Android space

50Twuncle

Do android updates replace existing files or in addition ?

If the latter - would that not eat into "disk" space - since some apps are regularly updated by 20Mb and some appear to update daily !!

paddyrg

Replace, but no app ever got smaller between versions, so yes, the disk space does get smaller

50Twuncle

paddyrg wrote: »

Replace, but no app ever got smaller between versions, so yes, the disk space does get smaller

But not, I hope, by the amount downloaded ?

JJ_Egan

Some users remove the old apps before downloading the new ones .

poppy10_2

50Twuncle wrote: »

But not, I hope, by the amount downloaded ?

No, by the difference between the size of the old app and the size of the update

paddyrg

Also bear in mind, the size you download isn't necessarily the size of the app once unpacked, and it's prudent to allow yourself some headroom for the unpacking process.

Fightsback

In Android 5 apps use more space due to the apps now being pre compiled (uses ART) as opposed to using a just in time compiler (Davelik).

see here for discussion:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_Runtime

So if you upgrade from kitkat (or below) to Lolipop you will see your apps taking up more system storage.