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From: Arno Welzel <usenet@arnowelzel.de>
Newsgroups: comp.mobile.android
Subject: Re: How do you decide when to use the APK versus the split APK?
Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2025 11:56:05 +0100
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Marion, 2025-03-19 03:35:

> I am populating a grandchild's phone & one of the first apps I add is
> Muntashirakon App Manager which happens to have an APK &  an APKs file.
>  <https://github.com/MuntashirAkon/AppManager/releases/tag/v4.0.1>
> 
> This is the APK:
>  <https://github.com/MuntashirAkon/AppManager/releases/download/v4.0.1/AppManager_v4.0.1.apk>
> 
> This is the split APK:
>  <https://github.com/MuntashirAkon/AppManager/releases/download/v4.0.1/AppManager_v4.0.1.apks>
> 
> I basically know nothing about these split APKs. I admit that.
> I'm curious though, which YOU prefer when you have the choice.

The "Split APK" format is just a variation of "app bundles" (AAB) which
contain multiple packages for different languages, devices etc. in one
bundle so the device will only install what it needs.

For example: if you only need English but the app supports 10 other
languages as well, you might save some space using an app bundle, since
only one language will be installed.

> What I care about is being able to re-use the APK years later, if
> necessary, not so much for this particular app, but for other apps (like
> the pulsemsm or nova launcher apps which have last known good versions).

In this case you should always use APK - this is always a single package
containing everything.

However: in some cases you *may* need multiple APK versions for
different device types (32/64 bit, different CPU architecture etc.). But
this is usually only the case, if the app contains native machine code
as well which is not the case for the AppManager.


-- 
Arno Welzel
https://arnowelzel.de