Including @2X and ~ipad graphics in an app I am working on increases the app size by eight megabytes. This, along with other graphics that have to be done in triplicate makes apps in general grow very quickly.
I am wondering what happens when someone downloads a universal app onto, say, an iPod touch. Do they get the entire package, including @2X and ~ipad images that they, effectively, won’t use or does Apple repackage the application to only send relevant graphics?
If it’s option #2, are there any dangers in trying to save some space by using code to apply @2X images to the iPad version of an app. After all, in most cases @2X and ~ipad assets are so close in size that it makes little sense to duplicate files.
Users will download the same binary if your app is universal. Apple can’t repackage the application because it can’t tell if the developer wanted to use an ~iPad asset when running on the iPhone for example. Also, users can download the app from iTunes and sync both an iPad and an iPhone.