AI’s memory crunch is coming for Android apps

Google is changing the rules for Android apps because the AI boom is chewing through memory supply. This week, it announced two new quality requirements aimed at pushing developers to use less memory and write cleaner code.

The company says the mobile market is dealing with “significant hardware supply constraints” that are changing how much device memory is available. That can hit users where they feel it most: sluggish apps, worse performance, and crashes. Google is responding by setting new thresholds for things like dynamic memory use and bitmap use, while also adding code optimization requirements meant to cut down on performance problems.

Developers will get new tools that flag apps when they go over the limits so they can tighten things up. Google says more diagnostic tools are coming later this year, including deeper visibility through a Memory Limiter feature that stops apps from grabbing too much device memory.

The timing matters most for lower-end devices, where price already limits what’s inside the phone. Google says the changes are meant to help app and game makers keep quality up while memory becomes less available. Developers have until February 2027 to hit the new thresholds, according to Google’s Android Developer site.

And there’s another deadline coming. By April 2027, all Play Store apps will need to meet Google’s Zero Tap Sign-In requirement during device migrations. That means apps with sign-ins, optional or mandatory, must automatically restore the user’s sign-in state when moving between Android devices using the Android Restore Credentials API.