iOS C/C++ Static Library Sizes

There is often alarm at the size of the Chilkat static libraries (.a) for iOS. This should not be of too much concern, because after building your app in Release mode, your app’s executable will NOT grow by the size of the static library. It will only grow by a very small fraction of the total size of the .a

There are some common misunderstandings about static libraries that should be cleared up.

1. You do NOT include the static library (.a) in the package you submit to the app store.
2. When building your program, Xcode only pulls in the library code that is directly or indirectly used.   (This is true for any C/C++ linker.)   If, for example, Chilkat added functionality for SNMP, Jabber, and Bitcoin, and if this new code caused growth in the .a by 100MB, then it would only cause an increase in your app’s size if your app actually uses the new code.
3. You may be unaware of the vast number of already-existing system libs (.a) and the vast sizes if all of these were summed up.  Obviously, these are not included in their entirety in your app’s executable.  The same applies to the Chilkat static libs.
4. You can always check to see how much your app’s executable actually grows in size after linking with Chilkat by examining the size of the executable after linking.
5. The Chilkat universal lib is composed of both the simulator static libs (x86 + x86_64), and the device libs (arm64, armv7, armv7s).   Your application built for the App Store would not be including alternatives for the simulator.
6. This Apple Technical Q&A discusses general techniques for reducing the size of an app:  https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/qa/qa1795/_index.html