The new beta versions of iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 give developers the ability to request more memory than the current 5 GB per app, but with limitations.
Apple has always put a cap on how much RAM an app can use on the iPad. The original 4GB version of the 12.9-inch iPad Pro from 2015 limited apps to 3GB on iOS 11.4. Similarly, the iPhone X on iOS 11.4 allowed apps up to 1.2GB. That increased to 1.8GB RAM starting with iOS 12.1. Anyway. Now, this has become a bigger problem as devices themselves have more RAM to offer. Even on an M1 iPad Pro with the current maximum of 16GB RAM, apps are limited to around 5GB per app. Now, a new developer note on the beta versions of iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 says that apps can request more RAM. This is done via a special setting that apparently doesn't allow apps to specify how much more RAM they want.
iOS 15 & iPadOS 15: Apple warns of impact on system performance
Apple also points out that the feature will not be available on every iPad or iPhone. explained the company:
[It is a] boolean value that indicates whether core functionality of your app will work better with a higher memory limit on supported devices. If you use this permission, make sure your app still behaves correctly when no additional memory is available.
Additional memory may or may not be granted to a requesting app based on the device's overall capacity or other apps using that memory. Apple offers a check that developers can use "to determine the amount of available memory." Perhaps a clue as to why Apple is imposing limits in the first place, the company also warns that "higher memory usage may impact system performance." (Photo by Elinaxx1v / Bigstockphoto)
