For some smartphone users, many applications are rarely used but difficult to delete. They were also forced to delete the application to be able to free up space on their smartphone.
Well, the good news is that Google announced that it is working on a new feature, namely application archiving. With this feature, users do not need to completely delete the application.
Launching from Engadget, Friday (11/3/2022) Google says the archiving feature will later be able to partially uninstall apps with about 60% of the storage from the app without the need to completely delete it.
Most importantly, Google says users' personal data will not be affected by the action. This feature is planned to be available at the end of 2022.
This feature works by creating a new type of APK (Android Package) called archived APKs. Archived APKs are much smaller and retain all the data until the user recovers them and returns to their original size, in this case using the app again.
With this feature, the archive and restore process will be much faster than reinstalling the app, and will likely consume less mobile data when the user is not on Wi-Fi.
"Once launched, archiving will provide great benefits to users and developers. Instead of uninstalling apps, users will be able to archive them, free up space temporarily and be able to reactivate apps quickly and easily," said Google.
"Developers can benefit from less uninstall and significantly lower friction to reclaim with their favorite apps."
This archived APK feature will be available only to developers with the Bundletool 1.10 release. There is still no detailed information about how the feature will appear on Android or whether it will appear next to the uninstall option when the user long-presses the app icon.