Bye-bye .apk: the premature end for Android apps on Windows 11?

Dominik Bärlocher

1.7.2021

Translation: Eva Francis

Google is making changes to its Play Store in August. Android App Bundles will replace .apk files. Why? Critics are sure it’s because Google doesn’t want Amazon/Microsoft to distribute their apps on Windows 11.

Windows 11 installs apps in the form of .apk files from the Google Play Store via Amazon Play Store. Other app stores, APKPure, for instance, use the same way to offer Android apps outside the Play Store. Who benefits from this? The community does, but Google doesn’t. That's why

Google is changing its Play Store. Instead of .apk files, so-called Android App Bundles (file extension .aab) will soon be distributed on the Play Store, as Google has announced.

Why .aab is better, according to Google

As of August, apps can only be downloaded from the official Play Store as Android App Bundles. The file extension is .aab and no longer .apk. To make sure the anger and confusion of developers aren’t quite so great, Google also listed the advantages of .aab files.

• Smaller: .aab files are on average 15% smaller than .apk files.
• Security: .aab files are secured via Play App Signing and the App Signing Key is protected against loss. This has no impact on end users.
• Selective installation: with Play Feature Delivery, you don't download the whole app with configurations for all phones, but only the configurations your smartphone needs. This makes the download smaller and faster.
• Play Asset Delivery: works the same as Play Feature Delivery basically, but for in-app files. In other words, only the textures that your phone needs are delivered to you if you download a game.

Existing APK won’t disappear from the Play Store. They’ll still be available. But if a new version or a new app is uploaded, it needs be uploaded as .aab.

Not an impossibility but an obstacle

Critics on the Internet are sure that the change from .apk to .aab is part of a plan. Google doesn’t want other large corporations to access the resources on the Play Store. Proof of this, as they say, is the fact that the change was implemented just days after Microsoft announced that Android apps can be installed on Windows 11 via Amazon App Store.

But is this a scandal? Android App Bundles are open source, just like .apk files. This means that Amazon/Microsoft can continue to provide support, but will have to slightly adjust the architecture of the Amazon App Store. The idea behind .aab files seems to be that you don't have to download gigantic apps from the Play Store any more. Rather, you just get the assets you need to make the app work on your device.

Nevertheless, it is an obstacle. Incidentally, the constellation «Android apps via Amazon on Microsoft» only came about because a truce between Google and Microsoft, which was agreed in 2015, no longer applies since April 2021. Since then, the companies are said to have returned to firing at each other, even publicly in Australia.

Dominik Bärlocher

Senior Editor

dominik.baerlocher@digitecgalaxus.ch

Journalist. Author. Hacker. A storyteller searching for boundaries, secrets and taboos – putting the world to paper. Not because I can but because I can’t not.