A Comparative Study of Full Apps and Lite Apps for Android

TL;DR

This study compares full and lite Android apps, revealing that many lite versions do not meet their goals and pose security risks, highlighting the need for better design and security practices.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive comparison of lite and full Android apps, analyzing their similarities, differences, and associated security concerns.

Findings

Most lite apps do not achieve smaller size or faster download speeds.

Lite apps may introduce significant security vulnerabilities.

Many lite apps fail to meet their intended performance goals.

Abstract

App developers aim to create apps that cater to the needs of different types of users. This development approach, also known as the "one-size-fits-all" strategy, involves combining various functionalities into one app. However, this approach has drawbacks, such as lower conversion rates, slower download speed, larger attack surfaces, and lower update rates. To address these issues, developers have created "lite" versions to attract new users and enhance the user experience. Despite this, there has been no study conducted to examine the relationship between lite and full apps. To address this gap, we present a comparative study of lite apps, exploring the similarities and differences between lite and full apps from various perspectives. Our findings indicate that most existing lite apps fail to fulfill their intended goals (e.g., smaller in size, faster to download, and using less data). Our study also reveals the potential security risks associated with lite apps.