Google threatens to hide Universal TV and Android TV APK apps from May – Sound and Vision – News

Google threatens to hide the Google TV and Android TV apps if you haven’t already moved to the Android App Bundle. Aab is the successor to the generic apk and allows for smaller apps. tv-aab applications should also be able to be archived.

Apps that did not move from apk files to aab files in time “may” be hidden on Google TV and Android TV, threatens Google. It is not clear if this will be in the App Store only, or on users’ devices as well. New Play Store apps Since July last year It already appears as an aab file, so the resolution applies mainly to older applications.

Android application packages are the successors to the universal Android package groups. For example, these universal apk files contain all languages, files for different screen resolutions, x86 and x64 support. Android App Bundles only download and install languages ​​and other files necessary for the device, allowing aab apps to be 20 percent smaller than universal apk apps, according to Google.

Smart TVs often have little storage space. According to Google, the average storage is 8GB, compared to 64GB for smartphones. This is why, according to the company, Google TV and Android TV make use of aab files, which is why Google will make this mandatory for all TV apps.

Another requirement that Google imposes on Smart TV apps is that they must be archivable. Users can choose to use these applications Archive the application Instead of uninstalling, 60 percent of the apps’ storage space is freed up. User data, among other things, will not be deleted. Archiveable apps is faster to restore complete apps than if the app had to be reinstalled. This should also provide additional storage space on smart TVs.

These two requirements must be met by app developers from May 2023. Google states that migrating an app from an apk installer file to an aab installer file usually takes about three days.