Virtual RAM is the secret to smoother, rugged Android phones. Since I activated virtual RAM on my Spark 10 5G, apps that used to reload themself after I switched to another app stopped reloading. Seriously, it was very frustrating, especially when I'm trying to copy-paste information between apps. If you're also experiencing this problem, I'm going to walk you through the simple method to activate a virtual RAM on your phone.
What Causes App Reloading?
Limited physical RAM
If your apps and games are reloading, or your browser tabs are refreshing whenever you switch to another app, then it means your device has limited physical RAM. RAM is a super-fast type of memory that stores the apps you've opened since you turned on your phone. That memory lets you return to an app you've previously used and pick up right where you left off, without delay.
So when your phone has limited RAM and you run too many apps in the background, the apps will definitely reload whenever you switch to another task because your android operating system will close background apps to free memory.
The question is, should you enable virtual RAM? Yes, if your phone has 4–6 GB of RAM and you frequently multitask, then activating your virtual RAM is a good idea. It usually makes little difference on phones with 8 GB or more of RAM, unless you're pushing the phone with many apps at once.
My Spark 10 5G is featured with 8GB of physical RAM, as you can see in the image above, and has a 256GB ROM. Despite these huge memories, I still enable virtual RAM on the phone to keep that smooth, rugged Android on the go. I don't want any form of lagging whenever I'm running heavy apps like Alight Motion, CapCut, the Call of Duty video game, Dream League, and Canva. With my virtual RAM enabled, I can run these apps concurrently without them reloading whenever I switch.
Battery Optimization
Furthermore, battery optimization is another Android feature that saves power by limiting what apps can do when they're running in the background. When an app is battery optimized, Android may pause its background activity, restrict background data usage, delay notifications, close it sooner when the system needs memory.
This helps extend battery life, but it can also cause some apps to reload when you switch back to them or delay notifications from messaging apps. But that is not the case when your apps keep reloading themselves everytime you switch to another app despite that your phone is having a fully charged battery.
However, if RAM is not the problem, you might consider disabling the battery optimization feature for apps that need to stay active, especially your music streaming app, messaging apps, and navigation apps. The most direct way to make changes to your android battery optimization feature is by going to “settings” and use the search bar to look for “battery”.
Tap on the “Battery Optimization” and reconfigure your battery settings.
What Is Virtual RAM?
Virtual Random Access Memory (RAM), otherwise known as RAM Expansion, Extended RAM, or Dynamic Memory, is a memory management technique that temporarily uses an unused portion of your device’s internal storage (ROM) as extra short-term or temporary memory to keep your apps running in the background so that more tasks can be performed. For example, my Spark 10 5G has 8GB of physical RAM, and I enabled an additional 8GB of virtual RAM, making it behave like a device with 16GB RAM.
That said, it's important to note that if your phone's physical RAM is sufficient to handle your daily tasks, activating Virtual RAM won't noticeably affect performance because the system will continue relying on the physical RAM. Although a portion of your internal storage may be reserved for Virtual RAM, it won't be actively used unless your physical RAM is running low.
Once your phone's physical RAM reaches its limit, Android can begin using that reserved storage as temporary memory to help keep more apps running in the background. For this to work effectively, your phone also needs enough free internal storage available.
However, it's important to note that virtual RAM is slower than physical RAM. It cannot be used to replace real RAM speed or make the CPU faster. Virtual RAM also can't boost camera sensor performance, fix poor software optimization, or increases raw gaming FPS. It's only useful to enhance performance and improve stability in complex, heavy apps.
Why I decided to enable virtual RAM
I know you're wondering why I turned on virtual RAM despite the fact that my phone's physical RAM is 8GB and its storage is 256GB. Well, I'm a heavy Android user. I specifically bought my phone for video-editing and multitasking, including using CapCut and Alight Motion while editing images I'll use in my videos on Canva, and browsing through stock images and video clips I can use for the editing—all at the same time. You can probably imagine how many times I have to switch between these heavy apps and still come back expecting to find them running perfectly. That is the best performance I'm currently experiencing turning on virtual RAM on my Android phone.
If you're a multitasker like me, I encourage you to enable your Android virtual RAM to experience the simplicity and smooth performance of an Android device. However, it's important to let you know that virtual RAM is not an Android-version feature only—it's a manufacturer (OEM) feature. Whether a phone has Virtual RAM depends on the brand and model. But virtual RAM is most common on mid-range, budget-friendly, and many recent flagship Android phones.
How to Enable Virtual RAM
This is how I enabled virtual RAM on my Tecno Spark 10 5G:
- Go-to “Settings” and tap “My Phone” to view your device's specs.
- Tap on the “RAM” box and begin the configuration.
- For my phone, I have three virtual RAM options: 3GB, 5GB, and 8GB. I chose the 8GB because I want maximum capacity for better performances.
- Toggle on all the features such as “MemFusion” and “AI MemFusion."
- The AI MemFusion is an intelligent memory management feature that predicts which apps you're less likely to use and moves them into virtual RAM, leaving the faster physical RAM available for the apps you're actively using.
On many Android phones, you may find virtual RAM as any of these terms: Virtual RAM, RAM Expansion, Memory Extension, RAM Plus, Extended RAM, Memory Fusion, or MemFusion. As you can see on my Spark 10 5G, it's classified as “Memory Fusion (MemFusion).” However, if none of those terms appear, your phone likely doesn't support the feature, or the manufacturer has hidden or removed it.
