• How do you decide when to use the APK versus the split APK?

    From Marion@21:1/5 to All on Wed Mar 19 02:35:47 2025
    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.

    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).

    I have to re-use those last known good versions, which sometimes I cull
    (aka extract) off my phone. I'm not sure of split APKs play a role there.

    Do they?

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  • From Arno Welzel@21:1/5 to All on Wed Mar 19 11:56:05 2025
    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

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