Google doubles allowed size of Android installation files

Android applications released in the Google Play application store may now be twice as large as before. The size limit of the .apk installation file is increased from 50MB to 100MB.

Google announced the news on its Android Developers Blog. Developers who want to publish applications in the Play Store are allowed to upload an installation file of up to 100MB in size. If you need more storage space, you should use external files that are downloaded after installation. Game developers, among others, make use of such external data packets.

The 100MB limit also applies to applications targeting Android 4.0 and higher, which corresponds to api level 14 and higher. Those who use a lower API level, so from 13 and below, will continue to have to deal with the 50MB limit, according to Google.

Despite the increase in the allowed application size, Google is trying to encourage developers to keep applications small. The internet giant points out that there are many users with data limits, and that larger apps cause longer installation times and more RAM usage.