Removing unused resources requires unused code shrinking to be turned on

user_8035209 0
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I am preparing to release an App to production. So, I generated signed apk. After generating signed apk, I was getting a problem. My apk file size is a little large and I tried ways to shrink the apk size. I already tried

app --> Refactor --> Remove Unused Resources

and it is not too reduce. So, I added shrinkResources true in my build.gradle(app)

 buildTypes {
        release {
            minifyEnabled false
            shrinkResources true
            proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
        }
    }

After adding shrinkResources true and I got below error when I rebuild. My question is how should I turn on unused Code shrinking first? Thanks and appreciating.

enter image description here

shrinkresources android-resources android
8 Answers

Resource shrinking works only in conjunction with code shrinking. After the code shrinker removes all unused code, the resource shrinker can identify which resources the app still uses. This is especially true when you add code libraries that include resources—you must remove unused library code so the library resources become unreferenced and, thus, removable by the resource shrinker

To enable resource shrinking, set the shrinkResources property to true in your build.gradle file (alongside minifyEnabled for code shrinking). For example:

 android {
    ...
    buildTypes {
        release {
            shrinkResources true
            minifyEnabled true
            proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'),
                    'proguard-rules.pro'
        }
    }
}

reference

user_30238330

Maybe you set by mistake minifyEnabled = false and shrinkResources = true in your buildTypes.debug, so, maybe, it is a root of a problem, not your buildTypes.release

user_58951810

You might want to refer to the Android Documentation to shrink your code and resources:

Shrink your code and resources

Like a comment already pointed out, resource shrinking only works when you have used the code shrinker. To enable shrinkResources in your build.gradle file you must have first set minifyEnabled to true

user_102850900 
android {
    buildTypes {
        release {
            minifyEnabled true
            shrinkResources true
        }
    }
}
user_57258190

Simple just open the build.gradle file on App level i.e. android/app/build.gradle and implement this:

 release {
        // TODO: Add your own signing config for the release build.
        // Signing with the debug keys for now, so `flutter run --release` works.
        signingConfig signingConfigs.debug
        useProguard true
        minifyEnabled false
        shrinkResources false
        proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro' 

    }
user_92853860

In order to use resource shrinking, you also need to enable code shrinking as they both works in conjunction.
So to do so, set shrinkResources true along with minifyEnabled true.
You can follow the official site for the same.

user_56576470

make sure to add it into proper part of gradle

   signingConfigs {
    buildTypes {
        debug {
            buildConfigField "java.util.Date", "buildTime", "new java.util.Date(" + System.currentTimeMillis() + "L)"
        }
        release {
            buildConfigField "java.util.Date", "buildTime", "new java.util.Date(" + System.currentTimeMillis() + "L)"
        }
    }
}


buildTypes {
    release {
        minifyEnabled false
        shrinkResources true
        proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.txt'
    }
}
user_54145350
user_103556680
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