What is ART and How to Enable It on your Android KitKat Device.

A quick overview of what ART is and why you might want to install it. Any app on Android has to be compiled (translated to run on the device from the raw app code) to run on your device. The program that does this compiling at the moment on Android is called Dalvik and it uses a JIT (just in time) compiler to compile the Android app’s code as you open it (just in time making more sense now?). This has its benefits as it allows less storage to be needed on the device (since the compiling takes place every time the app is opened and the code is discarded every time it’s closed) but the major draw back of this is that it takes a bit to compile and that produces that lag you feel when opening an app.

Since storage has become much cheaper than when Android originally came out, Google decided to start working on a new runtime program that would compile the code once when you install the app instead of having to do it every time the app is opened. This new runtime is called ART. After two years of working on it, they’ve put it in Android 4.4. The runtime isn’t active by default, however (still ironing out some things and improving it), but you can easily activate it from the settings if you want to check it out. Before you do, keep in mind Google’s own words on the matter:

ART is a new Android runtime being introduced experimentally in the 4.4 release KitKat. This is a preview of work in progress in kitkat. It is available for the purpose of obtaining early developer and partner feedback.

I. Before You Begin

1. You need a KitKat device (Android 4.4 or higher).

2. I use a Nexus 5  in this video so the settings for your device might be in a slightly different place (but generally About Device is always present in Settings somewhere and then Developer Options appear above that once activated).

3. This is an experimental runtime so some apps may not like it (although I have yet to run into an app with an issue myself).

II. Enable Developer Options

1. Pull down the notification shade by pulling down from the top of the device.

2. Tap the Quick Setting icon at the top right.

3. Tap the Gear icon to get to Settings.

4. Tap About Phone.

5. Continuously tap Build number over and over until it says you are a developer.

6. Hit back.

7. Tap on Developer Options that just appeared above About phone and turn them on.

III. Enable ART Runtime

1. Tap on Select Runtime in Developer Options.

2. Select Use ART.

3. Tap OK.

4. Wait for the device to reboot (this will take a while the first time).

5. Enjoy a faster device.