"APK size has massively grown when upgrading from 0.9.1 to 0.10.x" is the most discussed issue in the rive-flutter repository. Native rendering and text shaping are part of why Rive looks consistent across platforms, and that code has to ship with your app.
Ship an App Bundle
flutter build appbundleGoogle Play splits the bundle so each device gets only its architecture's libraries. The local .aab file is large, but users download much less.
Or split APKs per ABI
flutter build apk --split-per-abiThis produces separate APKs for arm64-v8a, armeabi-v7a and x86_64. Upload the right one per device in stores that do not support bundles.
Measure it properly
Use Play Console's app size report or bundletool to see download and install size per device. Compare before and after adding Rive, and decide with real numbers. A few megabytes may be fine for a consumer app and too much for an app aimed at low-storage phones.
Consider the alternatives
If size is critical and your animations are simple and non-interactive, Lottie or Flutter's built-in animation APIs add less native code. For interactive motion, compare runtimes in your own app. We make ExodeUI, which also has a Flutter runtime; measure it the same way.