Applications that start themselves.

[bturrell]

I had the original droid for a while, someone once showed me how to set it so that apps weren't starting themselves (most of them at least). I now have a droid 4, and have forgotten how to do that. Does anyone know of a way to keep apps from starting themselves so that I'm not having to continuously force close them?

 

[chanchan05]

Don't FC anything, you'll do more good than harm. Let them be.

The original droid needed that, new Android doesn't and manages memory and resources by itself. Its a rather lengthy discussion, but simple fact is, FC-ing apps in the newer version of Android drains batteries faster and causes more memory issues than leaving them alone.

 

[plemonjello]

If you're rooted use Gemini. You can use it to disable triggers that auto-start apps. It's a much better solution than force closing them.

 

[bturrell]

So, I shouldn't need the advanced task killer app like I had on my first phone?

 

[Hadron]

If you are rooted you can use an app called Autostarts to control when apps will be automatically started. Many apps do automatically start in response to a number of triggers. Of course there are good reasons for this in many cases, so disabling this may affect the function of the application - use with care. But there are other cases where I see no reason for the app to start, in which case it's a little tidier.

 

[bturrell]

I'm a bit of a newbie to this type of thing, what does "rooted" mean?

 

[Sarrith]

I currently have the Droid 1 and do not know how to do this. yesterday I FCed all apps while at work, didnt do anything except facebook on it. When I left work my phone was almost dead because FB, maps, several games, etc were all running. It is quite annoying. Why does the new android not need FCed? kinda confusing.

 

[Crashdamage]

DO NOT use a task killer or try force closing apps that auto-start. You'll just waste effort, battery power and make things worse.

Android does a fine job of automatically handling processes and memory for you. Let Android do its job, relax and enjoy your phone.

 

[Crashdamage]

I'm a bit of a newbie to this type of thing, what does "rooted" mean?

If you don't know you shouldn't worry about it until you learn much more about Android. If you really want to learn more about rooting, check the rooting section of this forum, the XDA Developer forum or just start Googling and reading.

 

[OfTheDamned]

So, I shouldn't need the advanced task killer app like I had on my first phone?

You shouldn't use a task killer on any phone running 2.2 or higher.

I currently have the Droid 1 and do not know how to do this. yesterday I FCed all apps while at work, didnt do anything except facebook on it. When I left work my phone was almost dead because FB, maps, several games, etc were all running. It is quite annoying. Why does the new android not need FCed? kinda confusing.

Android phones do not actually need apps to be force closed in general. None of the phones running 2.2 or higher do.

First, apps that you view as running aren't really doing anything. They are just sitting in the background waiting to be launched. Apps in this state aren't actually using any battery until they are launched. When you force close an app that is sitting idle, it actually uses battery to restart so that it can simply sit in the background again.

Unless you have a poorly written app on your phone (these should probably be uninstalled) then you leave the phone alone to operate as it is intended to. This is the way to get the best performance and battery life out of your phone.

 

[plemonjello]

...Unless you have a poorly written app on your phone (these should probably be uninstalled)...

This is the reason I use Gemini to disable several apps triggers. Like it or not there's prob more poorly written apps out there then we'd like to admit. It's easy to say in the 'perfect' world we wouldn't need this and Android would manage everything for us. However, in the real world, this isn't always the case.

Also, when you run across an app who's triggers make no sense try contacting the dev about the issue. I've found most devs want feedback like this and many times fix the problem.

EDIT: I agree task killers aren't a good idea. The best approach is to stop the apps from starting in the first place.

 

[Crashdamage]

This is the reason I use Gemini to disable several apps triggers...I agree task killers aren't a good idea. The best approach is to stop the apps from starting in the first place.

Well, yeah, but that's not workable advice for the vast majority of users who are not interested in rooting.

In using Android from the very beginning, I think I've had just one app I had to uninstall due to failure to deactivate or exit memory properly. It's actually a rare problem. Most users never will need to give it a thought.

 

[Sarrith]

You shouldn't use a task killer on any phone running 2.2 or higher.



Android phones do not actually need apps to be force closed in general. None of the phones running 2.2 or higher do.

First, apps that you view as running aren't really doing anything. They are just sitting in the background waiting to be launched. Apps in this state aren't actually using any battery until they are launched. When you force close an app that is sitting idle, it actually uses battery to restart so that it can simply sit in the background again.

Unless you have a poorly written app on your phone (these should probably be uninstalled) then you leave the phone alone to operate as it is intended to. This is the way to get the best performance and battery life out of your phone.

ok it just always seems that if I look at my "running" apps and there is facebook, gmail, live holdem pro (texas holdem poker game), maps, chase, gallery, shazam, and youtube all on there my battery dies faster than when I FC them. I have the original Droid 1 with slide out keyboard with version 2.2.3 on it.

