Should You Use a Task Killer?

[lekky]

Decided to write an article about task killer use, mainly because of so many people being surprised that i do not recommend it, after their so called techy friends told them they need one, I'll post the opening paragraph with a link to the rest of it.

Task killer, one of the most prominent words within the android world. One that causes many arguments and confusion, well today lets see if we can put it all to rest.

I am constantly surprised when talking to new android owners that come to me with questions about their "faulty" phone and "poor-performing" battery, to discover that one of the first apps they installed was a task killer. Even more surprised when I dig deeper and ask why, with one of the top responses being because their "techy" friend said its a vital app. First things first, anything vital will be a core part of the the operating system. If google required that a task killer be a core part of their os, they would have included an easy way to kill apps, end of. Also, if your "techy" friend told you to download an task killer, please, ignore any advice from them in the future, you will regret it if you don't.

Android Guide: Should I Use a Task Killer - Droid Den

 

[EmperorKabir]

2 questions then.

1: Why is it that some games I play are jerky but then run fine when I task kill?

2: The article suggests, or rather, has a tone suggesting that apps are poorly coded on rare occasions. But this is android marketplace we are talking about, which is one of the easier marketplaces to put your apps on. For those who have lots of apps, how are we suppsoed to know if an app is poorly coded or not, and secondly, many of these apps restart themselves or check for notifications too often and there are limited options for preventing this. Even one of the pre instaleld apps, stocks, cannot be removed from the sync list.

 

[LECTER]

To answer the question in your title, op:

NO!!



p.s. Nice article btw.

 

[lekky]

2 questions then.

1: Why is it that some games I play are jerky but then run fine when I task kill?

2: The article suggests, or rather, has a tone suggesting that apps are poorly coded on rare occasions. But this is android marketplace we are talking about, which is one of the easier marketplaces to put your apps on. For those who have lots of apps, how are we suppsoed to know if an app is poorly coded or not, and secondly, many of these apps restart themselves or check for notifications too often and there are limited options for preventing this. Even one of the pre instaleld apps, stocks, cannot be removed from the sync list.

1: i don't experience this myself at all. so i'd suggest its due to a bad app(s) without actually having your phone in front of me.

2: I think you can stop stocks from syncing in the settings. apps restarting themselves shouldnt be an issue as you're not killing them.. things like peep or footprints are a problem with sense. they seem to want to force you to use them. it's difficult to id bad apps, but generally the market comments can help you. also if an app takes up a lot of memory like explained in the article. if an app doesn't let you tell it when to check for updates, then thats a poor app in my view.

To answer the question in your title, op:

NO!!



p.s. Nice article btw.

lol

 

[SUroot]

Here here. Needed to be said in a single place

 

[Wardogz]

I use a task killer but only for the force close widget, I don't want crappy 3rd party apps eating data and battery life.

I don't use auto kill though.

 

[SurfXombie]

If you want to kill tasks - yes
If you don't want to kill tasks - no

Do you want to kill tasks?
No - you don't need a task killer
Yes - why do you want to kill tasks?

I wan't to kill tasks that are sucking the life out of my desire - bad app!
I wan't to kill tasks because OCD drives me to keep things as minimal as possible - you don't need a task killer you need an iPhone

 

[philarmer]

Advanced task killer was one of the first apps I installed when I got my phone back in May. Uninstalled it after about 2 weeks after advice from these boards & low & behold my battery life improves by 30/40%

So the moral is:

DON'T USE THEM

 

[lekky]

I use a task killer but only for the force close widget, I don't want crappy 3rd party apps eating data and battery life.

I don't use auto kill though.

if they are so crap, my advice is not to have them on your phone.

I use a task killer but only for the force close widget.

that doesn't make it any better!

And yes SurfXombie

 

[SUroot]

If you really need to kill something because, oh well.I don't know... your browser has hung...manage applications, force close

 

[sookster54]

Task killers are OK in some situations, auto task manager on the other hand is nice for when your phone goes to sleep it can kill running apps (found in task switcher via holding home button) and frees up menory for when you use your phone again. This became a bit of a problem on my Moto Quench when memory got low the system started to lag and when I installed this and selected apps I want killed if running when the phone goes to sleep, it helped.

 

[Wardogz]

if they are so crap, my advice is not to have them on your phone.



that doesn't make it any better!

