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Some time ago, bilibili UP master tech old boy mentioned in the video that he found that in the Wechat version 1.0 released in January 2011, there was only 457KB in the Android APK installation package, and now the Wechat installation package is 257MB, which is equivalent to 575 times the expansion in 11 years.

Not only on Wechat, but in the comments section, people complained that almost all mobile phone App packages have been growing rapidly and taking up memory over the years.

Bilibili UP main science and technology old boy "reverse engineering Wechat installation package, 11 years expansion 575 times what on earth updated?" ")

To be more specific about the changes in the size of App packages over the years, we looked at historical versions of commonly used App at Pea Pod, a market that offers Android software, Android apps, and Android game downloads.

In June, Questmobile released 58 mobile App with more than 100 million users in the first half of 2022, of which 50 App can be found in pea pods.

The following is an analysis of these 50 App models.

Download commonly used App, installation package alone will take up seven G2017, aurora data released App memory report, statistics show that the average number of App installed on domestic mobile phones has reached more than 50. By the third quarter of 2020, this figure had increased to 56.

However, according to our statistics, only by downloading all 50 commonly used App, the volume of the installation package alone has reached 7180.51MB, that is, 7.01G.

But according to the initial size that can be counted on the pea pod, the initial installation package of these App requires only 1143.46MB, which is 1.14G.

If you only look at the top 20 App, their installation package size and size have changed from 0.58GB to 4.98GB, about eight times the original size.

Not only that, in the Android app mall, the size of the installation package displayed is the size of a compressed package, and there will be a process of decompressing App when it is actually downloaded to the phone. Plus many App automatically write default information during the download process. This means that the phone needs to reserve more space than the App installation package to download successfully.

Typically, an App takes up 1. 5 to 3 times the size of its installation package. Take Wechat as an example, the app store shows that the size of the Wechat installation package is 230MB, but after decompression, it has become more than 500 MB.

Based on the occupied space = installation package size * 2.5, it takes about 17.6G to hold the 50 commonly used App, not including the various caches that come with using App and other niche App that you need to use.

Over the past 8 years, the QQ installation package has increased by 37 times, and Douyin Express Edition has grown by 79% a year.

Among the 50 commonly used mobile phone App, who takes up the most space? Who has changed the most?

We first find out the top five App installers, and count the changes in their installation package sizes over the years since they were launched. The large installation packages are mainly game App and social App.

If you look at the average annual growth rate of installation package volume, the ranking is different.

The installation package size of Douyin Express Edition is growing the fastest. The Super Speed version of App was launched on September 2, 2019. Three years after its launch, the installation package size increased from 13.13MB to 75.11MB, with an average annual growth rate of 79%.

This was followed by Agricultural Bank of China Palm Bank, QQ, UC browser and Douyin.

The growth of different types of App is different.

The installation package of the game App is usually not small in its initial state, and the update iteration is not slow. Take Arena of Valor, a representative of mobile games, as an example. When it was launched in 2015, its installation package was 207.02MB. Due to the continuous launch of new heroes, new skins, new ways and modes of play, and optimized game experience, seven years later, Arena of Valor has two gigabytes alone.

The initial installation package of Social App is relatively small, but it is updated frequently, "a little bigger at a time", resulting in a large final installation package.

Take QQ, where the size of the installation package has increased by 37 times in 8 years, for example, the main change in each update of QQ lies in the increase in functionality. Take the 2020 version of QQv8.4.18 as an example. Compared with the past, its main changes are:

Online status added "my mood" to send mood signals to friends and share happy times.

Add new characters in group chat, draw cards to set characters, light up and wear more cool

Group chat messages can be selected as the group essence and displayed on the group chat data card, which is more convenient to view.

Group chat added Masters record, Rank achievements were easily checked, and friends were invited to gang up.

(the historical version of QQ shown on the pea pod)

Unlike social software, Douyin, the fastest-growing version, has only two main functions since its launch: one is to browse short videos, and the other is to get gold coins for tasks such as watching videos. It basically adds no additional features, and almost every update is to improve video speed and optimize the viewing experience.