 

[zuben el genub]

That applies to system apps. How about carrier bloat that starts and uses data when you don't want it to?

The current unlocked Nexus S usually 99% turns off stuff when you exit. The unlocked but original carrier branded SGS4G would not always end apps at exit. I'd find something like Pocket Money still running after exit. It wasn't using data, just running.
Since it had a password, it should have quit at exit.

So it could be some stuff is left wide open to make the carrier some extra money. TMO customers have had fits with Facebook and Doubletwist.

 

[bturrell]

Alright, so taking your word for it, I just uninstalled the task killer that I had downloaded.

 

[RyanB]

@bturrell: here's a brief writeup on how apps being open aren't bad, but runaway ones are as they tax your CPU.

Watchdog Task Manager 3.6.5.1 Review | Android Arcade and Action App | PCWorld

 

[pool_shark]

While I agree auto task killers shouldn't be used I don't see a problem with kill tasks on your own.
People like to say the apps aren't really running, but that's not true.

If you have root, busybox, and a terminal emulator you can run the top command and you will see that the apps are indeed running, they are using memory but very little, if any CPU.

There have been plenty of times I have seen apps running that I very rarely use. Autostarts can stop many of them from starting but not all.

 

[IOWA]

While I agree auto task killers shouldn't be used I don't see a problem with kill tasks on your own.
People like to say the apps aren't really running, but that's not true.

If you have root, busybox, and a terminal emulator you can run the top command and you will see that the apps are indeed running, they are using memory but very little, if any CPU.

There have been plenty of times I have seen apps running that I very rarely use. Autostarts can stop many of them from starting but not all.

If you kill a task on your own Android is just going to launch it again in the background later. The only times apps use CPU (battery) is when they are being initially launched, or actively being used.

NO CPU(battery!) IS BEING USED BY KEEPING APPS IN MEMORY(RAM)

However, if you kill the app Android just relaunches the app later, thus consuming more battery.

Linux ram handling is much different than Windows.

 

[pool_shark]

If you kill a task on your own Android is just going to launch it again in the background later. The only times apps use CPU (battery) is when they are being initially launched, or actively being used.

NO CPU(battery!) IS BEING USED BY KEEPING APPS IN MEMORY(RAM)

However, if you kill the app Android just relaunches the app later, thus consuming more battery.

Linux ram handling is much different than Windows.

Do you feel better now?

If you actually read my post, I already stated that the apps are using memory but very little if any CPU.

Also, if you kill a task, that task is not necessarily the one that gets restarted. For instance, if I go thru my list of apps running and force close the ones I rarely use, those apps usually don't restart again ever unless I start them myself. I don't mind if the ones I use regularly are running, it's the ones I don't use very often that bother me.

...and please don't attempt to explain Unix to me.
I've worked with Unix for years on svr4, HP-UX, Solaris, AIX, and Linux, and it has nothing to do with this.
None of my Unix servers restart apps unless they are set to respawn in inittab.

 

[IOWA]

Do you feel better now?

If you actually read my post, I already stated that the apps are using memory but very little if any CPU.

Also, if you kill a task, that task is not necessarily the one that gets restarted. For instance, if I go thru my list of apps running and force close the ones I rarely use, those apps usually don't restart again ever unless I start them myself. I don't mind if the ones I use regularly are running, it's the ones I don't use very often that bother me.

...and please don't attempt to explain Unix to me.
I've worked with Unix for years on svr4, HP-UX, Solaris, AIX, and Linux, and it has nothing to do with this.
None of my Unix servers restart apps unless they are set to respawn in inittab.

Android =/= To UNIX.

Android is a Virtual Machine that runs on top of Linux, and has all the benefits of the Linux kernel (RAM Management etc), but still has its own set of rules. Keeping apps cache'd is one of those rules.

I'm sorry if my explanation somehow offended you. Also, keep in mind it's impossible for people to know your educational and personal experience background with OS's and such.

 

[pool_shark]

Android =/= To UNIX.

Android is a Virtual Machine that runs on top of Linux, and has all the benefits of the Linux kernel (RAM Management etc), but still has its own set of rules. Keeping apps cache'd is one of those rules.

I'm sorry if my explanation somehow offended you. Also, keep in mind it's impossible for people to know your educational and personal experience background with OS's and such.

That's why I said Linux has nothing to do with this. How Android behaves, in no way means it's how Unix behaves. I've seen so many people here try to compare the two entities. Hell I even had one person tell me "It's not Unix it's Linux" because they didn't know that Linux was a flavor of Unix.

