About a year ago, Google announced that it would be requiring developers to use its new App Bundles format on the Play Store. App Bundles are the new way to distribute apps. By splitting up resources and other files, they allow for serving smaller APKs to users, decreasing download size and storage space.
Following this announcement, Amazon has announced support for Android App Bundle in its Amazon Appstore. The company announced that it is working on AAB support for its Appstore which will also be the default source of Android apps on Windows 11.
Unlike Google, Amazon is not forcing developers to switch to the Android App Bundle format. Instead, the company says that App Bundles will be completely optional. Also, developers can continue submitting apps to Amazon Appstore using the existing APK format. The company also assures that there will be no changes to the app submission process. Also, there is no need to resubmit your app if it was previously published in APK format. Bundles have several advantages over APKs as they make for smaller app downloads and enable dynamic features such as on-demand loading.
One important thing to keep in mind is that developers will not have to share the signing key with Amazon to submit App Bundles. In a blog post, Amazon wrote, “Amazon Appstore does not require you to share your app signing key to submit App Bundles similar to the way that you sign APKs and submit today”.
Amazon has not revealed when it will start accepting app bundles but has promised to share updates later this year.
