Do we need to upload universal-apk if we are uploading different apk's for each ABI

Question

My app size has reached to 117 MB, as play store does not allow to upload an apks, if its greater than 100 MB.

So i used split, and created multiple versions of apk each based on different ABI

If i analyze universal-apk, i got these type of ABI's in lib folder;

• armeabi-v7a
• x86
• armeabi

I used this to create separate apk for each abi

splits {
    abi {
        enable true
        reset()
        include 'x86', 'armeabi-v7a', 'armeabi'
        universalApk true
    }
}

Now i get 4 types of apk in result. The universal-apk size is 117 MB, where as armeabi is 68 MB.

So its obvious from this, that i just can't upload the universal-apk on play store, hence i will end up uploading 3 apk's on play store.

Now my questions is what will happen to those users whose cpu architecture do not fall into these categories.

I noticed that Galaxy S7 is arm64-v8a, there will be some other architectures available in the market other than these, so what will happen to those devices if universal-apk does not exist, or armeabi-v7a and x86 are enough to target all of the devices available in the market.

Will this reduce target app users? I am unable to find out the ABI share on Google Play

Answer 1

The first step is always to work from data. Have a look at your existing users in the Play Developer Console to see what the distribution is like for your users.

For users without one of these ABIs they will get "This app is not compatible with your device".

However, x86_64 and arm64-v8a are backwards compatilble with x86 and armeabi-v7a. By covering the ones you have chosen it will run on almost all devices, mips probably isn't worth worrying about.

Your users on newer devices will get better performance if you add x86_64 and arm64-v8a variants as well, but it should work without this.

armeabi is now very rare but some very old devices do have that restriction. If you are targeting a modern android version (eg ICS+) you will probably be ok.

Answer 2

A list of all the supported ABI's can be found here:

https://developer.android.com/ndk/guides/abis.html#sa

If you remove the reset() option, then the splits will be built for each supported ABI.