Task killer apps " THE TRUTH"

[DrDude]

I had been using "TasKiller" (the free version with the Red Droid icon). After reading this post, I uninstalled the app. Before and after the 2.0.1 update, the notification bar at the top of the home screen responded sluggishly. With TasKiller gone, it's much smoother.

 

[iamloco724]

i use paid version of advanced task manager..i really dont think this one negatively affects my phone..i have certain thing excluded like email and what not so it doesnt kill that so i get my mail..so i personally recommend it cause yes you dont have to close apps cause the system will do it when needed but not closing apps has to use more battery then it does if closing them

i have one question though since you can add exclusions..what are some key things i should exclude liek system things like is there something to exclude so it doesnt affect update notifications?

 

[JustROLLIN]

I have found the phone runs smoother without ATK installed. Could be in my head, but I really dont think it is. Just my .02

 

[b.man.happy]

After reading this thread I was quite amused at the back and forth of the conversation. Also the seemingly "shove it down your throat" attitude of a select few of people saying that the task killers are free and the phone has a built in one.

So I went ahead and tested this. Wrote down my results as I went, over a three day period.

I tested ATK and ATM, or Advanced Task Killer (free) and Advanced Task Manager (free). Also the built in App Manager.

Day One: Read Forum about how Task killer doesn't work, and causes a few problems. This included discussion about how Linux systems use and distribute memory. I uninstalled ATK and killed all non-needed apps using the built in App Manager. I then charged the phone to 100% and left it off the charger till 10% on BatteryLife App.
Played Games: 25 min Killed using built-in immediately after
Talked: 32 min. total
Texted: 28 Msgs.
Internet: 48 min. (Dolphin Browser) Killed using built-in immediately after
Watched 34 min. of a movie using Playsvideo Killed using built-in immediately after
GPS: on the entire time
WiFi: Off the entire time
Brightness: 80%
Digital Clock Widget: On the entire time
Weather Widget (free):On the entire time
Locale: On the entire time
Google Voice: On the entire time
**Total Phone Time: 7 Hours***
Day Two:
I tried to keep roughly the same times this time using ATM.
Played Games: 25 min Killed using ATM immediately after
Talked: 26 min. total
Texted: 35 Msgs.
Internet: 33 min. (Dolphin Browser) Killed using ATM immediately after
Watched 38 min. of a movie using Playsvideo Killed using ATM immediately after
GPS: on the entire time
WiFi: Off the entire time
Brightness: 80%
Digital Clock Widget: On the entire time
Weather Widget (free):On the entire time
Locale: On the entire time
Google Voice: On the entire time
**Total Phone Time: 7 Hours and 38 Min***
Day 3:
Again I tried to be roughly the same, though this day I was at work, so my talk time was not as dispersed through the day, mostly towards the evening and night-time. I used ATK for day three.
Played Games: 20 min Killed using ATK immediately after
Talked: 41 min. total
Texted: 47 Msgs.
Internet: 33 min. (Dolphin Browser) Killed using ATK immediately after
Watched 30 min. of a movie using Playsvideo Killed using ATK immediately after
GPS: on the entire time
WiFi: Off the entire time
Brightness: 80%
Digital Clock Widget: On the entire time
Weather Widget (free):On the entire time
Locale: On the entire time
Google Voice: On the entire time
**Total Phone Time: 8 Hours 52 minutes***

I received all my email, all three days. The one hiccup was that one night I did not exclude the alarm clock from the app killer list, so the app killed the alarm clock, and it never went off in the morning. I simply excluded it though and the next morning it was fine.


I left ATK on because of the results. Also it is simple and remembers which tasks was left checked or unchecked. It shows total memory and is only one screen.
ATM had more screens and more options but sometimes simpler is better. Though I did like the tap and kill all widget.
The built-in App manager missed a lot of the apps that were being shown in the other app programs. Plus the task kill apps was much easier killing apps than the built in one.

Linux is superior to allocating memory compared to other OS' but this does not mean that Linux systems never slow down. That's just ignorant. Run enough apps/programs/ widgets and your phone will slow down and lose battery quickly. We also have to remember Android uses Linux Kernals, not the entire get-up. Google puts their own spin on the Linux systems.

For me I am sticking with ATK, if I do notice something wrong (e.g. email and such) Then I will post here again, but until then.

