Summary
- App archiving will help save storage space by offloading unused apps while keeping user data intact.
- Archiving an app uninstalls it but retains user data, making reinstallation simpler.
- App archiving will likely arrive in Android 15 later this year.
Last month, certified Android ace Mishaal Rahman shared evidence for an in-development app archival feature. Presumably headed for stable Android 15, app archival lets you save storage space by offloading the majority of an unused app while keeping your user data, making for a smooth transition should you choose to reinstall it. Today, again via Android Authority, Mishaal shared a closer look at how the process will work. It seems like you’ll have options to archive apps on demand or to have your phone do it automatically, and the entire system relies on what Google calls archived APKs.
On Android today, when you uninstall an app, all associated data is deleted from your device along with the app itself. Depending on the type of app, this can mean losing locally stored files or media, and any app that relies on user accounts requires your credentials again if you re-download it later.
By contrast, archiving an app uninstalls the application proper, but retains your user data on your device. It’s sort of like how you can uninstall video games from consoles or PCs without losing your local save files. In addition to any of your personal app data, what’s left behind is an “archived APK,” which is more or less just a link in your app drawer to re-download the app from the Play Store.
Archival could be great for apps you only need occasionally
It could arrive on select phones later this year
The vast majority of storage eaten up by most Android apps and games is from the application itself; in most cases, your specific data is only a small fraction of the storage space used by any given app. In his piece for Android Authority, Mishaal shares that he tested app archiving using the Uber app on a Pixel 8 Pro.
Before Uber was archived, Mishaal says, the app took up 387 megabytes of storage on his phone. After the app was archived, that space went down to about 18 megabytes — a huge savings. Upon reinstalling the full app, Mishaal was already logged in and ready to go, as if nothing had happened.
It seems likely we’ll see app archiving in Android 15’s stable release
The feature will be killer for apps that you need occasionally, but not often enough to keep them installed full-time. Assuming you’ve got a fast connection, reinstalling an archived app should only take a few seconds, and everything should be where you left it when the app was archived. Once you’re done, you can archive it again, knowing your data will be intact the next time you re-download the app.
Mishaal notes that, unlike iOS’s system-level app offloading feature, the in-progress version of Android app archiving is actually a Play Store feature. That means that apps installed from other stores, like Samsung’s Galaxy Store, won’t have the same archive-and-restore functionality.
While Mishaal was able to get app archiving up and running in the latest Android 14 QPR beta, it required some tinkering. Google hasn’t announced anything just yet, but given the current implementation is evidently workable, it seems likely we’ll see app archiving in Android 15’s stable release, which we expect to hit Pixel phones this fall.
