Why the apps load that I do not use??

[bhavbhuti]

Hi all

My HTC Incredible S has Stocks, Maps and many other apps loading when I do not use them, esp. Stocks. I have tried to stop Stocks from syncing from the configurations but then why is it loading now!!!

Facebook app I used once from the phone but it too seems to want to load itself!

I use Task Manager to kill apps all the time and it keeps on reporting so many MBs of memory freed.

Why do we need apps to run themselves? And is it not privacy concern that apps run themselves without user permission. If there is a way to set permissions I do not know of, in that case I apologize for this thread and would appreciate someone to point me how to set the configuration.

Please advise

Thanks and regards
Bhavbhuti

 

[kennyist]

I also have the same on 1 app, Roadsync. Ive never used it, Ive tried finding some options but cannot stop it launching.

 

[EarlyMon]

The best thing to do to control that is to root your phone, make a backup of it, and then freeze those apps so they can't run.

The process to root varies by phone, so look here for details and to ask about it -

HTC Incredible S - xda-developers

Rooting an Android phone is the same as getting Admin access on a PC.

I did this to stop apps I didn't care about.

And always ok to ask questions here, of course.

 

[Stuntman]

My HTC Incredible S has Stocks, Maps and many other apps loading when I do not use them, esp. Stocks. I have tried to stop Stocks from syncing from the configurations but then why is it loading now!!!

Facebook app I used once from the phone but it too seems to want to load itself!

I use Task Manager to kill apps all the time and it keeps on reporting so many MBs of memory freed.

Stop using Task Manager to kill apps. If you do, Android thinks you are using those apps that you kill. Then when there is free memory, Android loads apps it thinks you use most often which would be the apps you keep killing. If you just leave those apps alone and do not try to use them, over time, Android will think you don't use those apps any more and will not load them when there is free memory.

Why do we need apps to run themselves? And is it not privacy concern that apps run themselves without user permission. If there is a way to set permissions I do not know of, in that case I apologize for this thread and would appreciate someone to point me how to set the configuration.

Apps that are loaded are not necessarily running. Android doesn't really tell you what apps are running. It can tell you the apps you used recently. Killing an app counts as using that app.

Please advise

Thanks and regards
Bhavbhuti

Task killers are generally not necessary when using your phone normally. Android will manage its resources such as memory. If there is memory unused, Android may decide to load an app it thinks you are likely to use again. Normally, by loading frequently used apps, they will start up faster should you use them. If you try to kill apps yourself, you only serve to confuse Android and that can lead to your phone not managing its resources properly. I would advise that you just use your phone and not worry about trying to kill apps.

Maps should not automatically run unless you launch it. Stocks can run in the background and update stats, but there are settings that allow you to turn this off. If the syncing is already turned off, just don't launch it. Move the icon and widget off the home screen and never touch it.

 

[bhavbhuti]

EarlyMon I would love to root the phone nothing like control Thanks for the link

Stuntman. Okay I have lost the Task Manager as I had to reset my phone (see other threads of mine) so I won't be reinstalling it. Thanks for the explanation that was nice (and required) to know

 

[mrodgers]

I put Advanced Task Killer on my phone when I first got it (Christmas time.) It automatically killed apps every hour or something.

I've read plenty on what is explained above about how Android manages fine and drops apps when resources are needed and this and that and this....

Ok, all should be well then. So, I took the automatic kill setting off and left it alone all this week. All this week, it has been a PITA trying to just switch the home screens and open apps (open the app drawer, open apps from the app drawer, and open apps from the home screens where I have them.) The phone has incredibly lagging response to doing anything. Even when running apps, the apps themselves are extremely laggy in response. When I look at the running apps, it is 2 pages worth.

I just killed all the apps 5 minutes ago. All the laggy response is gone. Phone runs like it should and using it is smooth as silk.

Everyone explains how you don't need to kill apps. Can anyone explain how if you don't need to kill apps, then why does the phone lag so much in response when all those apps open?

For the record, I have about half of the system resources loaded up when all those apps are listed as "running". Even after killing the running apps, the system resources do not go up by much.

 

[Crashdamage]

You have a buggy app (or apps) that is not behaving properly. The task killer is just putting a band-aid on the problem. Find the problem app and you can fix the root cause and quit wasting time and battery killing tasks.

 

[chanchan05]

Yes its true. Your phone only felt smooth at the time because all the apps were killed creating a sudden spike in available resources, which the other resources which were not killed decided to take for themselves, like the launcher. The problem will come a little later when the processes decide to load themselves again.

Try just removing the task killer, then reboot the phone and let it be.

Personally I hardly even look at the RAM usage of the phone, I have no task killer and lots of apps syncing (I got several on background data and autosync, and leave chat apps online) and everything is smooth.

 

[mrodgers]

Yes its true. Your phone only felt smooth at the time because all the apps were killed creating a sudden spike in available resources, which the other resources which were not killed decided to take for themselves, like the launcher. The problem will come a little later when the processes decide to load themselves again.

To me, what you say here does the opposite of what you want it to say. By saying the spike in available resources after killing is why the phone ran better, that statement suports why you would want to use a task killer. Using task killer makes phone usable, not using task killer and phone is laggy. Thus, use task killer...

Try just removing the task killer, then reboot the phone and let it be.

Personally I hardly even look at the RAM usage of the phone, I have no task killer and lots of apps syncing (I got several on background data and autosync, and leave chat apps online) and everything is smooth.

Yes, as I said, I quit using the task killer (didn't uninstall, just set the auto kill to off and didn't kill manually.) Left it alone for a week and could hardly use the phone for a week. Opening apps took several touches to the icon to get them to start, swiping screen to screen would take several attempts before the screen would switch. How long to leave the phone alone before Android starts doing it's thing as everyone says and the phone starts to run smooth after not using task killer? A month? 6 months? A year? Because a week certainly didn't do the trick.

