Apps keep on restarting constantly after killing them ...

[LexG]

Hi all,

I recently got myself a SGS2 and I've been fiddling around with getting a longer battery life. Tried a few things and now I'm playing with advanced task killer. I'm left with a few questions though ...

Every time I check the list of running apps (in ATK) I notice apps running such as : Gallery, FM radio, Google search, and even the market. Why would the Gallery or radio app need to be running ? It doesn't make sense ...

Even more weird is that when I kill them and they are gone from the list, they keep on restarting and upon opening the ATK list again, they are back ... Anyone know why that is ? I mean, automatically killing these things after they keep restarting time and time again will use mare battery than just leaving them ...

Why would apps such as radio, gallery and so on keep restarting after killing them ? Can anyone clarify this android behavior to me ?

Thanks in advance,
Lex

 

[chanchan05]

Remove task killer. Killing tasks actually decreases battery life. This has been discussed many times before and you will see several discussions regarding this thread. Basically uninstall ATK and ignore running apps.

Android is designed to keep running services that are required to be running due to interconnected dependencies.

http://androidforums.com/android-applications/335110-why-you-dont-need-task-killer.html#post2681361

http://androidforums.com/android-lounge/503989-authorized-run-applications-android.html

http://androidforums.com/android-applications/505562-advanced-task-killer.html

read the links, and you will see your explanations. Just to cut the entire story short, don't bother with task killers, they reduce battery life and reduce performance.

 

[Adauth]

As stated, Ditch the task killer.

 

[chanchan05]

Seriously, we need a sticky for this. This the most common question here.

 

[dvhttn]

Seriously, we need a sticky for this. This the most common question here.

+1. But then the answer could also have been found with the most basic of Google searches so I don't hold out much hope of people reading a 'sticky' either ....

Dave

 

[LexG]

I had a feeling ... Thanks for your replies guys ...

 

[Frisco]

+1. But then the answer could also have been found with the most basic of Google searches so I don't hold out much hope of people reading a 'sticky' either ....

Dave

You're right about that. It is human nature for many people (me included) to ask about something before taking time to search around, and that's fine because we're a community here and one-on-one interaction is what communities are all about.

The stickies and search feature here are a great addition to the place, but there's nothing like making friends by asking for and providing help.

 

[nyydynasty]

You're right about that. It is human nature for many people (me included) to ask about something before taking time to search around, and that's fine because we're a community here and one-on-one interaction is what communities are all about.

The stickies and search feature here are a great addition to the place, but there's nothing like making friends by asking for and providing help.

I can honestly say that is the first time I've heard someone say that. I agree with this 100% but everyone (until now) has always flamed people for asking questions that are either (1) stickied or (2) have been asked 100's of times and can be found by searching.

I thank you for saying that its okay to ask questions.
You, my friend, get a cookie

 

[Frisco]

You, my friend, get a cookie

Mmm.... more cookie...

Spoiler

 

[LexG]

You're right about that. It is human nature for many people (me included) to ask about something before taking time to search around, and that's fine because we're a community here and one-on-one interaction is what communities are all about.

Actually, I did some google searches on the subject before asking the question. I also watched some ATK reviews on youtube ... They didn't answer my question ...

Atually, some of the questions in my post weren't answered here also, since the replies moved off-topic

So, anyone know why the gallery and fm radio apps are running in the back ? And yes ... I googled that as well (though I don't have time to search 20 page results, but I hope I'll be forgiven for that ) ...

 

[chanchan05]

Gallery is linked to several other apps (Facebook, Twitter etc) that have background processes. As for FM radio I have no idea, as its not one of my running services ever, but it could be you have an app with a background service related to that.

As for the sticky, I mean we'd have an easier way to just link them to that, as long as the sticky is very comprehensive. LOL.

 

[Kicksilver]

Also, tell yours friends to ditch TKs also.