 

[shrink57]

I am going to take the plunge and remove ATK (a leap of blind faith to kick off the new year). I will post my results.

 

[Tim K]

I understand the logic behind not needing task killers, but for those of you who go without, what do you do when your phone starts to lag or freeze? Don't tell me it never does. Do you just let it lag and suffer? There are plenty of apps that seem to stay running for no reason that the OS doesn't shut down. Or perhaps the OS has a higher tolerance than I do...

The fact that the Droid does (pun intended) tend to get bogged down is reason enough to have/use a task killer. I don't auto-kill anything, but if my phone bogs down I hit ATK and kill anything I don't need running.

 

[tpriddy]

if my phone bogs down I hit ATK and kill anything I don't need running.

You could be better-off figuring out why your Droid seems bogged-down and avoiding the app or behavior that got you there.

 

[shrink57]

I understand the logic behind not needing task killers, but for those of you who go without, what do you do when your phone starts to lag or freeze? Don't tell me it never does. Do you just let it lag and suffer? There are plenty of apps that seem to stay running for no reason that the OS doesn't shut down. Or perhaps the OS has a higher tolerance than I do...

The fact that the Droid does (pun intended) tend to get bogged down is reason enough to have/use a task killer. I don't auto-kill anything, but if my phone bogs down I hit ATK and kill anything I don't need running.

So far everything is still up to speed and things are working that didn't even realize were broken before (even though I had ATK ignore my email program I still never got notifications - now I do). For me, the best way to hget my Droid back up to par is a reboot (I still like to reboot the phone every 3 or 4 days - the equilivent of an android enema I still have not found a simple software program to reboot like I had in my Treo. I shut the pone down, remove the battery for about a minute, and I am good to go again. As I previously stated, so far I haven't needed it since I removed ATK.

 

[woodstock1029]

This debate will probably rage on through the lifespan of this phone. Personally I am open minded and have read this thread and decided to do my own test.

I bought this phone on launch day and within the first week I installed an app killer because I didn't like the way the phone continuously turned on processes and apps I wasn't using or never used. I tried all the ones I could get my hands on and personally liked Task Panel the best. I like the auto kill feature on sleep and the widget for quick kill. I've never had any problems personally with it preventing email alerts or anything like that, however I must add, to conserve as much battery as possible I don't have the phone sync things like email. When I'm ready to read my mail.....I go get it. I set it up to auto kill things that wouldn't give me problems. The phone always ran smooth for me, other than the occasional force close of some of my apps (home ++ seems to be getting ornery, but I like it to much to uninstall) the phone ran smooth. I would like to add Task Panel is having an issue with killing the music player on sleep right now, regardless of you're set up. I use Pandora so it's a non issue for me, but something that hopefully will be remedied by an update soon.

After reading this thread, I thought "maybe I don't need this app killer, maybe I didn't really give it a chance from the beginning". So I decided to uninstall. I gave it every chance for 2 weeks.

I experienced the lag in swiping screens (thought maybe it was in my head), Apps would take sometimes up to 30 sec to load after launch (I thought maybe it didn't register my touch, as I would go to touch again, before my finger would hit the screen, it would finally launch). I restarted my phone more than ever (trying to give it a fresh start.) And one particular day I noticed the phone continuously getting slower and slower until it finally just quit (thought maybe battery issue..i.e going dead), it wouldn't turn back on, when I plugged it in, the charging light didn't come on...nothing. I popped the battery out for a few seconds, put it back in and I was off and running (possibly coincidence). A few days after this, and continuing to experience lag and slow down and trouble shooting some apps to see if maybe one was the culprit, I was ready to exchange the phone.

I decided instead to reinstall and reset-up Task Panel. The phones response was immediately noticeable, swiping screens was smooth again, as long as things were killed the apps I wanted to use came up snappy. It's been about a month now. I'm back to rarely restarting the phone for a "fresh start", and I've had no more extreme slow downs or crashes. The phone runs like it did when I took it out of the box.

So for me it's staying. To think that you can have 100 things running in the back ground on any device, with any OS, and not experience lag or slow down is ludicrous in my opinion. They will all brag about their multitasking abilities. Windows has for years, we all know how that's turned out, Ive spent many a day in msconfig.

