Quick answer: Unreal Niagara effects ignoring system budget settings in shipping builds? Effects Quality scalability is hardcoded in shipping unless ProjectSettings is correct - check Device Profiles.
Cooked shipping APK runs every Niagara at max quality. Editor PIE respects scalability; device doesn't.
Update Device Profiles
Open Edit > Editor Preferences > Device Profiles. Confirm Android_Low/Medium/High profiles set sg.EffectsQuality. Without these, all devices default to High.
Set in DefaultDeviceProfiles.ini
[Android_Low DeviceProfile]
+CVars=sg.EffectsQuality=0Ship-safe; can't be edited by users.
Verify on-device
stat unit on the device. Niagara GPU time should differ between Low and High device profiles; if not, scalability isn't applying.
“Scalability in shipping reads Device Profiles - not editor settings.”
Build a debug HUD that shows the current effects quality level. QA can verify scalability is honored on every supported device.