Forum› Xamarin.Android

Size does matter!

MimisssMimisss Member ✭✭
in Xamarin.Android

Hello,

Does size matter? We may never find the answer to this eternal question but when it comes to APKs I believe it does.

Project structure and contents.

My Xamarin Forms project is fairly small, simple and straightforward. One solution, with two projects: the .NET standard library and the application for Android. No iOS, No UWP. I am using Visual Studio 2019 Professional (version 16.2.2).

Both the projects reference Xamarin.Forms (4.0.0.425677) and Xamarin.Essentials (1.2.0).

The standard library project contains the Application class and two XAML content pages. The first is the splash page which shows a PNG (11.5KB) saved as a drawable resource in the Android project. The second is just a WebView which displays a site from the internet. There is also the application icon PNG (3.09KB) saved as a drawable resource in the Android project. The Android project contains one activity class. No layouts, no assets and no other drawables except for the two mentioned above.

Android manifest and options.

The minimum android version is 4.1 (API 16) and target is 9.0. I've set ProGuard as the Code shrinker and linking the Sdk and User Assemblies (I've also tried with Sdk Assemblies Only with no difference). No Shared Runtime, no One package per ABI (I am supporting only armeabi-v7a), no incremental packaging and no multi-dex. The selected configuration is the Release configuration.

The size of the APK.

The generated APK is 22.170KB in size. When signed it grows to 22.232KB. When I zip the APK it shrinks straight down to 10.778KB. The APK generated by Android Studio for the exact same project written in Java is 1.800KB in size.

This is quite a big APK given the project structure and contents described above, isn't it?

Is there anything I can do to produce a smaller APK?

Tagged:

Best Answers

  • MimisssMimisss Member ✭✭
    Accepted Answer

    @Jarvan Nope. Nothing.

    Thanks for the links but they provide no real solution.

    An empty Xamarin.Forms project results in a 20+ MB APK with Sdk linking and code shrinking enabled.

    As far as I can tell, the embedded assemblies greatly affect the size of the APK. If configured, by editing the .csproj file, not to embed them the size of the APK is less than 10MB. BUT that doesn't mean anything since it is unsuitable for deployment.

    To summarize, Xamarin.Forms saves the developer quite a few keystrokes but comes with the unbearable price of too big APKs.

    21MB for two nearly empty Views plus an icon and a 11KB image just does not worth it.

    Shame.

  • MimisssMimisss Member ✭✭
    Accepted Answer

    To close this conversation in a meaningful way and be fair to Xamarin.Forms I would like to say that I am happy with the APK size produced by Visual Studio 2017 (Community).

    The signed package is 6MB, which is acceptable.

Answers

  • YelinzhYelinzh Member, Xamarin Team Xamurai

    Tutorial about Shrinking Android App Size you can refer to

    https://devblogs.microsoft.com/xamarin/shrinking-android-app-size/
    https://montemagno.com/how-to-keep-your-android-app-size-down/
    https://xamarinhelp.com/reducing-app-file-size-xamarin-forms/

  • MimisssMimisss Member ✭✭

    I've originally followed the official steps to build the app for release (Xamarin.Android > Deployment and Testing > Preparing an Application for Release) which includes linking and splitting the APKs and most of the tips mentioned in the links you've provided.

    It looks like there's really nothing else to try so let me give the whole process another try and get back to you.

  • MimisssMimisss Member ✭✭
    Accepted Answer

    @Jarvan Nope. Nothing.

    Thanks for the links but they provide no real solution.

    An empty Xamarin.Forms project results in a 20+ MB APK with Sdk linking and code shrinking enabled.

    As far as I can tell, the embedded assemblies greatly affect the size of the APK. If configured, by editing the .csproj file, not to embed them the size of the APK is less than 10MB. BUT that doesn't mean anything since it is unsuitable for deployment.

    To summarize, Xamarin.Forms saves the developer quite a few keystrokes but comes with the unbearable price of too big APKs.

    21MB for two nearly empty Views plus an icon and a 11KB image just does not worth it.

    Shame.