 

[Kirch21]

Wow haha this is good stuff! Im a linux noob. I literally kill all my background apps every 10 minutes but now i dont need to AND its running better and as its supposed to. niceee

 

[woodstock1029]

Okay, I just got my phone yesterday. It has the ATK which I was wondering WTF it was for to begin with. My browser is somewhat sluggish at times and I think I somehow ended up with like 3 windows trying to run while I was attempting to figure it out. I also have noted Pandora on my unit. PAndora is mentioned here, but what is it exactly and what purpose does it serve?Thx!
zephyr (newbie in training) LOL

Pandora is internet radio. It lets you customize your own stations based on what you like to listen to.

 

[deftdrummer]

Hmm, interesting theory... too bad my available memory before and after closing apps totally debunks it. sorry.

Amen to that brother. Not to mention better battery life (advanced task killer set to auto kill every 30 mins) and also speedier performance. I got a task killer the day I got my droid, thought it helped but then read this thread and decided to delete it. My phone ran faster for a few days but then I found advanced task killer for $.99 and it was 100% worth the money. Don't believe me try it.

 

[CRPercodani]

I don't really see a need for this thread anymore or to post in it, but I just would like to say I haven't used any task killers since I got my DROID and the only time i get lag is if I am trying to do more then the phone can handle. You don't need every mb of memory freed up unless you have OCD of some sort, Android will kill what needs to be killed if you need more memory. The majority of you using task killers are also using poorly written apps so that is why you need them. I said before, ask ANY long time G1/Hero user who has been around Android since this time last year and they will tell you it is not needed. User error is what creates the need for it, or developer error if you use shady apps.

 

[deftdrummer]

I don't really see a need for this thread anymore or to post in it, but I just would like to say I haven't used any task killers since I got my DROID and the only time i get lag is if I am trying to do more then the phone can handle. You don't need every mb of memory freed up unless you have OCD of some sort, Android will kill what needs to be killed if you need more memory. The majority of you using task killers are also using poorly written apps so that is why you need them. I said before, ask ANY long time G1/Hero user who has been around Android since this time last year and they will tell you it is not needed. User error is what creates the need for it, or developer error if you use shady apps.

LOL you don't feel the need to post in this thread yet you do just so you can tell people how stupid they are for wanting / using task killers. Argue all you want dude the phone ain't the G1, and android 2.0 doesn't officially run on the G1. My Droid runs faster with a task killer. Period.

 

[CRPercodani]

I didn't call anyone stupid for using a task killer, to each his/her own. And the G1 has way less RAM then the DROID, so if it can get by without any task killers then so can we. I'm glad your DROID runs faster with one, luckily mine doesn't need it though. Sounds like your the one trying to argue, dude.

 

[GODMODE]

when I open ATM I see shit running that should not - for instance.... Weather app? No thanks - market, maps, etc. If I am not using these things, they take up resident memory. And I do notice a slow down, and a speed up WHEN I CLOSE those things I am not using. I see my memory go up, too. So, while I have uninstalled Task Killer, I have downloaded ATM to see the difference. I see one already. Phone is much faster.


Tmo G1.

 

[superAndroid]

when I open ATM I see shit running that should not - for instance.... Weather app? No thanks - market, maps, etc. If I am not using these things, they take up resident memory. And I do notice a slow down, and a speed up WHEN I CLOSE those things I am not using. I see my memory go up, too. So, while I have uninstalled Task Killer, I have downloaded ATM to see the difference. I see one already. Phone is much faster.


Tmo G1.

And that's the problem. That stuff you see isn't really running as you put it. Droids built-in manager will show you exactly what's running, not whats in memory. Try this, don't delete any apps in TM. Use the phone as you normally would. Give it time about an hour, open ATK, you should notice that some of the apps that were there before are now gone. That because the OS has pushed it out of memory to make room. If your Droid is running slow, that could be because of an app that's hogging memory (I.e. home launchers, UI, dxtop type apps).

I'm sure I have the same Droid everyone else has I have yet to suffer major slow downs. I also don't have a million apps on my Droid maybe just 30.

Sorry just noticed you have a G1. That changes some of what I said.

