FAQ : Marriott Bonvoy app size [and using a huge amount of data storage]
 

I have had this discussion on the United forum about the size of their app - and some thoughts are all the saved trips and such
but why would the Marriott app need to be 1.4 gigs (iPhone)?
- I have been tracking it, but is this dynamic also - and, if so, how does one put it on a diet
Hyatt's app is 140meg (but I dont stay there)
Hilton is 142megs and I used it a lot in 2023

-m

Probably just pictures. The app itself is less than 200mb.

173 MB, plus cached ‘Documents and Data’.

In common with other iPhone apps that cache liberal amounts of data, there’s no easy way to reduce the amount of dynamic storage that’s used, short of deleting and reinstalling the app.

Android shows for me
124 App
12.57 User data
10.84 Cache

Total of 147MB

Yeah, they should have an option to empty the cache - otherwise the only aolution is to delete and reinstall…

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...7cae296f6.jpeg

Marriott IT figured out how to use their millions of customers’s devices for a distributed backup solution of their whole Bonvoy database. Everyone gets a gig, more or less, for safekeeping. With some redundancy, of course, to reduce the data loss when people delete their app or destroy their phone.

you don't mention whether you use android or iOS but on android, it's easy to clear the cache or all storage. i don't know about iOS.
on android, just go to the app info, then storage, and the options are there. clearing the cache does not erase your login data. clearing storage does.

iOS leaves that to the app developers to take care of - and almost all of them do, except for Marriott and Instagram…

Exactly this - iOS fails to offer this option at an OS level. The Marriott app is not the only culprit with Instagram and Facebook facing the same annoying issue of not being judicious in clearing their caches.

Of my travel apps, these are the top four:

United: 1.02 GB
American: 811 GB
Marriott: 902 MB
Hyatt: 294 MB

But it’s not just travel apps. Amazon (not Kindle or Prime Video, those are separate) consumes > 1 GB. Why?! They should have better developers. To someone who learned programming on a computer with 48 KB RAM and 120 KB floppies this is just outrageous.

When most of the industry thinks UX is about graphics and optimization is just about how things look on the screen, this will be the outcome.. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

ah yes, the beautiful walled garden. i was a huge mac evangelist for 30 years. had the iphone but the restrictions kept getting worse and worse. can't do this. don't do that. android gives me the freedom to do what i want to do with the phone that *I* paid for.

It's crazy how inefficient apps are getting now. Like there is no incentive to keep code lean and fast anymore.

All these decades, computers have gotten faster. But apps are becoming more bloated at the same rate. You'd think by now, the app should open up in a blink of an eye.

We are going quite offtopic here, but this is the sad state of IT these days. It's not iOS vs Android, it's the sheer amount of coders without pretension; who were spoiled with resources from the beginning and never learned to appreciate it.

Little science experiment with my iPad

App size: 173.5 MB

Starting point: for documents and data: 736 MB

Deleted app and reinstalled. Before first launch, D&D now 1.1 MB

Launched app once (no login). D&D now 38 MB

Logged in to account. D&D now 73.3 MB

Looked at my account and free night details. D&D now 76 MB.

Comparison - on my Android phone:

App size: 101 MB
User Data: 8.18 MB
Cache: 5.66 MB