The 16KB Question: What Android’s Memory Page Shift Means for Devs in 2025

With Android 16 introducing support for 16KB memory pages on some devices, a low-level system change is quietly arriving with potentially wide-ranging consequences. While this change offers performance benefits, it also introduces risks—especially for apps relying on native code, memory-sensitive libraries, or third-party SDKs.

In this technical roundtable, Android developers will unpack the implications of this memory page transition. We’ll swap strategies on how to test and prepare apps for the shift, identify risky dependencies, and share tooling tips to prevent crashes or regressions.

Whether you’re building with NDK/JNI or managing complex build configurations, this is a chance to trade notes with peers, ask questions, and walk away with practical insights.

>Have you tested your app or libraries against 16KB memory page environments yet? If not, what’s holding you back?

>Which parts of your stack (NDK code, third-party SDKs, custom memory allocators) are most at risk with the new page size?

>How are you approaching compatibility testing? Are you using the emulator, physical devices, CI checks, or other tools?

>What communication (if any) have you seen from third-party SDK vendors regarding 16KB support? How are you tracking updates or risks?

>Do you think this change will have lasting effects on how we build, test, or structure native Android codebases going forward? Why or why not?