DEV Community: Smit Prajapati

I Was Wrong About APK vs AAB for Years — Here's What Actually Happens

Smit Prajapati — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 16:57:20 +0000

I've built AAB probably a hundred times without ever asking myself why an APK installs directly on a phone and an AAB just... doesn't.

Turns out the AAB isn't even a smaller file. The real size win happens somewhere else entirely, and it changed how I think about native libraries.

→ Why an AAB can carry the same content as an APK and still ship a smaller download
→ What Google Play's Dynamic Delivery is actually doing the moment you upload
→ Why .so files are the biggest hidden weight in most Android apps

Full walkthrough → https://medium.com/@smitp7502/i-was-wrong-about-apk-vs-aab-for-years-heres-what-actually-happens-014b92cbf342

android #flutter #mobiledev #programming

Setup your first multitanet app with the single code-base.

Smit Prajapati — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 16:45:43 +0000

I duplicated a Flutter project for a client. Then again. Then again.

Nine clients. Nine repos. One bug. Nine fixes. One I missed — the client noticed before I did.

There's a better way and I wish someone had shown it to me earlier.

→ Android product flavors — one applicationId per client, one build command, one codebase
→ iOS multi-target — separate scheme per client, shared Flutter pods so you don't lose your mind
→ Per-client .env files that switch at build time, so your Dart code never hardcodes anything
→ A Fastlane lane that loops through every client and uploads them all in one run

Full walkthrough → One Codebase, Many Apps

Stop Uploading Your App Manually — Let Fastlane Do It For You

Smit Prajapati — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 15:07:39 +0000

Every mobile dev has a release day ritual. Mine was eating 30–40 minutes a week — and adding zero value to anyone.

You know the drill. Open Play Console, create a release, upload the AAB, write the notes, submit for review. Then open App Store Connect and do the entire thing again — but now with Xcode archives, signing certs, and a prayer nothing breaks.

I finally got fed up and automated all of it with Fastlane. Now my release is one command:

fastlane internal

Here's what's inside the full guide →

→ Android Fastfile setup from scratch — service account, lanes, promote without rebuild

→ iOS Fastfile with .p8 API key and TestFlight + App Store lanes

→ The promote lane — ship the exact tested binary to production, no rebuild needed

→ How I applied this to a white-label app with multiple client variants

📖 *Full walkthrough with every Fastfile included → Read on Medium
*