WeChat installation package has expanded 575 times in 11 years, and 98% of the files are garbage: Why is the size of the App getting bigger and bigger?

Recently, a blogger said that the Android APK installation package of WeChat version 1.0 released in January 2011 was only 457KB in size, which is not even as big as a 12-megapixel photo. Today, 11 years later, the WeChat installation package has reached 257MB, which has surpassed many PC software and has "expanded" 575 times in 11 years. Of course, those of us who have used WeChat know that the space actually occupied by WeChat is far more than that.

Many netizens complained after seeing this scene, saying that 98% of the files on WeChat are garbage, and this is just a microcosm. Don’t you feel that the size of mobile phone apps is getting bigger and bigger?

According to the APP memory report released by Aurora Data in 2017, the average number of APPs installed on domestic mobile phones has reached more than 50. By 2020, this figure has further increased to more than 70.

Taking 2012 as an example, the installation package size of most mainstream apps in China was controlled within 5MB. The starting storage space of the latest mainstream mobile phones at that time, iPhone 5s and Samsung Galaxy S3, was 16-32GB. Judging from the size of these apps, the memory was sufficient.

After 2017, the size of domestic apps has undergone a series of changes. At that time, the size of Taobao had reached 74.9MB, which was more than 20 times larger than that in 2012. The sizes of WeChat and QQ also exceeded 40MB. The sizes of popular apps such as Weibo, Youku, and iQiyi were also maintained at 50MB.

Source: Oddity

In 2022, some netizens discovered that the size of many APPs has reached more than 200MB, among which WeChat and QQ have exceeded 500MB, while apps such as Douyin and Taobao have also exceeded 400MB.

When you open the storage space of your mobile phone, you will find that WeChat occupies 20+GB, QQ 10+GB, and Taobao, Alipay, Douyin, Meituan, JD.com, Bilibili, etc. all exceed 2GB.

A programmer who develops a certified APP on Maimai said that nowadays APPs add everything to them, but most of them are actually not used, which is why the size of APPs is getting bigger and bigger.

Source: Oddity

Let’s take the national application WeChat as an example. The WeChat interface used to be very simple, but now when you open WeChat, you will find that the video accounts, live broadcasts, shopping, games and other mini-programs on the page are arranged in the most conspicuous positions to attract users’ attention. The same is true for other apps, which is actually very telling.

One of the triggers for the current situation was 2013, when user traffic migrated from web to mobile, and the downloads and usage of various apps grew wildly.

The crueler reality of the above strange phenomenon is that neither the call from developers nor the leadership of relevant departments such as the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology have been able to put the brakes on the expanding APPs.

QuestMobile's research report bluntly stated that the reason why large companies develop express versions is not to promote App lightweighting, but to further seize the sinking market represented by low-end and mid-range mobile phone users and find a second growth curve for the company's business. ​