Does Android use more memory than iOS? – Gary explains

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[EBaeMG]

gary must explain why android is slow and sluggish over time

[keco]

I'm not subscribed to this channel so when I clicked on this video I was expecting a poor explanation that basically ended at the 9 minute mark in this video. Super surprised at how in depth this went and how bi-partisan the video was considering the channel name. I suppose the name doesn't summarize the views of the channel here.

[AlawamiAZ]

one of the few guys in android journalism world who knows his shit.

[TheKeyboardxWarrior]

So at a basic standpoint, iOS solves the low RAM problem through software, while Android went with the hardware approach, if I understood the details correctly.

[adithyabhat]

I'm a Android fan, but appreciate Apple's multitasking
Great

[smoothie]

Gary is the only reason I continue to subscribe to AA.

[chloroformcowboy]

If you already know about Android memory management and are just curious about if there are differences on iOS: skip all the way to ~ 14:50 mins.

[ckingpro]

Apple also uses compressed memory since iOS 7 so it is probably compression. Also, for iOS, it can ask apps to purge cache, etc so the app is still running but it may have to do computation again, etc. Another thing iOS can do is it can purge memory-mapped files. Any file that is copied to RAM but not changed in RAM can be evicted. If an app needs it again that part of the file is immediately loaded from flash. Keep in mind that flash memory in iOS is usually faster than flash in Android as well, so that could also make a difference.

Also, part of the reason apps use less memory is that the Java runtime may use more memory though ART (Android Runtime) replaced Delvik. Another thing is that graphics in iOS can be smaller due to the limited set of iPhones (so they can be exact sizes needed). Another thing I can think of is that if an app uses web resources then webkit is used (which is more efficient than Blink in low-memory scenarios (as can be seen in Chrome vs Safari on the Desktop)).

[XSpImmaLion]

Straddling along with my 6Gb RAM OnePlus 3... xD

[thesolitarycactus]

Gary: Appreciate both operating systems and see the beauty of different technology.
Android fanboy: But, but, iOS still sucks and has a shitty low resolution screen!!!
Apple fanboy: Keep using your lagdroid phone then!!!
This war never ends, sigh.

[tm]

Thanks for an unbiased video here. I just got an iPhone 7 Plus and really like it, after years of using Android. I did wonder why iOS seemed like it was faster and more capable with the same amount of RAM, and your video has helped me understand it a great deal. I appreciate your time and helpful explination.

[cachememory]

The car is too slow. Easy for engineer no. 1. Put a bigger engine in it.

Another engineer (no. 2) improves the transmission, reduces the weight and improves the aeoridynamic.

Engineer no. 2 still has the option to swap the engine ...

So yes Android uses more RAM.

[aniruddhapaturkar]

I'm impressed with the amount of research you guys have done on this. Thanks for sharing.

[eoinmcorks]

It's ok, I downloaded more RAM on my phone so now I can have more Facebook pages open :)

[arjunkharbanda]

RAM is also a selling point in Android

[suminthar]

I believe its due to iOS dedicated to 1 model which is iPhone. So software optimization is pretty simple and easy to maintain. Android is an open source OS to various of OEM where google didnt care much about software optimization in the early days. Lately, it start to care much and getting better with every new release. There are some great OEM who optimize their custom UI to perform well. :)

[Wreighn]

Oh, come on Gary... Apple solved it with software, and Android just added more RAM to conceal the underlying issue. I hate Apple for having crappy overpriced products with closed software. I've always liked Android for its openness, but while having more RAM is a great thing, that doesn't fix the underlying issue. I find it hard to believe that Android developers haven't yet figured out how to tackle this issue from a software standpoint.
I would love it if my 4GB RAM Android device could also compress (or whatever iOS does) background apps. That would give me the best of both worlds.
Apple on the other hand can offer the best of both worlds to their consumers, but they won't do it.

[mluu]

amazing video! thank you so much! I am an a professional iOS developer myself and always wondered about this.

[SansBinky]

3gb of RAM? Pff us OP users know what's up

[kunalnarang]

Wonderful video Gary! Seems like you solved this problem for us, I was never able to understand why Apple had lower app switching times, perhaps you have to be in the OS development team for iOS to understand that. But you solved the major questions. Thanks Gary, waiting for more videos from you.