The bank-type App function is more vertical, and the change in the size of the installation package is due to the increase in actual demand and the development of the Internet. For example, the handheld Bank of Agricultural Bank, which ranks second in growth, has made several updates related to technology: online real-name registration, AI face recognition, linkage between App and related Mini Program, and so on.

The increase in the size of the App installation package from "small and different" to "large and similar" means the update iteration of functionality and the optimization of experience.

But are these additions and optimizations really necessary for users?

Take people's commonly used Wechat as an example.

Zhang Xiaolong described Wechat as a "small and beautiful" App,2011 Wechat 1.0 when the Android APK installation package was only the size of 457KB. In 2014, the Wechat installation package was less than 25MB, and by 2022, the Wechat installation package had surpassed 250MB.

We have sorted out the main new features of Wechat over the past 11 years:

It can be seen that from 2011 to 2015, Wechat's main development and improvement are focused on social networking, the core is the chat function: WeChat group, emojis, voice, shake and so on. Later, it gradually increased the functions of payment, collection, sending video, video number and so on. There are also some controversial features, such as: chat message withdrawal, clap …...

The "small but beautiful" Wechat is now "big and comprehensive": the payment function turns Wechat into a "mobile wallet", the video number makes it "another Douyin", and Mini Program makes it a collection of N kinds of Mini Game and common App.

Bilibili UP main technology old boy used reverse engineering Wechat installation package, found that in Wechat version 1.0 with only 199 files to achieve the core function-chat. In the 8.0.24 version of July 2022, there were 12639 files, all of which soared more than 500 times.

In other words, most of the files and code are used to achieve other functions: video, games, taxi hailing, takeout, express delivery.

Bilibili UP main science and technology old boy "reverse engineering Wechat installation package, 11 years expansion 575 times what on earth updated?" ")

Nowadays, if you want to do anything with your phone, you don't necessarily have to download a corresponding App.

If you want to buy vegetables, in fact, you don't have to download App such as box horse, Meituan and Ding Dong, you can enter directly from WeChat Mini Programs or Alipay interface.

This reduces the hassle of downloading another App to some extent, but the problem is that while Wechat limits the 2MB of Mini Program, it doesn't solve the cache that happens when you launch Mini Program.

In addition, for those who can't give up Wechat's social functions but don't need Mini Program, video number and other functions, Wechat's "update iteration" is a burden on mobile space.

If you look closely, you will also find that many App packages that are getting bigger rapidly come from or are controlled by big head Internet companies: Tencent has Wechat, QQ, Arena of Valor, QQ Music. Alibaba has Taobao, Alipay, nail, UC browser. There are Douyin, Jinri Toutiao and so on.

On the one hand, this is due to the rapid development of technology and normal iteration of function; on the other hand, App is constantly updated and modified, which is getting bigger and more complete, a large part of which is due to the snatch and retention of users.

So you can see that Douyin, which focuses on short videos, and Xiao Hongshu, which is famous for its recommendations, all have a group chat function; music software QQ Music, which has a game of "play one play"; and shopping software pinduoduo, which originally had a "recommended" entrance at the bottom. It became "many videos" at the beginning of this year.

Perhaps as netizens said: "one day your mobile phone space is not enough, so you can only delete some App, but the first thing to delete is certainly not rigid demand software such as Wechat. For example, if there is a video number in Wechat, you may uninstall Douyin. Or, for example, your Meituan has shopping, movie tickets, scanning shared bikes, taxi entrances, and you can uninstall App like Box Horse and Didi."

* data sources: pea pods and Wechat are arranged manually on the official website

This article comes from the official account of Wechat: DT Finance (ID:DTcaijing), text: Zhang Chenyang, Editor: Tang Yiqin Visualization: Qi Tongxing Operation: Su Hongrui Supervisor: Tang Yiqin

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