AABs

AABs is an acronym that can denote different things in different contexts. In contemporary technology discourse, the most common reference is Android App Bundles (AABs), a packaging format for distributing Android applications.

An Android App Bundle packages code and resources in a way that allows Google Play to generate and serve optimized APKs for each device configuration, reducing download and install sizes. Apps distributed as AABs cannot be installed directly as a single package; instead, Google Play’s dynamic delivery builds device-specific APKs from the bundle. Developers build AABs with the Android Gradle Plugin and publish them to the Google Play Console. To test AABs locally, developers can use the bundletool utility to generate APKs for a given device configuration. Adoption increased after Google announced that new apps must be published as AABs starting in 2021, with Play’s dynamic delivery supporting feature modules and on-demand assets to further minimize the app footprint. The use of AABs is intended to improve efficiency for large applications and provide more flexibility in delivering updates and features.

Other uses: AABs has multiple meanings outside Android packaging, depending on the discipline. The acronym is not unique to one field, so interpretation depends on context; readers should consult domain-specific glossaries or documentation to determine the intended meaning in a given case.