The Internet recently complained about the OnePlus 3’s so called RAM management issues. According to various complaints, the phone didn’t use the 6GB of RAM it comes with, effectively, functioning more like a phone with 3-4GB of RAM. This prompted OnePlus CEO Carl Pei to confirm that the company chose the current method of RAM management in order to optimise user experience, while also saying that users are free to tweak the settings themselves.
https://twitter.com/getpeid/status/743721965114920962
Basically, while the OnePlus 3 does have 6GB of RAM, it closes apps in the background, just like other smartphones (with 3-4GB of RAM) would do. This means that the entire capacity of the phone isn’t quite being used. However, having more apps running in the background may indeed affect battery life, and as we saw in our review, the OnePlus 3’s battery life is only about satisfactory.
However, if you do want to tweak the factory settings, you can do so by rooting your device. OnePlus allows you to root its smartphones without voiding warranty. After rooting you’ll need to download the BuildProp Editor app, which allows you to access the build.prop file on the device. Here you’ll find the following line: ro.sys.fw.bg_apps_limit=20.
Changing the number at the end of this line allows you to keep more apps drawn on the memory. According to Mario Tomás Serrafero, from XDA Developers Forum, significant improvements can be seen on the OnePlus 3 post this tweak. However, Serrafero noted that battery effects haven’t been tested yet. Serrafero is the one who found the solution to the default RAM management settings on the OnePlus 3. In his post, he also wrote that there are other ways to access the build.prop file.
We are in the process of testing this tweak on our OnePlus 3 and will conduct battery tests over some time. Expect our feedback soon.