As much as the memory shortage crisis has been a net negative in the tech industry, there are some silver linings, like software companies making their products more memory-efficient. This is going to apply to apps that you can download from the Google Play Store in a bit. The company has published a post on its Android Developers Blog indicating this, as well as an initiative to enforce a better device migration experience. These are two of what it calls “new quality requirements” for apps.
The internet search giant specifically mentions “significant hardware supply constraints that are altering device memory availability that over time can negatively impact the user experience” as the reason for enforcing memory limits on apps. This, in turn, comes in the form of performance thresholds like dynamic memory usage and bitmap usage, as well as code optimisation. Of course, the company is also releasing tools to help app devs achieve these new targets.
Which brings us to when the internet search giant wants to start enforcing these new rules. According to the post, the company has set a deadline of February 2027. By then, “apps and games that do not meet these thresholds may see reduced app visibility and publishing capabilities on Google Play”. It also says that more details on this will be provided later this year, and that “whenever requirements are updated, we will ensure you have the appropriate time needed to comply”.
On one hand, these rules will only be enforced in half a year. But on the other, apps being more efficient is just a good thing in general. And while most modern games on PC and consoles could benefit from being more memory-efficient, they would benefit from being forced to be more storage-efficient as well. If nothing else, Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead has proven this to be possible.
(Source: Google [1], [2])