Google is tightening Android app rules as the AI data centre boom makes memory chips harder to find.
According to Android Developers, the search giant announced two new app quality requirements this week, with one focused on cutting memory use and optimising code.
Writing in its bog, Google said the mobile industry faces “significant hardware supply constraints that are altering device memory availability”.
That shortage can hit how punters experience their devices, particularly at the cheaper end of the Android swamp. To fix all this, Google is setting new performance thresholds for areas such as dynamic memory and bitmap usage.
It is implementing code optimisation requirements to prevent apps from slowing down or crashing caused by sloppy resource management. To help app makers, Google is rolling out tools that warn developers when their apps break the new limits.
The outfit said more diagnostic tools will arrive later in the year, including deeper data from its Memory Limiter feature. Memory Limiter is designed to stop apps from gobbling too much device memory.
The changes are aimed at keeping Android apps and games running properly when less memory is available than before. Low-end devices are likely to feel the squeeze hardest, since cheap phones do not have much room for fatter memory budgets.
Developers have until February 2027 to meet the new thresholds, which are listed on Google’s Android Developer site. Google will require all Play Store apps to meet its Zero Tap Sign-In requirement during device migrations by April 2027.
The rule applies to apps with optional or mandatory user sign-ins. Those apps must automatically restore a user’s signed-in state when they move between Android devices using the Android Restore Credentials API.
