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The Handset / The weight
Megabytes, cached and metered
What it downloads
An app has a weight in two places: the phone’s storage, which it keeps, and the data allowance, which it spends. Both are countable, and the first session is the most expensive one a player will ever have.
App stub
- The package
- 42.0 MB, downloaded once
- The lobby
- 18.0 MB, on the first open
- A game’s assets
- 2.4 MB on this sample
- The first session
- 81.6 MB in total
- A month of play
- 182.4 MB, about 0.22 metered
the promptA question the device asks once, and an answer you can change at any time
the tokenWhat keeps a phone signed in, and how long it lives without an open
the buildA numbered version of the app, and the only part of the product an update can change
Direct answerOn the sample the package is 42.0 MB, the first open adds 18.0 MB of lobby, and each game loads 2.4 MB of assets. A first session with nine games therefore moves 81.6 MB, and a month with one first session and seven ordinary sessions moves 182.4 MB. On the phone the app occupies 102.0 MB, of which 60.0 MB is a cache that can be cleared at any time without losing anything.
Question what does the app cost my phone and my data?Package 42.0 MB, onceOn disk afterwards 102.0 MB (package plus a 60.0 MB cache cap)A month of play 182.4 MBAt 1.20 a GB 0.22 a month
Two places a weight is counted
weight 01Three things are counted, not one
The download, the storage and the data are different numbers. A 42.0 MB package is downloaded once and
then occupies space; a lobby is downloaded once and occupies more; the assets a game needs are downloaded
again on each device and evicted from the cache when it fills. A reader who only watches the install size
will be surprised by the monthly data, and the other way round.
weight 02The cache is the part you own
Of the 102.0 MB on the phone, 60.0 MB is a cache: game assets the app keeps so the next
session is faster. Clearing it costs nothing but the next download, it does not sign the device out, and it
does not touch the account. It is the only part of the app’s footprint a player can reclaim without
removing the app.
weight 03The first session is the expensive one
A first session pays for the package, the lobby and the assets of every game opened in it. On the sample
that is 81.6 MB against 14.4 MB for an ordinary session - the first session
costs about 5.7 times a later one, which is why an operator has an interest in a first session being long
and why a player on a metered connection has an interest in it being short.
- The package arrives: 42.0 MB, once, and it stays on the phone.
- The first open fetches the lobby: 18.0 MB, once per install.
- Each game fetches its assets: 2.4 MB, kept in a 60.0 MB cache.
- When the cache fills, the oldest assets are evicted and downloaded again next time.
One month of play, in megabytes
package: 42.0 MB (once)
first session: 18.0 + (9 games x 2.4) = 81.6 MB
seven later: 7 x (6 games x 2.4) = 100.8 MB
month total: 81.6 + 100.8 = 182.4 MB
on the phone: 42.0 + 60.0 cache cap = 102.0 MB
metered cost: 182.4 MB = 0.1824 GB x 1.20 = 0.22
The first session alone is 5.7 times an ordinary one.
Where the operator sees it. The same 182.4 MB is a delivery bill at the operator’s end, and a heavy app is a cost per
session. That cost is why assets are streamed rather than bundled, and why the cache exists at all.
182.4 MB 102.0 MB on disk 0.22 metered cache is yours
Where this leads
Every figure on this page is derived from the sample app on the overview: 250,000 store views a month, 62,500 installs, 45,000 first opens, 5,400 registrations and 1,134 first deposits.
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What this desk does not do
It names no operator, it rates no app, and it recommends no store listing. The partner link beside this text is a disclosed sponsored link and the reason is stated on every page rather than in a footer.