Google tells Android app developers to cool it on memory use, or else

<figure> <img alt="An image of the Android logo on a blue and green background" data-caption="The memory crisis just won’t quit. | Image: Alex Castro / The Verge" data-portal-copyright="Image: Alex Castro / The Verge" data-has-syndication-rights="1" src="https://platform.theverge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/acastro_STK112_android_01.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;crop=0,0,100,100" /> <figcaption> The memory crisis just won’t quit. | Image: Alex Castro / The Verge </figcaption> </figure> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">Google will start policing memory-hungry Android apps as a direct response to the RAM crisis. <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/27/ais-memory-crunch-is-coming-for-android-apps/">Spotted by <em>TechCrunch</em></a>, the company yesterday <a href="https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2026/08/app-quality-memory-optimization-secure-onboarding.html">published a memo addressing the Play Store's role in enforcing new memory-usage restrictions.</a> The post emphasizes the importance of meeting new memory usage limits for apps, in order "to help developers navigate industry-wide hardware constraints and Android's broader memory limits," it says. And failing to meet the new memory restrictions will come with consequences.</p> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">The memory limitations were <a href="https://developer.android.com/about/versions/17/behavior-changes-all#app-memory-limits">first introduced with Android 17</a>, appearing first on Pixel phones. It's probably no coincidence that <a href="https://www.theverge.com/tech/978013/google-pixel-11-series-hands-on-hardware-software">the base …</a></p> <p><a href="https://www.theverge.com/tech/985679/google-play-android-17-memory-limit">Read the full story at The Verge.</a></p>