  • MimisssMimisss Member ✭✭

    For completeness, here are the Visual Studio 2019 Professional Android options:

      <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Release|AnyCPU' ">
    <DebugSymbols>false</DebugSymbols>
    <DebugType>pdbonly</DebugType>
    <Optimize>true</Optimize>
    <OutputPath>bin\Release</OutputPath>
    <ErrorReport>prompt</ErrorReport>
    <WarningLevel>4</WarningLevel>
    <AndroidUseSharedRuntime>false</AndroidUseSharedRuntime>
    <ConsolePause>false</ConsolePause>
    <AotAssemblies>false</AotAssemblies>
    <EnableLLVM>false</EnableLLVM>
    <AndroidEnableProfiledAot>false</AndroidEnableProfiledAot>
    <BundleAssemblies>false</BundleAssemblies>
    <AndroidSupportedAbis>armeabi-v7a</AndroidSupportedAbis>
    <AndroidCreatePackagePerAbi>false</AndroidCreatePackagePerAbi>
    <AndroidLinkMode>SdkOnly</AndroidLinkMode>
    <EmbedAssembliesIntoApk>true</EmbedAssembliesIntoApk>
    <AndroidUseAapt2>true</AndroidUseAapt2>
    <AndroidDexTool>d8</AndroidDexTool>
    <AndroidLinkTool>r8</AndroidLinkTool>
    <AndroidEnableSGenConcurrent>false</AndroidEnableSGenConcurrent>
    <MandroidI18n />
  </PropertyGroup>

    Interestingly, Visual Studio 2017 Community produces a 12MB APK for the exact same project using Xamarin.Forms 3.4.0.1008975, Xam.Plugin.Connectivity 3.2.0 and the following Android options:

      <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Release|AnyCPU' ">
    <DebugSymbols>false</DebugSymbols>
    <DebugType>pdbonly</DebugType>
    <Optimize>true</Optimize>
    <OutputPath>bin\Release</OutputPath>
    <ErrorReport>prompt</ErrorReport>
    <WarningLevel>4</WarningLevel>
    <AndroidManagedSymbols>true</AndroidManagedSymbols>
    <AndroidUseSharedRuntime>false</AndroidUseSharedRuntime>
    <AotAssemblies>false</AotAssemblies>
    <EnableLLVM>false</EnableLLVM>
    <BundleAssemblies>false</BundleAssemblies>
    <EnableProguard>true</EnableProguard>
    <AndroidSupportedAbis />
  </PropertyGroup>
  • MimisssMimisss Member ✭✭
    Accepted Answer

    To close this conversation in a meaningful way and be fair to Xamarin.Forms I would like to say that I am happy with the APK size produced by Visual Studio 2017 (Community).

    The signed package is 6MB, which is acceptable.

  • JoergenStorlieJoergenStorlie US ✭✭

    If size matter you must check your Xamarin version.

    The latest version has a bug the increase the app size

    https://github.com/xamarin/xamarin-android/issues/3454

  • GrahamMcKechnieGrahamMcKechnie AUMember ✭✭✭

    Why don't you rerun your tests using the Visual Studio 2019 Preview? The bug referred to in the above post is already fixed in Xamarin.Android 10.0.0.43. Actually it was fixed in 10.0.0.40 if I remember correctly. Also to take maximum advantage of the Linker you should be using SDK and User Assemblies. There is plenty more you can do for both speed and size - refer to links in the following link https://devblogs.microsoft.com/xamarin/challenge-xamarin-android/

  • JoergenStorlieJoergenStorlie US ✭✭
    edited September 2019

    I would not have used a preview version for release version of my app.

    https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/xamarin/android/release-notes/10/10.0
    This release is not "go-live" and not intended for use on production computers or for creating production code.

    It is a lot bugs in Xamarin and you can not be sure that a preview version would work.

    Currently you have to use a old version of Xamarin if size matters!

  • MimisssMimisss Member ✭✭
    edited September 2019

    @JoergenStorlie said:
    https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/xamarin/android/release-notes/10/10.0
    This release is not "go-live" and not intended for use on production computers or for creating production code.

    I believe this has just changed as the update to version 16.3 of Visual Studio just came in.

  • MimisssMimisss Member ✭✭

    @GrahamMcKechnie said:
    Why don't you rerun your tests using the Visual Studio 2019 Preview?

    I updated Visual Studio 2019 Pro to version 16.3.0 (Xamarin.Android SDK 10.0.0.43) and tried your suggestions about smaller APK size with an empty Xamarin.Forms project. The results are not good.

    I am not sure if there's value in sharing the details but the bottom line is the APK size is always bigger than the one generated with Visual Studio 2017 Community.

    Generating the App Bundle was not successful either. Running msbuild from the command line gives me "access denied" error. I am happy other people could do it but I am just confused at the moment.

