Credit score: David Imel / Android Authority
- A brand new app hibernation function may very well be coming to a future model of Android.
- The function goals to optimize unused apps for storage, however little else is understood about it.
We’re nearly due for the Android 12 developer preview, if final 12 months’s timeline is something to go on. There’s no official phrase on user-facing options coming to the brand new Android replace, nevertheless it seems like Google is engaged on one mysterious function.
XDA-Developers experiences that a number of code modifications had been submitted to the Android Open Supply Venture (AOSP), with these modifications referencing a so-called “app hibernation” function.
“System service that manages app hibernation state, a state apps can enter that means they are not being actively used and can be optimized for storage,” reads an excerpt of a reference, according to the outlet.
What should you expect?
There’s no word on exactly how this feature will work and what app hibernation actually entails aside from storage optimization. It’s also unclear whether the system will handle app hibernation automatically or whether users can select apps to hibernate.
For what it’s worth, some Android OEMs prompt you to uninstall unused apps as part of system optimization functionality. We’ve also seen some manufacturers offer power-related functionality on a per-app basis, so you can restrict specific apps from launching/running in the background. Presumably apps that are hibernated are somehow compressed or cut down in size though (e.g. behaving more like a web app).
We’ve previously seen Google work on features in AOSP only for it to go missing from a subsequent Android release (e.g. desktop mode), so there’s no guarantee that app hibernation will come to Android 12. But we’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for this feature when Android 12 developer previews go live.
