Google has announced two new app quality requirements for Android developers in response to industry-wide memory chip shortages driven by the AI data center boom. One of these requirements focuses on reducing apps’ memory usage and optimizing code to address “significant hardware supply constraints that are altering device memory availability,” which can affect consumer experience with their devices. To assist developers, Google is rolling out new tools that will alert them when their apps exceed new performance thresholds related to dynamic memory usage, bitmap usage, and code optimization, with additional diagnostic tools, including a Memory Limiter feature, to be introduced later in the year. Developers have until February 2027 to meet these new thresholds, which are documented on Google’s Android Developer site ¹.

In addition to the memory usage requirements, Google will mandate that all Play Store apps meet the Zero Tap Sign-In requirement during device migrations by April 2027. This standard requires apps with user sign-ins, whether optional or mandatory, to automatically restore the user’s sign-in state when they move between Android devices using the Android Restore Credentials API ¹.

Footnotes

1. Source: AI’s memory crunch is coming for Android apps, TechCrunch. ↩ ↩²

This is a summary. Read the original at techcrunch.com.