 

[Dieseled]

Remove task killer. Killing tasks actually decreases battery life. This has been discussed many times before and you will see several discussions regarding this thread. Basically uninstall ATK and ignore running apps.

Android is designed to keep running services that are required to be running due to interconnected dependencies.

http://androidforums.com/android-applications/335110-why-you-dont-need-task-killer.html#post2681361

http://androidforums.com/android-lounge/503989-authorized-run-applications-android.html

http://androidforums.com/android-applications/505562-advanced-task-killer.html

read the links, and you will see your explanations. Just to cut the entire story short, don't bother with task killers, they reduce battery life and reduce performance.

Is the same said for the widget task killer on the epic tough 4g?

 

[chanchan05]

is the same said for the widget task killer on the epic tough 4g?

any task killer. there is a difference between a task killer and a cache cleaner though.

 

[Jay Gloab]

Hey, thanks for the tip guys (and I found it by searching, rather than asking first!). I uninstalled ATK and yay, my phone is running smoother.

 

[TChris]

I HAVE searched this topic and found that the only issue anyone addresses with regard to background apps is memory usage. I have two other issues with background apps that nobody seems to answer:

1. Responsiveness - My RAZR-X will get to the point where touching the back button will do absolutely nothing for 5-10 seconds, then finally respond. Killing the long list of background apps ALWAYS resolves this.

2. Data usage - Many background apps have a bad habit of chatting away merrily on my data connection, eating up expensive MBs for who knows what? I prefer to control when my data plan is used, and for what.

I am also a developer, though not for mobile devices yet. I hold strongly to the philosophy that the user is king and all software should be designed with that goal in mind. If there are dependencies involved, Android should warn the user about them and then give him/her the option of disabling their automatic startup anyway.

 

[PaulS]

Some music applications,like radios and players,have separate Headphone options and if these are enabled they may be expecting the insertion of the headphone jack and are therefore held in memory waiting for you.I've found they don't take up any noticeable battery or device resources and may even be more efficient than loading the apps manually depending on your daily session.

HTH

 

[Hook]

I HAVE searched this topic and found that the only issue anyone addresses with regard to background apps is memory usage. I have two other issues with background apps that nobody seems to answer:

1. Responsiveness - My RAZR-X will get to the point where touching the back button will do absolutely nothing for 5-10 seconds, then finally respond. Killing the long list of background apps ALWAYS resolves this.

2. Data usage - Many background apps have a bad habit of chatting away merrily on my data connection, eating up expensive MBs for who knows what? I prefer to control when my data plan is used, and for what.

I am also a developer, though not for mobile devices yet. I hold strongly to the philosophy that the user is king and all software should be designed with that goal in mind. If there are dependencies involved, Android should warn the user about them and then give him/her the option of disabling their automatic startup anyway.

Welcome to AF, TChris.

#1. This is almost certainly due to one particular app that is misbehaving, and probably when it is not in the background.You should track down that misbehaving app and eliminate it for good. It will take some systematic testing, but will be worth it.

#2 Do you have examples. Generally, apps running in the background are not necessarily using data, but processes you have allowed may be. So, for instance, under Settings > accounts, Google, you can uncheck which Google apps participate in autosync. If you have an email client set to check for email at intervals, yes, it will check at those intervals. Also, many apps give you the option of "sync or download on wifi only." Go into settings > Data usage and check what programs are using how much data. If you see anything there that doesn't seem right, check the settings on that app or consider using another app. I'm on PAYG data and I don't have a real problem with this as you describe. The only things munching my data are those things I permit to munch my data.

Read the "Why you don't need a task killer" link more carefully as it really does answer your questions in terms of outlining how Linux manages system resources. The user is King, but you probably don't want to make it easy for them to strip the wiring out of their car because they want longer battery life.

 

[electricpete]

HuIHI would say there can be times when we have a legitimate reason to want to prevent apps from loading. In particular, programs we never use and not required for the system. In recent version of android, most apps can be disabled. For older versions this required riot and program like tibu.

