Chrystian Vieyra is an Android and iOS app developer with a specialty in visualizing sensor data. He recently transitioned to be an engineering manager at Comcast. Born in Celaya, Mexico, he immigrated to the United States to complete his B.S. in Computer Science from Western Illinois University. Chrystian resides in Washington, DC.
Chrystian Vieyra
Engineering Manager at Comcast
Pruning Your App: Good Practices for Reducing App Size
App size reduction should be a critical aspect of app development, and is especially necessary for end users who may have restricted device storage or limited data plans. However, it can be challenging for developers—especially those working with multiple contributing teams—to manage and visualize app size throughout the development flow.
Using the major telecom company app, Xfinity, as an example, we will take a deep dive into how to optimize app size. This app illustrates the complexities of size management: the app is used across the world in both high- and low-resourced contexts, requires multi-language support, and draws visual assets from regional partners.
This presentation will address the following tools and techniques, many of which have been used in the Xfinity development flow, and are broadly applicable to other development projects:
Image compression: Using lossless compression with modern formats (.webp, vector graphics)
Unused code and assets: Implementing code shrinkers (Google’s R8)
Modularizing app delivery: Dividing the app into smaller modules, downloaded on-demand as per user needs (Google’s Dynamic Feature Delivery)
Strings: Improving string usage, including considerations for localization
Analysis: Monitoring app size throughout the development process