So, to me, what you are saying supports using a task killer, not support for not using a task killer....

 

[Crashdamage]

I repeat:

'You have a buggy app (or apps) that is not behaving properly. The task killer is just putting a band-aid on the problem. Find the problem app and you can fix the root cause and quit wasting time and battery killing tasks.'

IOW, you have a problem. Using a task killer does not fix it, it only temporarily alleviates it. The solution is not to keep using a task killer, the solution is to find the problem and fix it.Only then will your phone run properly.

Google themselves recommend against using task killers. I and millions of other users never use a task killer and things run fine. If task killers are really needed, how could that be?

 

[zuben el genub]

The app might be intended to work at all times. Facebook had a setting that automatically checked for posts. (TMO forum complaints) This would chew up data unless someone told you and you changed the preference.

Doubletwist (again TMO) used to turn itself on. That might have been a bug.

I've seen references to other apps that will do this. It's in the carrier's favor as it costs data, encouraging larger plans or overages.

The maker of the phone includes some of this - I bought a generic EU android, and FB and other social apps were there. Since EU is mostly GSM, it couldn't be carrier.

I rooted to get rid of this - thanks to this forum

 

[chanchan05]

To me, what you say here does the opposite of what you want it to say. By saying the spike in available resources after killing is why the phone ran better, that statement suports why you would want to use a task killer. Using task killer makes phone usable, not using task killer and phone is laggy. Thus, use task killer...

Wrong. That's just the initial effect. The long term effect is what matters. The more you are killing apps, the more battery is lost. Eventually this would cause your phone to load slower on boot ups, and always checking if there's enough space to run the killed apps again. Lets say depending on how many apps you are killing repeatedly and rebooting repeatedly every hour, you could be wasting 10-20% of your battery life on your task killer.

Yes, as I said, I quit using the task killer (didn't uninstall, just set the auto kill to off and didn't kill manually.) Left it alone for a week and could hardly use the phone for a week. Opening apps took several touches to the icon to get them to start, swiping screen to screen would take several attempts before the screen would switch. How long to leave the phone alone before Android starts doing it's thing as everyone says and the phone starts to run smooth after not using task killer? A month? 6 months? A year? Because a week certainly didn't do the trick.

So, to me, what you are saying supports using a task killer, not support for not using a task killer....

Oh I don't know, I'm running 31 processes and 45 services right now on my phone and everything is smooth, unrooted stock Samsung ROM. I never used a task killer ever.

So truth is, I find your claims very hard to believe. Unless there's something running on your phone that's breaking everything, like a rogue app. ezPDF for one is known to have a memory leak problem on its latest update, forcing the CPU to run at 100%, thus eating battery and bogging everything down to lag.

EDIT: I noticed however that you did not tell what device you own, or did I miss it? AFAIK, no task managers only work for Androids 2.2 and up, if you are still on 2.1 below, that's a different story.

 

[Gmash]

Think of it like this: if you use a task killer too much, it's like your phone gets addicted to it, especially if you have it auto killing everything every hour. It kills everything, things start back up, it kills everything again, different apps start up, pretty soon you have every app on your phone trying to run at the same time. Two pages of running apps? That's not normal. The only thing an app killer is good for is the occasional rogue app that's not coded very well. Now that your phone is conditioned this way, you might need to do a reset to fix it.

 

[chanchan05]

Think of it like this: if you use a task killer too much, it's like your phone gets addicted to it, especially if you have it auto killing everything every hour. It kills everything, things start back up, it kills everything again, different apps start up, pretty soon you have every app on your phone trying to run at the same time. Two pages of running apps? That's not normal. The only thing an app killer is good for is the occasional rogue app that's not coded very well. Now that your phone is conditioned this way, you might need to do a reset to fix it.

This. I reread the entire conversation again with mrogers, and I have to make something clear. You say you just stopped using a Task Killer, after you have for quite a while already been using it? As Gmash have said, your phone is addicted to the Task Killer.

I think the reason the phone is going so slow if you turn the task killer off is it loaded everything right off the bat. A week is not enough for the system anymore to see that you don't use these apps because the instances that it was "used" far outnumber the instances that you did not use it. So if for example you have been using a Task Killer to kill processes hourly for a month, you need maybe 6 weeks to teach the phone that you don't use those apps.

 

[Deleted User]

I keep seeing the task killer debate. Is Super Tool Box a task killer? Because I have to run the task killer in that (it never does it automatically) every so often to keep my Samsung Acclaim running smooth. This is a device with 160MB RAM. Maybe the Acclaim thinks it has 256MB RAM or something? In any case, it does not handle tasks on its own without help. I mean, it's battery pulls or task killing.

This is even after factory resets that format system, data, and cache. We're talking about literally out of the box performance.

If you have a premium phone and you're just using a task killer to save a little battery, yeah, you're probably being counterproductive.

Somebody said Maps doesn't load automatically. Yes it does. This is verified by booting up the phone, GPS is off and never comes on, and after a while, going into Settings, Applications, Manage Applications, Running and scrolling down. TweetDeck will come up on its own, too (presumably to check for direct messages, mentions, and Facebook notifications, per its settings). And Super Tool Box comes up as well.
https://market.android.com/details?id=net.lepeng.superboxss

 

[chanchan05]

The Acclaim runs on Android 2.1 out of the box. Not sure if you updated it already but from what I remember, Android 2.1 is the last Android version that needs manual task killer management. Its the 2.2 versions and higher that can manage its memory by itself.

 

[Saltine713]

I'll second the notion that task killers do nothing! All they do is confuse the OS into thinking you like using the apps, not that you want to get rid of them.