It also helps to understand that devices support processes and there is a hierarchy of priorities for what gets kept in ram. Keeping things in ram can help speed up performance, but not if the program kept in memory is something that won't be used and prevents a frequently used app from being stored. Android manages it pretty well we're told, but some programs are over aggressive in grabbing the priority and put in a high priority service continually. running. Sometimes it's required like for widgets, but sometimes just a developer getting overly aggressive. You might decide to avoid those or freeze r them

 

[funkylogik]

But arent frequently used apps given higher priority once the system "learns" which apps you use most?

 

[electricpete]

Apps that launch a service are put in the high-prioritity category of "running processes" (or maybe "services in use"

Apps without a service that have run frequently and recently will be put in a lower-priority category of 'cached processes'.

(I can see both categories in my manage applications settings in JB).

So let's say your app has run at boot permission and launches a service. It will will stay in memory longer than your other apps that don't launch a service, regardless of which one is used more often and more recently.

The practical result - look at your running process and if you consistenly (*) see a particular app there that you installed but rarely use, think about disabling or uninstalling it. You might also see some things in this category that you didn't install and never use...those that may fall in category of bloatware. See if it's needed for system or to support other programs/features you need, if not then disable or freeze it.

* why did I say consistently? Some apps will pop into running processes momentarily to do background tasks or updates and then pop back out. That's a different behavior. which might also concern you but for different reasons.

I'm no expert but I do know Android memory management is complicated. In the old days, it made sense to me to not only freeze apps but also to manually kill certain apps on occasion. The key to kill a persistent app was to also kill its services if it let you (some did not). These days, bigger faster phones, less attention is required. But still worthwhile imo to take a look at everything on a new phone that consistenlty shows up in running processes to see what you can freeze. Check back on running processes every once in awhile... usually just the same familiar processes. If a new one consistently shows up, then you know there is some memory cost to that app.

 

[Wesley Parker]

Almost everyone is talking about battery life and memory managent saying android manages everything just fine. What about the fact that killed apps just pop up after being killed? I killed all apps, went to sleep and woke up with around 25 apps running. I'm not worried about battery or performance, I'm worried about privacy. I don't want apps running unless I open them and when I close them I want them to stay closed. We can either not install an app or let it start even after it is closed and let it request our location all night long every few minutes, upload and download data all night, read texts, contacts etc..NO, I shouldn't have to leave my phone powered off, disable location or disable data. ALL apps are invasive and we have no control over what permissions they have and no control over when they run. We can either install or not install....I want total control over what does or does not start for my own privacy. I don't want the government, corporations, and rouge app developers having a free for all in my phone 24/7

 

[funkylogik]

I say don't install any apps then or buy a dumbphone. Sorry

 

[Crashdamage]

First, almost all of those 25 or so apps are not running. They're inactive, cached in memory for quick retrieval if needed.

Second, total control is (almost) a total illusion. If you don't want 3-letter government agencies, corporations or your neighbors invading your privacy, you're gonna have to:

Close all bank accounts.
Close all credit card accounts.
Close all 401k plans, etc.
Do not file taxes.
Pay for everything in cash, used bills only.
Demand payment in cash, used bills only.
Do not use snail mail.
Do not use the phone.
Do not use the internet in any way whatsoever.
No websites.
No email.
No text messages.
No electronic communication of any kind.

Because if you use any of the above, your information is 'out there' and monitored by 3-letter government agencies, corporations and your weird neighbor tapping into your WiFi.

Your paranoia will not lead to a solution for any of this. It will only cause you to waste a lot of time and effort trying to control what in 2015 has become uncontrollable.

Just use some basic common sense, relax and enjoy all the terrific stuff your phone can do.

 

[EarlyMon]

Things are not working the way you think they are.

http://androidforums.com/threads/pu...k-killers-ram-optimizers-and-the-like.896663/