    FWIW, in Visual Studio 2017, the following Xamarin version is installed:

    Xamarin 4.12.3.83 ([email protected])
    Visual Studio extension to enable development for Xamarin.iOS and Xamarin.Android.

    Xamarin Designer 4.16.30 (e0af99a34)
    Visual Studio extension to enable Xamarin Designer tools in Visual Studio.

    Xamarin Templates 1.1.128 (6f5ebb2)
    Templates for building iOS, Android, and Windows apps with Xamarin and Xamarin.Forms.

    Xamarin.Android SDK 9.1.7.0 (HEAD/ba9da7a76)
    Xamarin.Android Reference Assemblies and MSBuild support.

    Xamarin.iOS and Xamarin.Mac SDK 12.4.0.64 (9c8d8e0)
    Xamarin.iOS and Xamarin.Mac Reference Assemblies and MSBuild support.

  • GrahamMcKechnieGrahamMcKechnie AUMember ✭✭✭

    @Mimisss said - I am not sure if there's value in sharing the details but the bottom line is the APK size is always bigger than the one generated with Visual Studio 2017 Community.

    Well without sharing the details, it is difficult to comment. Just the latest configuration of your release build is all that is needed. For both size and bundle recommendations

  • MimisssMimisss Member ✭✭
    edited September 2019

    @GrahamMcKechnie As soon as I put things straight my test results started looking better; The difference in APK size between Xamarin.Android 9.1.7.0 and 10.0.0.43 is negligible. I've also tested with AAB. In details:

    Xamarin.Android 9.1.7.0

    Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2017
    Version 15.9.16
    VisualStudio.15.Release/15.9.16+28307.858
    Microsoft .NET Framework
    Version 4.8.03752
    Installed Version: Community

    Mono Debugging for Visual Studio 4.13.12-pre (9bc9548)
    Xamarin 4.12.3.83 ([email protected])
    Xamarin Designer 4.16.30 (e0af99a34)
    Xamarin Templates 1.1.128 (6f5ebb2)
    Xamarin.Android SDK 9.1.7.0 (HEAD/ba9da7a76)
    Xamarin.iOS and Xamarin.Mac SDK 12.4.0.64 (9c8d8e0)

    .NET Standard Project Dependencies
    Xaramin.Essentials 1.0.1
    Xamarin.Forms 3.4.0.1008975
    NETStandard.Library 2.0.3

    Android .csproj

    <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Release|AnyCPU' ">
    <DebugSymbols>false</DebugSymbols>
    <DebugType>pdbonly</DebugType>
    <Optimize>true</Optimize>
    <OutputPath>bin\Release</OutputPath>
    <ErrorReport>prompt</ErrorReport>
    <WarningLevel>4</WarningLevel>
    <AndroidManagedSymbols>true</AndroidManagedSymbols>
    <AndroidUseSharedRuntime>false</AndroidUseSharedRuntime>
    <AotAssemblies>false</AotAssemblies>
    <EnableLLVM>false</EnableLLVM>
    <BundleAssemblies>false</BundleAssemblies>
    <EmbedAssembliesIntoApk>true</EmbedAssembliesIntoApk>
    <AndroidSupportedAbis>armeabi-v7a;arm64-v8a</AndroidSupportedAbis>
    <AndroidLinkMode>SdkOnly</AndroidLinkMode>
    <AndroidEnableProfiledAot>false</AndroidEnableProfiledAot>
    <AndroidLinkTool>proguard</AndroidLinkTool>
    <EnableProguard>true</EnableProguard>
    <AndroidCreatePackagePerAbi>true</AndroidCreatePackagePerAbi>
</PropertyGroup>

    Produced APKs

    armeabi-v7a.apk
    APK size: 12.3MB
    Download size: 6.1MB

    arm64-v8a.apk
    APK size: 12.2MB
    Download size: 6MB

    Xamarin.Android 10.0.0.43

    Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2019
    Version 16.3.0
    VisualStudio.16.Release/16.3.0+29318.209
    Microsoft .NET Framework
    Version 4.8.03752
    Installed Version: Professional

