As consumers, we get a bad taste in our mouths when we hear something is “throttled.” That usually means telecom companies are throttling our data and ruining our online experience. It also means that not-so-unlimited data plans get throttled when you go beyond a certain amount of data in a month. Throttling practices like these are widely denounced as unfair and annoying.
However, there are other types of throttling, and, from the developer’s perspective, it sometimes makes sense. One kind that Android users may run into is called app throttling, which can affect the performance of everyday apps on your phone. We know that sounds bad, butmanufacturers like Samsunghave embraced it as a common practice on their part. Our guide explains what’s going on.
What is app throttling?
App throttling occurs when manufacturers choose specific apps and change how those apps interact with the CPUs and GPUs on their phones. Manufacturers limit these apps to decrease the amount of resources they can draw from phone hardware.
If an app is suddenly throttled, it may start running slower. You may notice longer loading times for app activity. If you’re playing a game, you’ll probably run into framerate issues and stuttering more often. If an app has always been throttled on your phone, it will probably run slower compared to similar apps, or things will take longer than they would when using the app on similar devices.
This kind of app throttling isn’t just a theory. Korean data miners and performance hounds discovered in 2022 that Samsungthrottled more than 10,000 apps, not just for their latest phones but going back several generations. Samsung admitted that this was the case, that it had no plans to stop doing it, and that there was nothing users could do to stop it. OnePlus was found doing the same thing with their phones. Apps targeted included Netflix, the Office Suite, TikTok, and others. Users who learned about it were displeased, especially mobile gamers, who found that “optimization” services were essentially de-optimizing their gaming apps.
Top reasons apps are throttled
So, why would manufacturers throttleyour apps, particularly gaming apps? The reasons can roughly be divided into “cool” and “uncool.” We start with the cool reasons first and work through the list so that you can see what’s going on.
Keep the heat down
Demanding apps, especially apps that show a lot of video or apps that need plenty of power to run games, are a constant draw on resources when active. That makes your phone’s CPU and GPU work harder, producing more heat. Heat is the kryptonite of all computing devices. Increased heat slows performances, damages hardware, hurts permanent battery capacity, and causes crashes.
Manufacturers, well aware of the dangers frequent high heat can cause, choose specific apps that are a big draw on resources and limit how much they can take. That keeps heat levels from rising too high, saving wear and tear on the phone. And, to be fair, this standard is applied equally. Samsung also throttled quite a few of its apps to keep the heat down.
Save on battery life
When apps use less energy, they don’texpend as much battery life. And battery life is important to consumers, regularly registering as a top priority for buyers. As a result, manufacturers try all kinds of little tricks to help save battery life and improve battery performance. As it turns out, one trick that works well is to limit how much the high-demand apps can do. So app throttling has become a battery-saving solution and may be implemented or tweaked through OS updates on your phone.
Prioritize more important functions
The apps that hog a ton of CPU and battery tend to be primarily entertainment-oriented, like streaming apps or games. But your phone has many essential functions that deserve a higher priority when it comes to resources. That includes preinstalled apps that manage files, security apps, and operating system software that controls your interface.
There are several ways that manufacturers give priority to the functions that need it most. One way is by throttling unnecessary apps to free up more resources for the processes that need those resources.
Cheat on benchmark tests
If you care about performance and making sure your phone is a significant upgrade to your previous model, app throttling probably infuriates you. That’s because companies like Samsung can release benchmarks for unthrottled apps to show performance, but with a hidden caveat that says: “Not all your apps will perform this well, and the more demanding the app is, the more likely that it won’t be able to reach the limits of what our new hardware can do.”
To many, that feels like cheating. Companies are posting grades that aren’t possible for many of their apps to reach even in optimal conditions. Benchmarking sites are still struggling with how to respond to this, and someare even banning phone modelsknown to throttle apps.
Inflate the value of an annual upgrade
There are also long-term, systemic worries about app throttling and what it says about manufacturers trying to get consumers to buy new models. It’s in a brand’s best interests to make it look like the new year’s model is just so good, so much of an improvement, that buyers absolutely have to get it. This locks people in a cycle of buying new phones all the time (which may not be great for their finances) and keeps earnings reports pleasing to shareholders. And, if corporations have to throttle apps to keep up this appearance of constant, massive improvements, they will, even if it’s not a healthy perspective.
What about CPU throttling?
CPU throttling is another term for app throttling that focuses on CPU hardware and benchmarking. It’s another way of looking at app throttling, but the practice is the same.
Performance throttling is here to stay
App throttling isn’t going anywhere. And while we’re not sure how many manufacturers are doing it or to what extent, it appears to be a fairly common practice. After all, most phone users don’t notice the effects of throttling or don’t care when they learn about it, especially if they get better battery life out of the deal.
If you want to push the performance of an app, mobile phones aren’t your best bet. For example, gamers may want to turn to something like the Steam Deck. If you depend on a demanding app for work or serious recreation, you may want to look it up or ask benchmarking forums about what phone would work best for it to avoid throttling.
