The Apps are Too Damn Big

Retina displays are awesome. Every display should be Retina. But until that’s the case, we have issues…

In short, I can no longer keep all my apps up-to-date on my 16gb iPad. You see, a couple weeks ago, I had 6 gigs of apps. Today, were I to upgrade every app, that number would nearly double. I clicked “Upgrade All” and was told I don’t have enough storage left before it dawned on me. The 20+ app upgrades contain new assets for the Retina iPad. Ok, great.

But why the fuck should I have to download them onto my iPad?

Wouldn’t it make far more sense for the App Store to sniff my device and only provide the relevant asset set for download? It would require some changes to the API of course. Assets would have to be divided into sets: /iPhone, /iPhone@2x, /Common, etc. As someone who designs and produces a lot of app assets myself, that wouldn’t be much of a burden and could actually be pretty fucking convenient.

Does it really make sense to have to download and store a single app with assets for iPhone, Retina iPhone, iPad, AND Retina iPad all on the same device? (I’m looking at YOU, Garage Band… 801 MB?! you’re MORBIDLY OBESE)

10 years ago  /  28 notes  /  Comments