Easy way to exit applications?

[dylane]

Ok, I've done a lot of searching on this question and read a bunch of threads with this question, but they all seem to focus on the issue of performance and battery life, which I understand should not be a problem with the way that Android is designed.

But I want to exit applications for different reasons.

1) I want to be able to quickly switch between the apps that I'm working on right now, without having to search through a bunch of apps that I opened up for a quick piece of information and then closed and am done with.

2) When I exit something like my browser on a PC I have it set to clear history, coookies, etc.. and then when I open it up again I get to see my browsers home page, not some random page I happened to be on last. I'd like to have the same thing on my mobile phone.

Any way to get this easily, with one or two clicks, and not having to open up some other application?

 

[Stuntman]

That depends on the app. I know a few apps will exit and close down completely. My banking app does that. The Opera browsers have an Exit button that you can configure to be available. However, it doesn't close down all of tabs. I don't use it much anymore, so I have not looked into if it can close down all tabs.

If you want a quick way of switching between certain apps. I think the home screen config is the only way to do it. That will work if you mostly use the same apps all the time. The task manager does list all open apps, but I believe they are ordered by most recently used. The most recently used apps will be at the bottom of the list (on ICS and JB), so you can switch between them more easily. If you have an app you opened, but haven't used in a while (compared to other apps), that app will move up the list.

 

[valorian]

1) I want to be able to quickly switch between the apps that I'm working on right now, without having to search through a bunch of apps that I opened up for a quick piece of information and then closed and am done with.

What phone do you have?

On my Galaxy S3 all I have to do is hold down the home button and a list a recently used apps appear. I can then tap on that app to switch to it. This is very handy for multitasking with this phone. Not sure if you phone has a similar feature.

 

[nickdalzell]

If you have ICS you should have a virtual button or hardware key to display recent apps, and if you swipe them away it closes I think. The Android equivalent to the double-tap home button and touching and holding apps then hitting the red x on an iPhone.

Sometimes, in lieu of an exit option, hitting menu will bring a context menu, often with 'exit' being an option. Other times, hitting back will either silent exit or cause a 'hit back twice to exit' alert to display. Normally the back key only freezes apps so while running, they use no CPU or memory. I just hit back until the home screen displays if the app has no exit feature.

 

[jefboyardee]

From what I’ve read here, and it seems to be true, is to really quit an app, press the back button repeatedly until the app goes away. Pressing the home button might do that or might just send the app to the background, still running but not visible/controllable.

 

[dylane]

Thanks. I did know that the multitasking/long press of the home button would bring up most recently used apps, but my understanding was this was independent on whether they were "running" or not. It would be good to know if swiping an app closed from this list really closes the app, or if it just removes it from this list.

I'd seen an exit option on Pandora via a context menu (when using my wife's Android running 2.3) but so far I haven't come across another app that had this option, but I haven't downloaded all that many apps for her phone. It's good to know that Opera has an exit option, as the browser is one of the main items I'd like to make sure to close for privacy/security reasons.

 

[jefboyardee]

to really quit an app, press the back button repeatedly until the app goes away

I just tried to confirm that with some of my apps, and it turns out that isn

 

[nickdalzell]

It depends. I am not sure if swiping away closes them either or just suspends them where they no longer use ram or CPU. It's one thing i hate honestly about mobile OS. I prefer to close programs when I'm done with them, and I am not so happy turning all of that control over to an operating system. I like to feel like I have control over my device.