Technology Desk: Google has announced new rules to reduce excessive RAM usage by Android apps. Apps and games available on Google Play Store will now have to meet new standards to memory usage and performance, and apps that do not meet the set standards may have their visibility and publishing features limited on Google Play.
Google has also given time to developers to optimize their apps. The company says that the purpose of these changes is to improve the performance of apps on Android devices, reduce excessive RAM consumption and reduce problems like app crashes.
According to Google, from February 2027, Android apps and games on Google Play will have to meet new memory usage, bitmap memory, and DEX code optimization standards.
Under the new rules, dynamic memory usage of apps will be monitored. In this it will be seen how much private memory an app uses in foreground and background. Different limits of memory will be decided according to the capacity of the device.
Google will also monitor apps' bitmap memory usage. In this it will be seen how much memory the bitmap is using while running in the background or remaining in a cached state.
The company believes that this kind of monitoring will help in reducing the memory footprint of apps and can provide better performance even on devices with less RAM.
Developers publishing apps on Google Play must perform app optimization, shrinking, and obfuscation through tools like R8. For this, a standard of at least 25 percent coverage has been fixed.
With the help of R8, the code and resources of the app can be optimized. This helps reduce the size of the app and the memory load associated with the code.
Google has said that apps and games that do not meet the new threshold may have their visibility reduced on Google Play. Apart from this, their publishing capability may also be affected.
The company has said that the remaining information about the new rules will be shared later this year.
Along with the new memory rules, Google has also introduced a rule to Zero-Tap Sign-In for apps. Its purpose is to simplify user login when transferring apps to a new Android device.
Apps that support user sign-in must use the Android Restore Credentials API. Through this, the user's login status can be automatically restored after the app is transferred to the new device.
Apps that do not meet the Zero-Tap Sign-In rule may face reduced publishing capabilities and visibility on Google Play from April 2027. However, currently games are exempted from this rule.
Google has said that these standards may be updated in the future as the Android ecosystem and developers' needs change. If there are changes in the rules, developers will be given enough time to implement them.
