In this post, we will show you how to enable or disable Memory Saver in Chrome. Google Chrome has recently rolled out two new performance features in its latest version. Known as the Energy Saver Mode and Memory Saver Mode, these features have been introduced to optimize the browser for consuming less battery and RAM on battery-operated devices. We have recently reviewed the Energy Saver Mode in Chrome in one of our blog posts. In this post, we will talk specifically about the Memory Saver mode, and explain how to enable and disable this feature in Google Chrome.
When you browse the web using Google Chrome, you may open many tabs. All these tabs, including those you’re not using actively, eat up a chunk of RAM. Memory Saver is a unique feature that frees up memory and system resources by deactivating idle Chrome tabs, so that other tabs (tabs you’re using actively) may access more RAM and provide you with a smooth running experience. This comes in handy while running complex applications that require more RAM, such as video streaming, video editing, online gaming, etc. Inactive tabs get reloaded automatically when you return to them.
Why is Chrome using all my RAM?
Chrome has been titled as the fastest browser, and this title comes at the cost of ‘RAM’. Chrome uses more RAM than other modern browsers because it puts each tab in a separate RAM process, which results in a heavy load on the CPU. Other reasons are plugins and extensions. The more plugins and extensions you install in Chrome, the more system resources it required to run all of them.
Memory Saver is one of the RAM-saving features introduced by Chrome. It is an experimental feature that may or may not be rolled out to your device. If you can’t find it in Chrome, you need to enable it explicitly through Chrome’s flags page. Once enabled, it shows up under the Performance settings in Chrome. You may then activate the feature as and when required. Let us see in detail how to enable and activate Memory Saver in Google Chrome.
Enable or Turn on Memory Saver Mode in Google Chrome
- Open a new tab in the Google Chrome browser.
- Type chrome://flags/ in the address bar and press the Enter key.
- Type ‘efficiency’ in the Search flags search box.
- Select Enabled from the dropdown next to the ‘Enable the high-efficiency mode feature in the settings’ option.
- Click on the Relaunch button that appears in the bottom-right corner.
Please bear in mind that the experimental features may risk your browser’s privacy or security, or you may lose browser data by enabling these flags.
Once enabled, you can click on the menu icon (three vertical dots) in the top-right corner of your Chrome browser and select More tools > Performance.
On the Performance settings page, you will see a toggle button next to the Memory Saver option. Turn it on to activate the Memory Saver feature in Chrome.
Upon activation, Memory Saver starts monitoring all open tabs in Chrome. When a tab remains inactive for a certain period, Memory Saver frees up RAM from that tab and makes it available for other active tabs. When the user returns to the tab, a Memory Saver icon appears in the address bar of the tab as shown in the above screenshot. On mouse hover, the icon says ‘Tab active again’, which signifies that Memory Saver was working in the background and has now reassigned RAM to the tab.
Read: Not enough memory to open this page – Google Chrome error.
Restrict Memory Saver Mode from deactivating Specific Websites in Chrome
Chrome allows you to restrict Memory Saver from deactivating websites that are important to you. To do so, click on the Add button next to the ‘Always keep these sites active‘ option. Enter the URL of the website in the window that appears and then click on the Add button.
The site gets listed on the page. You can remove it anytime from the listing by clicking on the More actions icon and choosing the Remove option.
How to disable Memory Mode Saver in Google Chrome
To disable Memory Saver, follow these steps:
- Click on the menu icon in the top-left corner of the Chrome browser.
- Click on the More tools menu.
- Select Performance.
- Click on the toggle button next to the Memory Saver option to turn it off.
Hope you find this useful.
Read Next: Is it bad to keep multiple tabs open on your computer?
