Cleaning apps

The best thing to do is not have any app cleaners IMO, just clear the cache of apps that may be using too much sometimes and clear them from the overview menu

I am highly recommend before using any apps always find out who is the owner company and then.Search the forums about that compny and reputation of these companies and their products before downloading and using them.

I looked at one of the cleaning apps mentioned here, and saw no benefit to it at all.

I took it off just like all the others I tried...

The OS will overwrite any memory that it needs, so why bother?

psionandy said:

As someone who HAS experienced Clean Master, and the problems it caused on devices, I really wouldn't want to recommend this to anyone. And that's ignoring all the security and privacy problems it has.

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It really depends on personal experience that you had. I have been using clean master from past few months & i got nothing to experience bad with it.

EdwardSmith36 said:

It really depends on personal experience that you had. I have been using clean master from past few months & i got nothing to experience bad with it.

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Sorry ... no ... Clean Master is EOSO (Equal Opportunity Snake Oil). For your own protection I suggest you look more closely at it and the information you are "sharing" with the home office in China.

... Thom

EdwardSmith36 said:

It really depends on personal experience that you had. I have been using clean master from past few months & i got nothing to experience bad with it.

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Actually there is a good chance you are having a bad experiece with it... you just haven't noticed yet.

I Had it installed for a good long time... and I noticed my device slowing down and lagging terribly. Then I'd press the boost button in clean master, I'd get a whizzy animation and my device was fast an bug free again. I'd feel good and gave Clean Master a glowing 5 star review..

Then it would slow down again, I'd press the button and it would speed up. The frame rate in Spider-Man Unlimited would .
go from 5fps to 30 and made the game playable. Well done Clean Master I thought.

It would prompt me to clean up cluttered files.. and offer to fix other things. The more I used it the more things it had to fix

Alert me of scary virus threats... and whilst I knew it was over reacting, it felt nice that it was looking out for me.

And my device kept getting slower, more cluttered and full of threats... even though I kept pressing the buttons.

And then I realised.. the more it did... the worse my device became.

So I tried something. A hard reset and then installed all of the same apps... except Clean Master.
No slowdowns, no problems. and Spider-man played like a dream.

Thats when I realised what an awful time I'd been having with Clean Master. and changed my Play 5 start review to a single Star.

I'm not alone in this. As Android doesn't need the memory management it offers, then at the very least the app was lying... the fact that whatever it was doing was making my device unstable, and the dramatic scare-mongering. At this point I'm really glad I didn't install any of the apps it kept trying to talk me into... Other people weren't so lucky



Now there are other security problems... I could have been leaking all sorts of information. I wouldn't know.. in fact neither would you. And its not something that you'd notice either...


Bottom line is with this sort of app, if you can't trust it 100% then you can't use it at all... and there is far to much evidence from other users that means there is no way I could ever trust it.

Without it, my device is much Better than with it. What is it you think its doing for your device?

Uninstall it... and try something new!

99% of all performance problems can be solved by using the build in Wipe Cache Partition that deletes all temporary files and doesn't touch permanent files, apps, or settings. The partition can become corrupted over time and the movement of data in it to provide contiguous space is what causes the lag.

It is a utility distributed with the system.

The elapsed time it takes to run a Wipe Cache Partition remains a mystery. On My Droid Maxx it was 6 min. On my Droid Turbo it was 9-10 min. On my Droid Turbo 2 it is close to instantaneous.

I wipe Cache Partition every Saturday as part of my weekly maintenance.

... Thom

We have a sticky thread in this forum about "speed boosters" and the like: http://androidforums.com/threads/pu...k-killers-ram-optimizers-and-the-like.896663/

Two words: snake oil.

Many people regard 360 security as an untrustworthy app (which is worrying when it has such extensive permissions). They've also used extremely dubious techniques to drive installs before now, e.g. http://androidforums.com/threads/36...otional-channels-to-increase-downloads.864082. Personally I would avoid them altogether.

Terrific explanation by psionandy of exactly what evil shenanigans Clean Master is up to! Really well said!

For reference about Cheetah Mobile:

http://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?p=4435166

360 Security IS crapware, guilty of much the same kind of bad behavior as Cheetah Mobile stuff.

With all due respect to Thom, I completely disagree with clearing cache files as regular maintenance! I've used Android since v1.0 and done many, many updates. I have never needed to clear the cache partition. Never! I'm not saying it never happens, that clearing the cache partition never helps, but I am saying it's very rare. I can count the times I needed to mess with cache files, that I actually got real benefit from clearing a cache, on one hand with fingers left over. And then only clearing an app cache, not the partition.

