Google orders Android apps to cut their memory use

Google announced two new app-quality requirements for Android apps and games this week, in response to a worldwide memory-chip shortage driven by the AI data-center boom. According to TechCrunch, which reported the news on August 27, one of the requirements focuses on reducing apps' memory usage and optimizing their code. The company explains that the mobile industry is facing 'significant hardware supply constraints that are altering device memory availability,' a situation that can ultimately affect the end-user experience. Taiwanese outlet TechNews separately corroborated the announcement on August 28, noting that the change will first roll out through Android 17 and Google Play's policies.

What Google is actually requiring

The new performance thresholds cover dynamic memory usage and bitmap usage, alongside new code-optimization requirements meant to prevent app slowdowns and crashes. According to South Korean outlet AI Times, which also corroborated the announcement, developers will need to cut their apps' DEX code size by at least 25%. To help them, Google will roll out new tools that alert development teams when their apps exceed the new thresholds, and plans to release further diagnostic tools later this year, including a feature called 'Memory Limiter' that will prevent an app from using more than its share of a device's memory. Developers have until February 2027 to meet these thresholds, documented on the Android Developer site.

The cost of not complying

Non-compliance is not just a technical matter. According to AI Times, apps that exceed the memory limits will face 'reduced search and recommendation exposure or restricted posting functionality' on Google Play, and TechNews adds that Google could go as far as limiting developers' ability to publish or update their apps. At runtime, the operating system itself will be able to slow down or terminate apps that exceed the set thresholds, and can even force other background apps to close if a single app hogs too many system resources. Per AI Times, the rules will roll out progressively across devices with RAM configurations ranging from 4GB to more than 16GB, hitting low- and mid-range handsets hardest, where the memory headroom is tightest.

• New dynamic-memory and bitmap-usage thresholds take effect starting with Android 17.
• Apps' DEX code must shrink by at least 25%, per AI Times.
• Deadline to meet the new performance thresholds: February 2027.
• Separately, every app with sign-in must offer 'Zero Tap Sign-In' — automatic session restoration when switching phones, via the Android Restore Credentials API — by April 2027.
• Non-compliance can reduce an app's visibility in Google Play search and recommendations, or restrict its ability to publish.

Why now

Google frames the change as a direct response to a market where memory 'may not be as widely available' as before, particularly for low-end devices, where component pricing is a decisive factor. The company doesn't detail the shortage's origin further, but places it explicitly in the context of the 'hardware supply constraints' the industry is facing: the rapid build-out of data centers to train and run AI models has driven up global demand for memory chips, a component phone makers also need for their own devices. TechNews notes that when a single app consumes too many resources, the system can slow down or force other background apps to close — a problem that gets worse specifically on cheaper phones.

For Android developers, the new rules mean auditing their apps' memory footprint sooner rather than later: falling outside the new thresholds before February 2027 can translate into reduced visibility on Google Play, at a time when organic discovery remains the main channel for user acquisition in many markets. The move also lands while AI-driven global demand for memory shows no sign of easing, suggesting these hardware constraints could persist — or tighten further — beyond the deadline Google has set.