I freed up 2GB of RAM by changing one Android setting, and my Pixel's been flying ever since
Android Police 2026-06-18 12:15:14
Context: The author, Jon Gilbert, a Features Writer for Android Police, discovered a way to improve his phone's battery life and performance by changing a single setting on his Android phone. He found that setting the number of allowed background processes to zero in the developer settings resulted in a 2GB reduction in RAM usage and improved his phone's performance. This tweak has been beneficial for his Tensor-equipped Pixel phone.
Key Facts
- The author, Jon Gilbert, changed the background process limit setting to zero in his Android phone's developer settings, which resulted in freeing up 2GB of RAM and improving his phone's performance.
- The setting, labeled "Background process limit," can be found in the developer options menu and is typically set to "Standard limit" by default, allowing around 20 background processes to run.
- Contrary to common misconceptions, limiting background processes will not prevent apps like Facebook, Gmail, and messages from receiving notifications, as they use Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) to send push notifications.
- The author noticed a delay of around 10-15 seconds in receiving notifications and some apps taking longer to open after enabling the setting, but overall experienced a boost in battery life and performance.
- The "Background process limit" setting can be changed by enabling developer options, navigating to the "Background process limit" setting, and selecting "No background processes" from the available options.