that way, but I will take a look at that again.

I will publish a new later, but keep the issue open so I take a look at Mimir.

[maelchiotti]

Awesome news: I gave the mimir update a quick try, and it worked without any issues! Down to 98 Mo! Not quite the 80 I hope I could reach, but still way better than the previous 177...

Will push the new version with all those improvements later!