{
  "id": 4664395,
  "title": "Google Sets February 2027 Deadline: Android Apps Must Meet New Memory Limits",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/31/google-sets-february-2027-deadline-android-apps-must-meet-new-memory",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-08-31T15:03:16.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "TechRepublic",
    "slug": "techrepublic",
    "url": "https://www.techrepublic.com/article/news-google-android-app-memory-requirements-2027/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Google has announced a February 2027 deadline for Android app developers to comply with new memory requirements on the Play Store. The move comes as Android devices face increasing demand for RAM, particularly with the rise of memory-intensive AI features and memory costs.\n\nDevelopers will need to optimize their apps to meet tighter Play Store thresholds covering runtime memory, bitmap usage, and code optimization. Exceeding these limits could result in reduced visibility or restrictions on publishing updates.\n\nFor example, on an 8GB device, a regular app would have a 2.25GB memory threshold in the foreground and 1.5GB in the background. Games, due to their higher RAM needs, have higher limits. Developers must also manage bitmap memory to avoid loading unnecessary large images.\n\nTo meet these new requirements, developers will need to identify and fix memory leaks, reduce unnecessary memory use, optimize images, and remove excess code. Google is also changing Android's core memory management, with new per-app memory limits starting with Pixel devices. If an app exceeds its allocated limit, Android may compress memory pages into zRAM or terminate the process.\n\nGoogle's new memory data will provide developers with visibility into their app's performance across different devices. While the new requirements reflect the memory crunch, they also suggest a shift towards treating efficient RAM use as a long-term design consideration for Android developers. This could set a precedent for other mobile platforms and OEMs to impose similar restrictions on developers, promoting leaner, more efficient software that makes better use of existing hardware.",
  "summary": "Google is setting new Android app memory requirements for February 2027 as developers face stricter Play Store thresholds and rising RAM pressure. The post Google Sets February 2027 Deadline: Android Apps Must Meet New Memory Limits appeared first on TechRepublic .",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}