The notion that cache files commonly become corrupt over time is a myth. If it ever happens, it's rare. I challenge anyone to prove otherwise. Show me some 'corrupt' files.

So it makes no sense to me to make clearing caches a regular maintenance item. It only wastes CPU cycles and power needlessly rebuilding caches over and over. Pointless. Pointless.

I use my devices for the life of the device without touching cache files without ill effects or loss of performance. I simply never give cache files a thought.

I wasn't instructing anyone to do it on a regular basis. I was reporting what I do.

If you have some very old apps (usually games) they sometimes stored progress information in the wrong place and Wipe Cache Partition could nail it. I have not seen a report of that issue in years.

The history on Droid devices is we went through a long period where people would complain about their phone being laggy or it was 18 months old and getting old and probably needing to be replaced. The solution from Verizon and Motorola was to do a Factory Data Reset. It frequently fixed the problem.

Through a quirk we found out that part of the Factory Data Reset was a Wipe Cache Partition and we could do that and not loose all the apps and setting we had added. (The quirk was that there was an OTA where the Factory Data Reset did not do a Wipe Cache Partition and as a result the Factory Data Reset was not the almost magical cure.)

I have seen time after time of an unexplained issue cropping up ... a Wipe Cache Partition is done ... the problem disappears.

The fact that you have never done one (ever do a Factory Data Reset that included it?) is in my experience vary unusual. In the Droids it would happen within three-four months of any major upgrade.

A strategy other than the one I use is to wait for the unexplained to happen and then do a Wipe Cache Partition at that time as part of problem determination/resolution.

Resources ... I agree the 8-10 minutes was absurd (and never explained). The near instantaneous on the Turbo 2 is perhaps an inkling of what is coming elsewhere.

... Thom

I do find that some apps can get stupid over time and start crashing or not working properly, and clearing their individual cache files fixes it.
This may be more a matter of poor coding by the app devs rather than a generic Android issue.

@Thom...not trying to pick on you. I'm just a picky old S.O.B. I realize that in the overall rankings of Important Facts About Android cache files rank pretty low since they can be deleted and come back with no really significant harm done. It just kinda bugs me when I see misinformation being tossed around as fact. But why did I bother writing up a post about it?

Problem is what is harmless misinformation about one thing is sometimes construed into harmful misinformation about another thing. IOW, something like "Since clearing the 'corrupted' cache files in the cache partition is supposed to help, clearing out the files in Misc should help too." "Deleting Hangouts didn't hurt so I'll delete Google Account Manager. I don't need to add another account." Jumping to such conclusions by inexperienced users happens all too often. So I try to get out what I believe to be correct, proper operation of Android. If I'm wrong show me. I have no problem with being educated.

No, I've never, ever done a factory reset except when turning over a device to a new owner. Or a cache partition wipe. Never needed to.

If I have a problem (extremely rare) I troubleshoot first to find the cause, then apply the fix. The problem has been cache files only 2-3 times, and only app caches. I don't try to apply the fix first, to me that's backwards. It's worked for me all these years.

Sorry I don't follow your description and Don't know what you are labeling what.

There is a very wide range of users and an incrementally changing technical environment. A lot can be gained by knowing what you installed and methodically tracking down a problem when it occurs. This is beyond the capability of many Android users that I have encountered. To them it is just too complicated.

From your profile your environment is Nexus. My environment is Motorola Droid, X, Bionic, Maxx, Turbo, Turbo2. This might well explain the difference.

... Thom

Thom said:

Sorry I don't follow your description and Don't know what you are labeling what.

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Aww...never mind...

From your profile your environment is Nexus. My environment is Motorola Droid, X, Bionic, Maxx, Turbo, Turbo2. This might well explain the difference.

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Yeah, even before the Nexus series, right from the start with the G1 I always bought devices running vanilla Android. No doubt not having UI overlays or carrier bloatware mucking up the OS has been big for my lack of trouble.

The cache I clean on a regular basis is the app cache that is stored on the sdcard. I have it as part of my BACKUP_sd script. No need to waste time backing up cache files and no need to waste disc space for them on the backup drive.

