Android: Is WebView affected by Java heap limit?

Issue

I read that Android Java applications have a limitation for heap memory. I would like to know if WebView content is allocated on that heap or it uses C allocation.

Solution

Based on my observations of viewing my Android app memory using DDMS/MAT, the WebView has a minimal footprint in the heap and any memory used by applications within the WebView are allocated directly from system memory, avoiding the heap.

My application is quite large, 30+ MB on lauch, and the WebView still only reports a minimal size on the heap, I think it was between 300K-400K.

Use Dalvik Debug Monitor (DDMS) to capture a memory dump. Use Eclipse Memory Analyzer Tool (MAT) to analyze the dump.

Watch this video for a tutorial on how to use these tools to examine your Android memory usage and prove to yourself this is true:

http://dubroy.com/blog/google-io-memory-management-for-android-apps/

Answered By - James