And yes SurfXombie

What I do works just fine, I get 30hrs battery life out of my phone easily. I find task killer useful, using the force close widget massively improved my battery. I just make sure it ignores all core apps.

 

[smokinmonkey]

I use a task killer... but only to close single apps to save me from navigating the menus to force close it..

For example: I open eBuddy to use facebook chat / msn etc.. then when I "close" ebuddy, it's still running in the background.. so I open the task killer, select only it and kill it. I don't shut down all the running apps. Just let them do their own thing.

 

[Wardogz]

I use a task killer... but only to close single apps to save me from navigating the menus to force close it..

For example: I open eBuddy to use facebook chat / msn etc.. then when I "close" ebuddy, it's still running in the background.. so I open the task killer, select only it and kill it. I don't shut down all the running apps. Just let them do their own thing.

This is a perfect example of why task killer is needed sometimes.

 

[lekky]

I use a task killer... but only to close single apps to save me from navigating the menus to force close it..

For example: I open eBuddy to use facebook chat / msn etc.. then when I "close" ebuddy, it's still running in the background.. so I open the task killer, select only it and kill it. I don't shut down all the running apps. Just let them do their own thing.

This is a perfect example of why task killer is needed sometimes.

it really isn't. you should really read my article. Android actually creates an ecosystem where no apps should be closed, if a phone had enough memory available, the ideal situation for android would be all apps open all the time.

"running", please make note of how i surround the word in quotations. then do a search in my article for the same word.

Task killers are OK in some situations, auto task manager on the other hand is nice for when your phone goes to sleep it can kill running apps (found in task switcher via holding home button) and frees up menory for when you use your phone again. This became a bit of a problem on my Moto Quench when memory got low the system started to lag and when I installed this and selected apps I want killed if running when the phone goes to sleep, it helped.

Again, some poor assumptions here. you really don't need to kill "running" apps when your screen turns off. Freeing up memory for when your phone turns on again is actually really bad advice. Basically means the phone having to completely reopen an app, rather than pull it from memory (where, i might add, it has been sitting idle not harming anyone) quickly and efficiently.

 

[willis]

I read a similar article and I would agree there is no need for one. Just let the system do its thang.

It was one of the first apps I installed too before things started to go wrong. Apps were force closing and the phone was slowing down. A reset/shut down took forever aswell.

Uninstalled the task killer culprit and it went back to lightning speed like straight out of the box

 

[SUroot]

I read a similar article and I would agree there is no need for one. Just let the system do its thang.

It was one of the first apps I installed too before things started to go wrong. Apps were force closing and the phone was slowing down. A reset/shut down took forever aswell.

Uninstalled the task killer culprit and it went back to lightning speed like straight out of the box

What you talkin' about Willis?

Sorry I always wanted to say that legitimately. I agree with you

 

[willis]

What you talkin' about Willis?

Sorry I always wanted to say that legitimately. I agree with you

I just had to Wiki that. Bit before my time. I love you though.

 

[SUroot]

Cheers babe.

 

[Mubble]

I'll continue to use task killer to close apps that do actually continue to run and drain battery in the background like sports scores update apps etc.

 

[theretroandroid]

I have used 'em in the past, but since the time i read the article a few months back, stopped using them and i find that the phone runs a lot smoother and there are no force closes no more!

so DONT USE THEM!

 

[StevenSeed]

Brilliant article Lekky, well done. Couldn't be put in any more plain English than that, and yet........people still download and use task killers?!?!? Why?!!?

I'm starting to think people simply don't WANT to understand this operating system!

 

[spinz78]

Brilliant article Lekky, well done. Couldn't be put in any more plain English than that, and yet........people still download and use task killers?!?!? Why?!!?

I'm starting to think people simply don't WANT to understand this operating system!

This is the best operating system. I love android. and YES I have un-installed Advanced Task Killer.

when I bought the phone as new it didn't drain tat much battery, after I installed some softwares(Including Task Killer) it started to. Now i know wat was causing it. Will keep an eye on the batt. nd see the results

 

[exkaraokeman]

I read this article yesterday , then deleted advanced task killer. Its so nice for my Desire to know where we are , and to display the correct weather! not sure about battery life yet , will find that out today, but to be honest,just the fact that its working like it did when i opened the box,firing on all cylinders is a lot better than it has been,moot doing almost nothing!

 

[LECTER]

Thread should also be posted in the apps forum.