I lost a draft post in Voyager on Android while I was a few apps away doing research and looking for a photo to add to the post.

That brought to me an understanding that Android will just kill apps for memory purposes.

Then I thought back to Windows 98 and how it had a page file that would write RAM information to the hard disk and use it as RAM. It was slow af, but it worked.

So I’m wondering: it’s 2026; why is Android just killing apps instead of writing them to a much faster drive for recall when needed?

  • Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org
    161·
    18 hours ago

    It’s the app’s responsibility, not the system’s.

    On a mobile, apps must be aware that they can get killed at any time.

    • schipelblorp@sh.itjust.worksOP
      314·
      17 hours ago

      So instead of coming up with a technical solution, they came up with a political one… maybe historically because space, even storage space, was initially so limitted?

      Edit: This isn’t “judgmental” or “mockery framing.” Linux DOES have swap files available, but acknowledging the OS is designed to run on extremely limited hardware and thereby passing responsibility for persistence onto developers because the OS can’t guarantee a memory backstop IS a political solution.