It was recently reported that despite the M1 iPad Pro lineup coming with as much as 16GB RAM, Apple was only allowing apps to access around 5GB of it. With iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, Apple is making a major change in the amount of RAM apps can access.

Starting with iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, Apple will allow developers to request access to additional RAM for their apps and games. This should translate into heavy apps and games offering better performance as they will have more memory to work with.

Apple’s developer documentation does not clarify how much additional RAM apps will be able to access in this mode. This entitlement will also only be available in selected “supported devices.” This makes sense as older iPhones and iPads do not have the same amount of RAM as found on the newer models.

Add this entitlement to your app to inform the system that some of your app’s core features may perform better by exceeding the default app memory limit on supported devices. If you use this entitlement, make sure your app still behaves correctly if additional memory isn’t available.

An increased memory limit is only available on some device models. Call the os_proc_available_memory function to determine the amount of memory available. Higher memory use can affect system performance.

You will likely to notice a performance improvement while using heavy apps and games on your iPhone or iPad if it’s a recent model with 6GB or more RAM.

Photo and video editing apps can definitely benefit from access to additional RAM as they will be able to keep more layers in memory. Unlike macOS, there’s no concept of a swap memory on iOS and iPadOS, so if the system or app runs out of memory, it will simply force close or work very slowly.

Apps with access to this entitlement will make their way to the App Store once Apple releases iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 to the public this September.