I Tried to Reduce My App Size by 50%. Here's What Actually Worked
Article Summary
A 260 MB productivity app? One developer spent a week cutting it to 95 MB and learned most optimization advice is wrong.
An iOS developer shares their journey reducing app size by 63%, discovering that common tips like image compression barely moved the needle. The real culprits were hiding in plain sight: frameworks, simulator architectures, and asset management.
Key Takeaways
- Stripping simulator architectures from frameworks saved 60 MB instantly
- Image compression tools saved only 0.3 MB (asset catalogs already optimize)
- App Thinning and On-Demand Resources cut download size to under 100 MB
- Frameworks accounted for 118 MB, nearly half the total app size
- CI automation prevents size creep by flagging builds over threshold
Critical Insight
The app went from 260 MB to 95 MB by focusing on framework bloat and Apple's underused App Thinning features, not image compression.
