8 Ways to Reduce App Size during Mobile App Development Cycle. what are the steps

 

Excessive app size can negatively impact the user experience of your mobile app, leading to slow download times, storage issues and higher data costs. However, there are many strategies you can implement during the mobile app development process to minimize your app's final size without compromising features or functionality.

In this blog post, we will discuss 8 effective ways to cut down on app bloat and ship a lean, optimized app. These include removing unused code, minifying JavaScript, avoiding native libraries where possible and more. Following these best practices during development can make a big difference in creating an app that installs quickly and runs smoothly.

Optimize images and assets

Images and multimedia assets often account for the largest portion of an app's overall size. By optimizing these assets, you can significantly reduce your app size. Techniques include using image compression tools to shrink JPG, PNG and other image file sizes. Resize images to the optimal resolutions required for the target device screens. Where possible, replace PNGs with lower-sized JPEGs that still maintain acceptable visual quality. Remove unused images and assets that are no longer needed. Check images regularly throughout development in case any can be further optimized. Going the extra mile with image optimization can make a big impact on your final APK size.

Remove unused code

During Mobile App Development, developers often leave unused code in the app that does not actually get executed at runtime. This redundant code includes unused imports, functions and dead code. Removing this unused code can help shrink your app size. Scan your codebase to identify unused imports and remove them.

Audit functions to determine if any are unused and can be deleted. Eliminating unused code that the app does not actually need at runtime is a straightforward way to declutter your codebase and reduce app bloat. Make it a practice to regularly review your code for unused elements as you develop to minimize unused code from the beginning.

Use vector drawables

Using vector drawables instead of PNGs for images can help minimize app size. Vector assets are resolution-independent and scale seamlessly to different device sizes and densities without losing visual quality. Because they are defined by mathematical expressions rather than a fixed pixel map, vector drawables result in significantly smaller file sizes compared to PNGs. They can reduce the number of images required across different resolutions, since a single vector drawable can adapt to multiple screens. When designing and including images in your app, prefer vector formats over PNGs to benefit from the reduced app size. Using vector drawables where possible is an effective technique during mobile app development to optimize your app's size.

Minify JavaScript and CSS files

Minifying JavaScript and CSS files is a simple yet effective way to significantly reduce your mobile app's size. Minification removes unnecessary characters like whitespace, line breaks and comments from your code files, as well as shortens variable names. This results in compressed files with the same functionality but much smaller sizes.

Minifying JavaScript can reduce file sizes by 50-70%, while minifying CSS files typically yields 20-50% smaller sizes. As part of your app build process during development, enable JavaScript and CSS minification to automatically minify all your code files before they are bundled into the final APK.

Use resource compression

Compressing resources like strings, XML files and other assets can yield significant gains in reducing app size. Compression encodes data to use fewer bits, storing the information in a smaller amount of space. Strings make up a large portion of an Android app's resources, so compressing strings can noticeably shrink the APK. XML files defining layouts, menus and other UI elements can also be compressed.

Enabling resource compression in your build configuration will automatically compress all applicable resources before packaging the APK. Using compression techniques during the mobile app development process, especially for text-heavy apps, can help optimize your app's final size without impacting functionality.

Bundle assets properly

How assets like images are bundled also impacts the final app size. Images should be placed in the correct density folders corresponding to the target device screens. Folder names like ldpi, mdpi, hdpi, xhdpi and xxhdpi indicate the image density and resolution. The system will automatically select the images from the relevant density folder depending on the device's screen density.

This means a single image in the appropriate density folder can cover multiple devices. Bundling assets properly in this way during development optimizes the image resources required and helps reduce overall app size. Proper asset bundling, done the right way from the beginning, is an easy but important technique for minimizing mobile app sizes.

Avoid native libraries if possible

Native libraries, which are written in C or C++, can significantly increase the size of mobile apps. During the development process, avoiding the use of unnecessary native libraries when possible helps minimize app size. For each functionality, developers should evaluate if it can be implemented using native code, native libraries or Android/iOS APIs. In most cases, using the built-in APIs will yield a smaller footprint than including a native library. Only include native libraries that are absolutely needed to provide critical functionality that cannot be achieved otherwise.

Remove device logs and debugging code before release

 

Logging and debugging statements added to the code for testing purposes increase the overall app size. Before releasing the final app, logs and debugging code need to be removed to optimize the app size. This includes removing log statements like Log.d, Log.e and Log.i, as well as any conditional debugging code. Removing these statements decreases the amount of code that gets bundled into the APK, contributing to a smaller app size. Make it part of your build process before releasing to production to strip out all logging and debugging code.

Conclusion

Applying the techniques discussed from image optimization to code minimization will help ensure your mobile app downloads as quickly as possible. Every KB saved during development counts towards a faster, smoother experience for users. So aim for a smaller app size starting on day one - the optimized app your users deserve begins with you.