 

[eNons3nse]

If your Droid is running slow, that could be because of an app that's hogging memory (I.e. home launchers, UI, dxtop type apps).

right. it's usually the UI & homescreen related apps that significantly slow down your phone. if you really want to make a difference in speed, switch back to stock home and run fewer widgets. people don't want to hear it, but it's the truth.

what he said is correct. if you open the app manager in the phones settings and it shows 5 apps running, then open ATK and it shows 20 apps running, those extra 15 apps aren't really effecting your phones performance in any observable way. google knows this, that why they chose not to show those other apps in their manager.

 

[Sturge[Droid]]

does having ATK improve battery life?

 

[Timaphillips]

I understand the logic behind not needing task killers, but for those of you who go without, what do you do when your phone starts to lag or freeze?

...restart it. Just like the computer that it is.

 

[eNons3nse]

...restart it. Just like the computer that it is.

no. my phone doesn't really freeze to the point that i have to restart it. when a program hangs it's usually just the specific program acting goofy. when my desktop starts to lag it's usually just because it's refresing the icon cache or something, in which case it's back to normal after 15 seconds or so. if your phone is lagging or freezing a lot it's probably the fault of a certain program you've got. you shouldn't ever have to restart because of speed. that's not how linux systems work. they don't bog down over time like windows does. you may have a rogue process that's eating memory or cpu, but once the process is over it should be back to normal.

 

[woodstock1029]

And that's the problem. That stuff you see isn't really running as you put it. Droids built-in manager will show you exactly what's running, not whats in memory. Try this, don't delete any apps in TM. Use the phone as you normally would. Give it time about an hour, open ATK, you should notice that some of the apps that were there before are now gone. That because the OS has pushed it out of memory to make room. If your Droid is running slow, that could be because of an app that's hogging memory (I.e. home launchers, UI, dxtop type apps).

I'm sure I have the same Droid everyone else has I have yet to suffer major slow downs. I also don't have a million apps on my Droid maybe just 30.

Sorry just noticed you have a G1. That changes some of what I said.

I understand the principle of the way the operating system is supposed to behave, I just don't feel it does it well enough. Because it doesn't change the fact that when those tasks are cleared, by me, instead of waiting for the OS, the phone operates more responsive. My problem is why is the phone loading tasks I NEVER USE or haven't used in weeks into memory in the first place, only to have to be removed to make room as you say for the ones I do use? The principle of loading tasks into memory is to speed them up when they are called up right? If I never call them up then it's a wasted effort and the phone is doing work it doesn't need to.

This is the way it should work, in my opinion. When you first start the phone, your memory should be clear, except for what the system needs, and active widgets. As you pull up apps (might be a little slower the first time) they should load in memory so the next time you call them up they are quicker. This should happen until the phone needs more memory, then it should kill the least used app out of memory. This isn't how it works however, when I start the phone it loads up every app I have into memory until it uses every bit of it. And then loads it again every 10 min whether I've used it or not. Ive used the flash light twice since I downloaded the app a month ago, yet every time I pull up task panel it's loaded in memory, along with corporate calender that I've never used and about 20 others.

I tried what you suggest if you read my previous post, and those were my results. I have the same apps now as I had then, and the phone runs much smoother now than it did then.

I am not trying to start a argument, but if people like myself are seeing the same thing, maybe we're all not crazy. If you don't believe in it don't use it, but don't condemn the ones who do.

 

[inssane]

I kill battery sucking GPS type apps that decide to run in background, etc. To those who say that email is delayed and blah blah, I just emailed myself on my NB and less than three seconds later it was on my phone with ATK running.
My phone is not noticeably slower, however my battery life DID seem to suffer when I had it uninstalled.
I guess some of us will agree to disagree with certain aspects.
Nick

 

[tomato88]

I've found this article that actually explains this in depth. I uninstalled atk since then and I'm already seeing smoother operations on my phone.

Doesn't this thread deserve a sticky, since a lot of newcomers (like me) can easily rush and try to kill the processes without knowing what they're doing?

 

[Geezer Squid]

I think one thing we are learning is that our phones are not all the same anymore. We have different apps installed. We use our apps in different ways and for different lengths of time, etc. Some of these apps "play well" together and some don't. An example from my phone: Everyone loves and raves about Swype. There are very, very few problems associated with it. And yet, it will not run properly on my phone. It causes, probably in conjunction with other apps on my phone, lags and force closes. In my case I had to decide whether to keep Swype or Launcher2. I kept Luancher2. But point is that what works on one phone may not work on another. They are not all the same anymore.