App size and bundle in 2026
Bigger app = fewer installs. Especially in regions with slow internet or expensive data. What to cut.
App size shows on the App Store / Play Store listing. Users see it. In emerging markets and on tight data plans, it directly affects installs.
What typically eats space:
- Images and video. PNG at 4 sizes instead of WebP/AVIF. Onboarding videos at 4K when 720p would do.
- Fonts. Each weight as separate file, no subsetting.
- Third-party SDKs. Analytics, A/B testing, ads, crash reporting — 2-5 MB each.
- Localizations. 20 languages bundled when most users use one.
- Architecture variants. Universal binary including arm64 + armv7 + x86.
What to do:
- App Bundle (Android) / App Thinning (iOS). Ship only what the user's device needs.
- Convert images to WebP/AVIF. 30-50% smaller than PNG.
- Stream large media instead of bundling. Onboarding videos from CDN.
- Subset fonts. Only include glyphs actually used.
- Audit SDKs. Many apps have 5+ analytics SDKs that nobody is reading. Pick one.
- R8/ProGuard (Android), App Thinning (iOS), tree-shaking (RN/Flutter).
Target for new app: under 50 MB on iOS (after Apple overhead), under 20 MB on Android (post Bundle). Beyond that, you're losing installs.