    Mono Debugging for Visual Studio 16.3.7 (9d260c5)
    Xamarin 16.3.0.274 ([email protected])
    Xamarin Designer 16.3.0.230 (remotes/origin/[email protected])
    Xamarin Templates 16.3.565 (27e9746)
    Xamarin.Android SDK 10.0.0.43 (d16-3/8af1ca8)
    Xamarin.Android Reference Assemblies and MSBuild support.
    Mono: mono/mono/[email protected]
    Java.Interop: xamarin/java.interop/[email protected]
    LibZipSharp: grendello/LibZipSharp/[email protected]
    LibZip: nih-at/libzip/rel-1-5-1[email protected]
    ProGuard: xamarin/proguard/[email protected]
    SQLite: xamarin/sqlite/[email protected]
    Xamarin.Android Tools: xamarin/xamarin-android-tools/[email protected]
    Xamarin.iOS and Xamarin.Mac SDK 13.2.0.42 (5e8a208)

    .NET Standard Project Dependencies
    Xaramin.Essentials 1.3.1
    Xamarin.Forms 4.2.0.815419
    NETStandard.Library 2.0.3

    Android .csproj

    <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Release|AnyCPU' ">
    <DebugSymbols>false</DebugSymbols>
    <DebugType>pdbonly</DebugType>
    <Optimize>true</Optimize>
    <OutputPath>bin\Release</OutputPath>
    <ErrorReport>prompt</ErrorReport>
    <WarningLevel>4</WarningLevel>
    <AndroidManagedSymbols>true</AndroidManagedSymbols>
    <AndroidUseSharedRuntime>false</AndroidUseSharedRuntime>
    <AotAssemblies>false</AotAssemblies>
    <EnableLLVM>false</EnableLLVM>
    <BundleAssemblies>false</BundleAssemblies>
    <EmbedAssembliesIntoApk>true</EmbedAssembliesIntoApk>
    <AndroidSupportedAbis>armeabi-v7a;arm64-v8a</AndroidSupportedAbis>
    <AndroidLinkMode>SdkOnly</AndroidLinkMode>
    <AndroidEnableProfiledAot>false</AndroidEnableProfiledAot>
    <AndroidLinkTool>r8</AndroidLinkTool>
    <AndroidCreatePackagePerAbi>true</AndroidCreatePackagePerAbi>
    <AndroidUseAapt2>true</AndroidUseAapt2>
    <AndroidDexTool>d8</AndroidDexTool>
    <AndroidEnableSGenConcurrent>true</AndroidEnableSGenConcurrent>
</PropertyGroup>

    Produced APKs

    armeabi-v7a.apk
    APK size: 13.7MB
    Download size: 6.8MB

    arm64-v8a.apk
    APK size: 13.7MB
    Download size: 6.7MB

    Produced AAB

    For AAB the apkanalyzer only reports one size:
    Raw file size: 9.2MB

  • GrahamMcKechnieGrahamMcKechnie AUMember ✭✭✭

    use instead above - should have been <AndroidSupportedAbis>armeabi-v7a;arm64-v8a</AndroidSupportedAbis>. I forgot to mark it as code.

  • mashkurmashkur Member ✭✭

    @Mimisss said:
    To close this conversation in a meaningful way and be fair to Xamarin.Forms I would like to say that I am happy with the APK size produced by Visual Studio 2017 (Community).

    The signed package is 6MB, which is acceptable.

    Regretting converting my project to VS2019. The size of the app increased from 18MB to 150MB (after code shrinkage and everything).

  • dimpantdimpant GRMember ✭✭

    @mashkur said:

    @Mimisss said:
    To close this conversation in a meaningful way and be fair to Xamarin.Forms I would like to say that I am happy with the APK size produced by Visual Studio 2017 (Community).

    The signed package is 6MB, which is acceptable.

    Regretting converting my project to VS2019. The size of the app increased from 18MB to 150MB (after code shrinkage and everything).

    That's huge!

    I've recently started a new Xamarin Forms project (Xamarin 16.5.000.521) and the size of the debug APK is 8.5MB. The project is far from release so I cannot comment on the final size but things seem to have improved at least for new projects with VS2019.

  • dimpantdimpant GRMember ✭✭

    Looks like the bundle package format is the way to go. While the release APK is 18MB choosing the bundle format reduces it to 10MB without any fancy options tweaking. I let linking to the default option (Sdk assemblies only) and selected ProGuard.

  • dimpantdimpant GRMember ✭✭
    edited March 2020

    FWIW, ProGuard led to some classes being missed out from the bundle. No big deal, though. Even without it, the production AAB size is a little bigger than 10MB and the actual download is about 7MB, which is just great. This is the end of the discussion in this thread, I guess.

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