Tech

Google Play Store: How The 'Reduction' Update, Delta Algorithm Makes Better User Interface?

Thomas Wang
First Posted: Jul 26, 2016 03:20 AM EDT

Google Play Store new delta algorithm can shrink Android app updates while making the actual download size of the Google Play Store updates transparent. The Google Play Store goal is to allow users who are sensitive to the size of their Google Play Store downloads to be able to get the latest Google Play Store updates in reduced size that will not compromise their device storage.

Google Play Store new delta algorithm merges the downloaded changes called deltas, to the apps already installed in the device. This, in turn, reduces the size of the Google Play Store app updates.

Google Play Store new delta algorithm named 'bsdiff' creates a further reduction in the Google Play Store update sizes by up to 50 percent. The Google Play Store new delta algorithm is designed to produce more efficient deltas of the app's native libraries by taking advantage of the specific ways wherein compiled native code changes between versions, Venture Beat reported.

There are Google Play Store apps, however, that require huge Google Play Store expansion files that are usually used for the resource files in large and complex mobile games. Google claims that integrating the new Google Play Store algorithms to these types of downloads will reduce the initial installation size by 12 percent and updates are sliced to 65 percent, on average.

The Google Play Store news was announced in a blog post, which also noted the two Google Chrome browser patches were released for Android recently. The M46 to M47 major update is 22.8 MB, while the M47 minor update is 15.3 MB. With the use of Google Play Store 'bsdiff' algorithm, the Google Play Store update sizes were reduced to 12.9MB and 3.6MB, respectively, Android Police reported.

Google Play Store will also display the amount of the actual data required to download Google Play Store apps and updates. This Google Play Store change will cover the actual Google Play Store download size required for users to access the app, including the size of updates for installed apps not just the APKs file sizes.

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