How We Reduced Pinterest’s iOS App Size by 30+% / 50MB
Article Summary
Pinterest slashed their iOS app size by 30% (50MB) and immediately saw install rates climb. The culprit? A sneaky localization bug multiplying files across app extensions.
Pinterest's iOS team discovered their Bazel build system was duplicating localization files into every app extension, bloating the bundle unnecessarily. Engineer Liang Ma shares how they diagnosed and fixed this architectural issue.
Key Takeaways
- Localization strings were copied into each extension instead of shared
- Fixed by redirecting NSBundle calls to main app bundle path
- Download size dropped 30% with increased install conversions
- Each extension had duplicated every Localizable.strings file
- Future plan: self contained bundles for better modularity
Critical Insight
A single architectural fix eliminating duplicate localization files reduced Pinterest's iOS app by 50MB and boosted installs.
