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Storage usage / download size and data usage are more important to the average user than many developers think. I tried reducing all this to a minimum for my a

Storage usage / download size and data usage are more important to the average user than many developers think. I tried reducing all this to a minimum for my app and it helped getting more downloads and less churn. Now at 10MB download size, 40MB storage usage (10MB cache, 10MB data) and 5MB data usage. All this for a heavy user (myself).

22c 5y ago
> more important to the average user than many developers think. On that, the larger your app is the bigger the target. When I run out of space on my phone I sort by largest app and start booting off the worst offenders. Small apps, even if I use them less often, are likely to fly under the radar.
woliveirajr 5y ago
OT but what's you app? you don't say it nor have a link/site on your bio.
- davidkuennen 5y ago
  It's https://stockevents.app https://stockevents.app. An investment tracking app. Currently in the process of completely removing all third party analytics for the next version. Should reduce all this even more.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
Cthulhu_ 5y ago
Yeah this is something that has been found before as well; it's why ~10 years ago, AppCode became a Thing (it's a vector image editor whose output is iOS drawing code, because 10 kB of code compiles down effectively and is less than providing 3-4x a png image for different resolutions). It's also why Apple has pushed some technologies for developers to reduce initial app size; optimized builds per device (you send Apple a bundle with e.g. multiple images at different resolutions, Apple only installs the ones the phone actually needs), dynamically loading content like levels (so the initial download is only the core libraries + the first level, the rest is downloaded and offloaded dynamically), etc.
concinds 5y ago
It's why I never use my 32GB base iPad; install more than a few apps and you run out of space. Turn iCloud Photos on? Even with "Optimize storage", that'll keep about 3-5GB of local thumbnails on your device, wasting space. iCloud Notes on? Your 5+GB of notes will all be stored locally; no storage optimization there. Use Apple Music? It'll use about 7-8GB of local storage, not for any downloaded songs (I haven't downloaded any) but purely for album artwork, cache, and other junk. There is no way to ever delete that Apple Music cache; not even cancelling Apple Music, turning off Cloud Library, or deleting the Apple Music app. The only way, is to reset the iPad completely, and delete the Music app before it can start syncing anything from the cloud. i.e.: you have to switch to Spotify. These are all Apple apps. When an iPad has low free storage, it'll delete user data from 3rd-party apps, and those apps have to redownload user data from the cloud every time you open the app. Notability is a good example. Everything's gone, wait 5min for it to resync. The iPad might be my main device if Apple fixed this, and it would lock me much deeper into Apple's ecosystem, but they don't seem to understand the value of minimizing storage use.

22c 5y ago

> more important to the average user than many developers think. On that, the larger your app is the bigger the target. When I run out of space on my phone I sort by largest app and start booting off the worst offenders. Small apps, even if I use them less often, are likely to fly under the radar.

woliveirajr 5y ago

OT but what's you app? you don't say it nor have a link/site on your bio.

davidkuennen 5y ago
It's https://stockevents.app https://stockevents.app. An investment tracking app. Currently in the process of completely removing all third party analytics for the next version. Should reduce all this even more.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

Cthulhu_ 5y ago

Yeah this is something that has been found before as well; it's why ~10 years ago, AppCode became a Thing (it's a vector image editor whose output is iOS drawing code, because 10 kB of code compiles down effectively and is less than providing 3-4x a png image for different resolutions). It's also why Apple has pushed some technologies for developers to reduce initial app size; optimized builds per device (you send Apple a bundle with e.g. multiple images at different resolutions, Apple only installs the ones the phone actually needs), dynamically loading content like levels (so the initial download is only the core libraries + the first level, the rest is downloaded and offloaded dynamically), etc.

concinds 5y ago

It's why I never use my 32GB base iPad; install more than a few apps and you run out of space. Turn iCloud Photos on? Even with "Optimize storage", that'll keep about 3-5GB of local thumbnails on your device, wasting space. iCloud Notes on? Your 5+GB of notes will all be stored locally; no storage optimization there. Use Apple Music? It'll use about 7-8GB of local storage, not for any downloaded songs (I haven't downloaded any) but purely for album artwork, cache, and other junk. There is no way to ever delete that Apple Music cache; not even cancelling Apple Music, turning off Cloud Library, or deleting the Apple Music app. The only way, is to reset the iPad completely, and delete the Music app before it can start syncing anything from the cloud. i.e.: you have to switch to Spotify. These are all Apple apps. When an iPad has low free storage, it'll delete user data from 3rd-party apps, and those apps have to redownload user data from the cloud every time you open the app. Notability is a good example. Everything's gone, wait 5min for it to resync. The iPad might be my main device if Apple fixed this, and it would lock me much deeper into Apple's ecosystem, but they don't seem to understand the value of minimizing storage use.