Cache files don't figure into my backups at all. I use the built-in backup feature included in most apps. That generates cache-free backups which automatically are uploaded to Google Drive and Dropbox.

GrouchoM said:

How is Ccleaner?

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I've found CCleaner to be the safest and least invasive product for use on Android.

On a PC, unless one knows what they are doing, some serious issues can occur... some irreversible. But on Android, it's really goof proof and it doesn't constantly pop up with warnings that make you want to PERMANENTLY clean the phone via a hazardous materials shredder.

The ONLY thing that is possible to mess up with CCleaner on Adroid, is if you go too deep into the app and do something like clear all your downloads which you've yet to save (like photos, PDF's, etc.). But one would have to actually TRY to get to that point on CCleaner for Android.

Hadron said:

You might be able to use an app called Network Connections to see whether it is connecting to any sites it shouldn't be (i.e. to Cheetah Mobile).

Task killers are well known to be unnecessary and counter-productive, so the fact that Samsung included this thing at all tells me that Samsung's marketing people make the decisions rather than the software engineers. Choosing Cheetah Mobile to provide it also shows that the decision was not made by people who pay attention to the Android world at levels other than sales figures. That's why I don't trust them to have made sure it is clean before including it.

This was widely commented on when they first released it with the S6, but Samsung don't seem to have paid any attention.

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I TOTALLY agree. I think an issue that people run into is that they approach their devices too analytically and download OR run things present on the phone with the assumption that if they are there, they must be safe. They aren't.

Most everything one needs to do can be done right in settings. The only little bugaboo with that is when removing apps. If you don't remove the ENTIRETY of an app (if you're positive you don't want it again), including what it's collected from your device, you can and I assure you, WILL have issues. The app still hangs out in the device and if it's malware, might be doing who knows what behind the scenes and just like with any OS on any device, conflicts can and do occur so if it's an app you are POSITIVE you don't want and isn't critical to the function of your device, all data that it's collected must be removed FROM the app itself then the app deleted.

Far too simple for anyone to actually provide with a phone would be a simple "task manager" like Windows has. That way one can see what's running, slowing the system down, etc. But that would make things far too simple.

CCleaner is well known to be... let's call it somewhat unreliable. Maybe overly aggressive? It has problems with Android like with PCs.

If you feel you must use a cleaner (I don't) then as Thom suggested in post #4 get SD Maid. A far better app than CCleaner, SD Maid is the only cleaner I would trust and is the go-to cleaner utility of some very tech-savvy people.

Junk cleaning is must for android device for faster process.In Android Market lots of cleaner apps available but can't judge which one is working real...

i used 'Free Cleaner for Android'. i trust on that..it's worked as committed.

Oh no it isn't... Most of the time you don't need to do this at all.


If you are going to do it, id avoid any app like the one suggested, if it requires lots of permissions that aren't required to clean files... The one you've chosen has some odd looking ones for sure.

Also read the privacy policy and confirm if it's really is a privacy policy... Or just a link to someone's web site

Notice the thread was bumped after a year by someone who just joined today making their first post. So possibly promoting their own app?
But anyway nothing has changed, cleaner apps are still unnecessary and potentially harmful and anything CM is still evil.

Hadron said:

We have a sticky thread in this forum about "speed boosters" and the like: http://androidforums.com/threads/pu...k-killers-ram-optimizers-and-the-like.896663/

Two words: snake oil.

Many people regard 360 security as an untrustworthy app (which is worrying when it has such extensive permissions). They've also used extremely dubious techniques to drive installs before now, e.g. http://androidforums.com/threads/36...otional-channels-to-increase-downloads.864082. Personally I would avoid them altogether.

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Oh noooooo. I was using 360 Security and I thought it was safe enough. But I need some Antivirus. Can you please recommend me one? Currently I have 360, MalwareBytes, and Avira. And all are greenified hehe (Cause I use them only to scan my tablet, I hate those booster and cleaner thingies).

Actually if you are sensible about where you install from you don't actually need one of these things. But if you just want to scan occasionally MalwareBytes is fine.

Hadron said:

Actually if you are sensible about where you install from you don't actually need one of these things. But if you just want to scan occasionally MalwareBytes is fine.

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Well, I install apps from anywhere and thats the reason i needed one (Once a malicious app asked for Administrator permission and 360 had warned me on time, it was supposed to be an alarm clock, but the app wasn't on the launcher at all ). So as you said, i will continue using MalwareBytes.