Google Play Delta Updates??

I am working on an app which I am testing as a closed alpha on Google Play however when I update the app to fix bugs or add features it requires the user to download the whole app file size again. Not only that but the file sizes seem to stack up, my app started at 24mb and after only 2 small updates its now passing 70mb!!!

When looking into this problem I read that Google uses delta updates to just replace the files that have changed but my app does not appear to be doing this.

Update: I spoke to Google dev support and they were useless, they said the question was "out of our scope" and that they were not trained for helping with development issues, however I see this issue as something that is out of my control but I hope i'm wrong because Google wont help.

Any help is appreciated.

Hi,

the files depends on your project. It shouldn't increase this much if you haven't added any sptrites or sounds to your project.

It also depends on the wrapper you use. Intel XDK adds about 20 MB to your project. Cocoon, if you use Canvas+ adds about 5-7 MB to your project,

but canvas+ is restricted in its functionality.

Have you uploaded your updates as extensions maybe?

Regards

Andy

Thank you for replying. I am aware that the wrapper adds to the file size but why are the new and old apk files combining instead of replacing? How would I do this extension thing?

When you upload a new apk to Google Play you can choose if this is an extension to an existing apk. Then maybe those two files will be merged.

However this option is unselected by default.

I'm not sure why this is happening. I never have had such an issue.

Regards

Andy

I have switched to cocoon canvas+ and the issue has resolved itself. I think it has something to do with the way that the google algorithm for delta updates detects changes with my apps when they are compiled with Intel XDK.