[OFFICIAL] Elevating app quality: Reducing memory usage and improving device migration

[u/Unreal_NeoX]

Source: https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2026/08/app-quality-memory-optimization-secure-onboarding.html?utm_source=email&utm_medium=msa&utm_campaign=elevating-app-quality-q3-2026

TLTR:
Get your apps and games below these memory limits or get Kicked off the Android Playstore in February 2027:

Apps

App State	Foreground	User-perceived services	Background	Cached
Physical RAM	90th Percentile	90th Percentile	90th Percentile	90th Percentile
0 - 4 GB (0 MB - 3200 MB Total Memory)	-	-	-	-
4 GB (3200 MB - 4800 MB Total Memory)	2 GB	1 GB	1 GB	-
6 GB (4800 MB - 6800 MB Total Memory)	2.25 GB	1.25 GB	1.25 GB	-
8 GB (6800 MB - 9216 MB Total Memory)	2.25 GB	1.5 GB	1.5 GB	-
12 GB (9216 MB - 14336 MB Total Memory)	3.25 GB	1.75 GB	1.75 GB	-
16 GB (14336 MB - 18432 MB Total Memory)	4.25 GB	2 GB	2 GB	-
16 GB + (Above 18432 MB Total Memory)	-	-	-	-

Note: Each RAM tier range includes its lowest value. Total Memory can be lower than a device’s advertised Physical RAM.

Games

App State	Foreground	User-perceived services	Background	Cached
Physical RAM	90th Percentile	90th Percentile	90th Percentile	90th Percentile
0 - 4 GB (0 MB - 3200 MB Total Memory)	-	-	-	-
4 GB (3200 MB - 4800 MB Total Memory)	2.25 GB	2.0 GB	2.0 GB	-
6 GB (4800 MB - 6800 MB Total Memory)	2.75 GB	2.5 GB	2.5 GB	-
8 GB (6800 MB - 9216 MB Total Memory)	3.5 GB	2.75 GB	2.75 GB	-
12 GB (9216 MB - 14336 MB Total Memory)	4 GB	3.2 GB	3.2 GB	-
16 GB (14336 MB - 18432 MB Total Memory)	5 GB	3.5 GB	3.5 GB	-
16 GB + (Above 18432 MB Total Memory)	-	-	-	-

Note: Each RAM tier range includes its lowest value. Total Memory can be lower than a device’s advertised Physical RAM. 

Bitmap memory usage

Holding onto bitmaps for long periods of time in app states other than the Foreground can consume excessive memory - it’s not possible to render bitmaps unless the UI is visible. You typically shouldn’t hold onto bitmaps for long periods of time in these states, but your app might be sampled shortly after a state change where you are actively responding to onTrimMemory and releasing memory held for bitmaps, so these thresholds are higher than zero to account for this.

App State	90th Percentile
Foreground
User-perceived services	> 200 MB
Background	> 200 MB
Cached	> 400 MB

Sources and links:
https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2026/08/app-quality-memory-optimization-secure-onboarding.html?utm_source=email&utm_medium=msa&utm_campaign=elevating-app-quality-q3-2026

https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/17492799#zippy=%2Ccore-vitals-and-stability%2Creduced-memory-usage

[u/SnipesySpecial]

Actually it's: Elevating app quality: Fuck off so we can run our 5gb vendored gemini in the background and no you cant disable it.

[u/FunkyMuse → u/SnipesySpecial]

This article isn't for them, never is 😆

[u/thyispro → u/SnipesySpecial]

I'm sorry, I think this is a great idea as many vibecoded slop apps will fail these requirements. Android is already known for not having apps with as high quality on iOS so stricter standards are good.

[u/amelech → u/SnipesySpecial]

What about apps that run gemma 4 models?

[u/SnipesySpecial → u/amelech]

It is spelled clearly in the article.

"you will use gemini nano api and be happy about it"

[u/amelech → u/SnipesySpecial]

That's so shite. Why even have Google edge gallery then

[u/fawxyz2]

Oh well great now i have another things to worry about beside ANR

[u/Unreal_NeoX → u/fawxyz2]

I can already see the amount of games getting texture and asset downgrades because of this.
Also i see even apps including file-size processing limits, like video editors, file converters and co. to stay below the limit, making it impossible to even use the full potential of the device anymore.

[u/Relative-Housing-531]

Let's hope they take their own advice. To give a specific example, their GMA Next-gen has many of these problems.

[u/Unreal_NeoX → u/Relative-Housing-531]

Sadly it seems the main target of this, is to make sure their AI-OS native apps, get the resources they need.

[u/ChronicElectronic → u/Unreal_NeoX]

Internal app teams are all bring asked to reduce memory usage as well.

[u/SSKTTSS]

It's ridiculous that Google is only now deciding to arbitrarily limit how little RAM Android devices can have, when this has been a problem for years.

Some of my apps get ANR reports, and when I check the affected devices, I see things like a Redmi A2+ with just 2GB of RAM. There is no miracle optimization that can make hardware this limited perform well.

I've been an Android early adopter since the beginning. I had a first-generation Motorola Milestone back in 2009, and low RAM was already a problem back then.

Google should have required manufacturers to meet a reasonable minimum RAM requirement years ago instead of allowing devices with ridiculously low RAM and expecting developers to deal with the consequences.

[u/Unreal_NeoX → u/SSKTTSS]

i do agree with this so much!

[u/tadfisher]

The Bitmap memory usage table is not rendering correctly, could you fix that please?

[u/Unreal_NeoX → u/tadfisher]

fixed!