Help HTC Magic, closing background applications?

[Voja]

Hi all,

I am very new to Android environment and I have tried to figure something out for the past few days. If you press and hold Home button, it will list 6 last applications that were started, and that is fine... what is not fine, is that after checking it out I noticed that all of the 6 applications listed there are continually running in the background...

Is there a way to actually shut down an application, not just put it in the background or is that an unavoidable part of the Android?

So to put it simply, how to I close an application once I ran it and have finished using it?

I also noticed that depending on how many and which applications are running in the background my battery life is impacted severely...

Many thanks in advance

 

[RozzaC]

Hi all,

I am very new to Android environment and I have tried to figure something out for the past few days. If you press and hold Home button, it will list 6 last applications that were started, and that is fine... what is not fine, is that after checking it out I noticed that all of the 6 applications listed there are continually running in the background...

Is there a way to actually shut down an application, not just put it in the background or is that an unavoidable part of the Android?

So to put it simply, how to I close an application once I ran it and have finished using it?

I also noticed that depending on how many and which applications are running in the background my battery life is impacted severely...

Many thanks in advance

You can force an application to close if you do the following:

Go to Settings -> Applications -> Manage Applications

Look for the application you want to close and select it...

Scroll down the info page that shows up and find a button called "Force Stop" and press it...

That will end the application...

It's a bit of a long winded approach but I don't know any other way to do it....

The applications you might be using may have a "Close/Exit/Shut Down" Option within it to do it for you, so press the Menu button while in the application and check before doing that long-winded process....

Sometimes.....you can also close an application just by repeatedly pressing the "Back" key until you reach the Home Screen...of course..that's not guaranteed..

 

[Voja]

Hi RozzaC,

thanks for the advice I'll definitely give it a try and see how it goes, cheers!

Hopefully we'll have an easier way to shut down applications in newer versions of Android...

 

[RozzaC]

Hi RozzaC,

thanks for the advice I'll definitely give it a try and see how it goes, cheers!

Hopefully we'll have an easier way to shut down applications in newer versions of Android...

You're Welcome! =)

 

[gnur]

I actually hope not.
I haven`t had issues with running apps on android. I don`t know which app you are talking about that drains battery but my battery life is a consistent 2 days with heavy usage. And I think I can squeeze out 3 days if I don`t play hours of games. I thinkthe android app system is brilliant. At first I was trying to close apps. But that`s not needed. I haven`t noticed any slowdowns or battery drains after 5 days without resetting.

 

[Voja]

I hope they DO make an option so that users can choose if they want to let Android app system to do it's thing, or that we can choose and be able to manually shut down an application if there is a need.

Applications in question were weather, calendar etc... weather being on, was consistently trying to update, even though my "phone always on" connection option is off, that has been thoroughly ignored by all applications... and already now that I am able to monitor and control which apps are running and which aren't my battery life went from 24hrs to well... over 24hrs now since last charge and not down to half yet... which is normal, so yes, it definitely has had an impact (on my phone at least) on battery life and that's all I've been trying to achieve...

Don't get me wrong, I love Android and have been waiting for a long time to get this phone, mainly only because of Android (and I like the looks of it)... and Android still being in it's infancy I think it will develop into an outstanding platform... However, users need to have options to choose to let Android take care of things for them, or to take control and have full control over the device... my opinion at least

 

[RozzaC]

I actually hope not.
I haven`t had issues with running apps on android. I don`t know which app you are talking about that drains battery but my battery life is a consistent 2 days with heavy usage. And I think I can squeeze out 3 days if I don`t play hours of games. I thinkthe android app system is brilliant. At first I was trying to close apps. But that`s not needed. I haven`t noticed any slowdowns or battery drains after 5 days without resetting.

You get 2 days on your phone with "heavy" usage?

I sort of envy you, if you get that much out of it...

What exactly do you call "heavy" usage though?

 

[dw9]

If I spare my use of my magic - I can have maybe 20h's of battery

"Heavy" use - max 10h

 

[Voja]

Remarkably, since I am able to shut down applications now, this is the third day that it's still juicing along on a single charge, and he's down to half... mind u, no wi fi, absolute minimum use of GPRS and manual screen locking... However normal use for SMS and calls... it'd be interesting to pinpoint what it is that drains the battery so fiercely since this is really a big change... I even took photos and several videos...


it's gotta be the screen and wireless connections that drain the bat... but I agree, 2 days under heavy use is just not possible (heavy use being, wi-fi, or GPRS, and lot's and lot's of active screen hours)

 

[grimmy]

You could install Advanced Task Manager Lite from the Market. This allows you to easily end tasks (or switch to them).

 

[gnur]

Heavy usage:
-multiple hours downloading and removing apps from the market
-multiple hours (some at the same time as above) of music listening
-about 30 texts a day and 1 hour of calling.

all I did was setting the screen brightness to only 25%

 

[AnTiLooP]

I believe there is an app in the store which allows you to close all background apps. Do a search for it.

 

[justjimjpc]

I believe there is an app in the store which allows you to close all background apps. Do a search for it.

Cyrket - Search: 'close everything'

 

[punkzanyj]

there's a new one called TasKiller --- great because "Advanced Task Manager Lite" is a trial version that's going to expire at the end of June. The dev claims it was always that way, but I didn't see that until he did an update recently that changed the name to "Advanced Task Manager Trial" and got flamed in the comments section for it.

 

[mjschmidt]

How do you know which apps are running in the background? When I go in to Manage Applications, there doesn't seem to be anything to indicate what's running and what isn't.

I installed TasKiller, and I am surprised at how many apps continue to be running when I thought they were closed. This brings up teh question, how do you actually close an app? Do you use the Back button, or the Home button? Not all apps feature a Close or Exit option in the menu.

Also, when you run TasKiller, are you actually seeing apps running in the BG or is it showing you the saved data for the instances of the app that was running previously (in case you need to go back) as was explained in the video?

Also, is there an app for android that works like the Power Settings for Windows where you can choose which profile to use on a laptop with battery (ie. Power Saver vs Balanced etc)?

 

[justjimjpc]

How do you know which apps are running in the background? When I go in to Manage Applications, there doesn't seem to be anything to indicate what's running and what isn't.

I installed TasKiller, and I am surprised at how many apps continue to be running when I thought they were closed. This brings up teh question, how do you actually close an app? Do you use the Back button, or the Home button? Not all apps feature a Close or Exit option in the menu.

Also, when you run TasKiller, are you actually seeing apps running in the BG or is it showing you the saved data for the instances of the app that was running previously (in case you need to go back) as was explained in the video?

Also, is there an app for android that works like the Power Settings for Windows where you can choose which profile to use on a laptop with battery (ie. Power Saver vs Balanced etc)?

As you found apps DON'T all close the same way .... Some have a Close selection from the apps menu.... Some will close by repeatedly using the Back_key... very few will close with the Home Key ... The Home-Key leaves most apps running in the background ...

 

[dapaintballer331]

You must understand one thing first... unlike your computer, an Application can be "Running" in the "Background", however it's process may be stopped.

When an app runs in the "background" theres a good chance there is no/little processor activity for the process, instead, the last "state" is saved. (SO if you restart the app, it runs the last application state)