Apps, Updates, and Memory

[zirkdog]

When a new update is available, is the size of the update (mb's) added to the original size of the app, or is the app entirely overwritten with the update? I saw a thread on here awhile back in which someone was complaining about app updates and trying to make a case for never updating. One of their arguments was the memory used by all of the updates. I haven't really tracked it, but I would think that by accepting all of my updates, if the file size was "added" to the original app I would have run out of space by now or at least made a major dent in my designated app memory (Droid Bionic). That doesn't seem to be the case, but I was still curious.

Example:
Original App "ABC" is 5 mb
Update to "ABC" is 5mb.
Is App "ABC" now using 10 megs or still the original 5, just overwritten with the new update?

 

[dfcfu342]

Some is overwritten and some is entirely new, how much depends on the update. If you wanted to see for yourself then note the current app size and the update package size, then install the update and look at the new app size. The difference between the app+update package size and the the final updated app size will answer your question.

As an example I just updated Google maps. The original version on my phone was 12.89MB and the update was 6.10MB. The final size after the update was 12.90MB so clearly there was a lot of data overwritten.

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[zirkdog]

That makes sense. I suppose I could put forth some effort and compare the numbers before /after.

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