I know that no one will know another person's background without that person expressing it openly.
But I took your comment of "Linux ram handling is much different than Windows" to be a presumption that I must not know anything about Unix.
No harm done.

 

[EarlyMon]

There are a few issues that need to be taken into account where task killing is concerned.

First, apps tend to use underlying Linux services and when you kill an app, you may leave wasted resources and those services running without any way to control them.

Second, Android has the intent mechanism - the triggers mentioned throughout this thread. Some apps are set at startup, but some apps will set an intent for another app. This is a great feature that allows things like a dialer to ensure that contacts are running. It's also the darling of abuse by bloatware and other rogue apps. Killing that sort of nonsense is like filling a bucket with a hole in the bottom - it can't be done. The apps keep getting restarted off of the intent set and task killing becomes a vicious cycle. When this happens, only rooting and removing the unwanted bloatware can really save you.

Third, properly configured, the Android system first hibernates apps (pretty much a unix sleep), then will park the app - leaving just a small amount of memory used to allow fast restart of the app where it left off, then finally, when that's not been used and resources are needed, will swap even that out of memory. That all happens thanks to the Android scheduler. When you task kill separately and apart from that, you confuse the data for the scheduler and it then tends to go into overtime, again, losing you what you've gained.

If you have a rogue app, such as most bloatware, and you can't root, you may find some benefit to task killing, but it's nowhere near what you'd find rooting and removing it.

Hope this all helps!

 

[Crashdamage]

While I agree auto task killers shouldn't be used I don't see a problem with kill tasks on your own.
People like to say the apps aren't really running, but that's not true.

If you have root, busybox, and a terminal emulator you can run the top command and you will see that the apps are indeed running, they are using memory but very little, if any CPU.

There have been plenty of times I have seen apps running that I very rarely use. Autostarts can stop many of them from starting but not all.

So what? They're not affecting battery or performance so why does any of that matter? What makes you think Android needs any help at all dealing with processes or memory?

I cannot agree with EarlyMon that there is anything to be gained by killing bloatware apps. Only true 'rogue' apps which refuse to terminate or exit memory properly.

Registered Linux user #266351 Android since v1.0

 

[EarlyMon]

So what? They're not affecting battery or performance so why does any of that matter? What makes you think Android needs any help at all dealing with processes or memory?

I cannot agree with Early Mon that there is anything to be gained by killing bloatware apps. Only true 'rogue' apps which refuse to terminate or exit memory properly.

Registered Linux user #266351 Android since v1.0

You are correct. There are rare exceptions and I faced one firsthand.

Normally, the Amazon MP3 bloat will wake up, see that there's nothing to do and peacefully hibernate and then go away, minimal impact.

Three of us faced this case on the Evo - and I proved it with logs - it would wake up, and go into an endless loop attempting an Amazon login. It was able to eat a full charge in less than 3 hours, no other user apps running.

Factory data reset, clearing everything on the Amazon MP3 app, nothing helped. I can't prove this, but I suspect that it was multi-threaded with poor control and the three of us with the problem were fighting a race condition that others couldn't produce.

Using a task manager got me up to 6 hours of battery life. Rooting and just removing the damn thing solved the problem entirely.

In all non-exceptional cases, I agree with you.

But I singled out bloatware for a simple reason: user-installed rogue apps can be uninstalled, case closed. Carrier installed rogue apps are a pain in the neck because they can't be uninstalled until rooted.

And note well - there were 7 million Evos sold, and only three of us here reporting the issue with that one app with those symptoms.

I'm glad you objected so that I could clarify the point. Don't go using a task killer on bloatware just because - it'll do more harm than good.

But do seek community advice if you think you have an exceptional case, because you probably don't and we can all help.

 

[pool_shark]

So what? They're not affecting battery or performance so why does any of that matter? What makes you think Android needs any help at all dealing with processes or memory?

I cannot agree with EarlyMon that there is anything to be gained by killing bloatware apps. Only true 'rogue' apps which refuse to terminate or exit memory properly.

Registered Linux user #266351 Android since v1.0

It matters because I don't want an app I that I rarely use to run on its own taking up memory.
They can affect performance by using memory.

If you don't agree so be it, that's your right, I honestly don't care, but just because that's your opinion doesn't mean I have to agree.

I think it's incredibly amusing that so many of you advocate rooting and romming to have complete control of your devices, yet when someone wants to be able to control the app behavior you take issue with it.

I have cron and sar running on my Nexus, don't need it but it was fun to do.
You have fun by doing what you want on yours, that's what would be fun for me.

I would love to be able to control how and when my apps start by using RC scripts or inittab.
I'd love to be able to tune the memory, caching and paging space.
It may not be necessary but it would sure be fun for me.